Mississippi Afterburner 2003
May 30 - June 1, 2003

This event is always a "blast," lots of flying and lots of fun in a most relaxed atmosphere.
We rushed the paint job on the KingCat to get it done for the event, just barely made it and we were very pleased with the King's acceptance in its first public presentation. With just 7 flights on it prior to the event, we were still exploring its capabilities, and, doing it in public. All went well, not only with BVM's newest offering, but also for the many BobCats, Bandits, Sabres, F-100's, and F-4's that were present, except a few landing incidents in the occasional crosswind.
Many thanks to Dennis Lott, Vernon Montgomery and the Tri-County Cloud Dancers for hosting this great event.
We hope you enjoy this photo gallery of the BVM stuff.

Bob Violett

Michael Grant (shown here with his BobCat) has put together a new jet event that many of us will attend June 13-15 near Nashville, Tennessee - click for more info.

Phil Nuza's signature flyby has this Bandit on the deck in knife edge flight followed by a rolling vertical loop. You can tell how old this model is by the JPX logo - it is now powered by an AMT USA AT-180 S.P. that really gives it some serious push. The model was originally built by Sam Leonard, had a few owners and somehow ended up in Phil's hangar. Phil is a great asset to the BVM rep team - we are glad to have him.

Don't know where hubby Steven was at the time of the photo, but Dawn Ellzey looks great with her impeccably finished BobCat with RAM 500 power. Many sorties were flown by Dawn and Steven throughout the weekend.

Interest in the KingCat was very high throughout the weekend. We put it through some 3D maneuvers and answered many questions to potential customers. To keep up with the latest developments on the KingCat - click here.

Phantoms are always great to watch - especially in the air. David Reid has some impressive flight time on this excellent example of a Vietnam era combat veteran.

He may be from Austin, Texas but Bob Covish is a distinctive contributor in the "make things happen" department at the Mississippi event. Here he takes a break to pose with his brand new BobCat - nice paint scheme.

Always airborne and always with the throttle bent forward are Joey Tamez and Scott Marr with the Super Bandit and Sabre on JetCat power. The models are beautifully built and finished by Joey. Scott was awarded the Best of Show for '03 Afterburner.

Leaders of the "ZAP Gang" and "Turbine Works", Frank Tiano and John Christensen debuted two BVM Sabres with T-500 power. Both the Fury and the F-86 performed as advertised on their first flights with Tom Dodgen guaranteeing success. Colorful paint schemes are a strong attribute of these 50's and 60's scale replicas. Tom keeps a log of the various jet models he has first flighted - these were #79 and #80. Now that is experience! And we are glad he's with BVM.

Mike Jensen is another seasoned F-4 pilot. This target tow paint scheme is unusual but nicely visible.

This color trimmed FURY by Frank is certainly one of the most elegant of schemes. Sea blue was the standard color for NAVY jets before a late 50's switch to the grey top, white bottom standard.

It would be hard to find a more colorful Sabre than John Christensen's. Bombs and tanks add to the presentation and are now easy to hang and release with the new BVM EZ-HANGER's and EZ-DROP's.