Flyboys fill Sauk skies for Oshkosh air show rehearsal

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ROCK FALLS - Kahuna's bird looped in behind the flock of planes to complete a dazzling "double V" while a trail of wispy white smoke stained the sky. Mike Stewart isn't in heaven - just a thousand feet closer to it. "Isn't this cool?" he asks from the cockpit. "It's a really great feeling." Stewart and 19 teammates soared over the Whiteside County Airport this weekend to practice for their upcoming demonstration at the EAA Air Venture in Oshkosh, Wis. They call themselves Team RV in honor of Richard VanGrunsven and his line of performance kit airplanes. The pilots all either have day jobs or are retirees. But to call them amateurs belies the thousands of hours and substantial sums of money these flyboys have invested in building and performing with their own fine-tuned aircraft. "We do this for the challenge, and because we love it," Stewart said. Stewart, an executive with IBM, heads the team from his home in Atlanta, although team members flew into Rock Falls from all over the country. They have done so each of the last 3 years. Last year, their 35-airplane performance earned the team a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for largest civilian formation. Aside from the pleasure of watching these planes perform, the 2-day session gives a nice boost to the local economy, said Mike Dowell, airport manager. "You've got 20 guys staying in 20 hotel rooms for two nights, buying meals and whatever else for 2 days," Dowell said. "This really brings a lot of money in for Sterling-Rock Falls."