Peru anticipates high-flying weekend at TBM Avenger Reunion

Festival has grown into 2-day event, with air adventure rides Thursday and Sunday

Attendees of Saturday’s TBM Avenger Reunion in Peru are being told they’ll hear the thunder and feel the heat from the Wall of Fire planned.

The pyrotechnics from Mad Bomber Fireworks LLC is one of the new attractions of the growing 2022 TBM Avenger event at Illinois Valley Regional Airport.

The 2021 event was the first to expand to a second day of activities on Friday and now the plan is to make the festival a weekend experience.

The grounds will open at 11 a.m. Friday, May 20, for the daytime air show to begin at 1 p.m. Shortly after its conclusion at 4 p.m., an evening flying will take place from 5:30 to 7:30, with the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team with its T-6 Texans putting on a show at about dusk.

Night flame runups will follow the Aeroshell.

There also will be a beer garden and live music performed by She’s a Maybe from 6 to 10 p.m.

The airport will reopen at 7 a.m. for a breakfast for volunteers and participants, then at 7:30 a.m. for spectators. Proceeds will help local Boy Scout troops.

A flag raising is scheduled to occur at 11 a.m. at the airport with a T6 flyover. The veteran’s funeral flag honor walk will take place at 11:30 a.m. followed by the main veteran’s parade at noon.

A parachute drop with the American flag will begin Saturday’s air show featuring TBMs and several Warbirds.

The Tunison Foundation DC-3/C-47 Placid Lassie arrived Sunday, May 1, 2022, to Illinois Valley Regional Airport in Peru for the TBM Avenger Reunion later in the month. It is the second warbird to arrive.

Then the pyrotechnics and Wall of Fire will occur sometime late Saturday afternoon.

Air adventure rides on the B-17 Yankee Lady will be available Thursday, May 19, and Sunday, May 22, along with Huey and Cobra helicopter throughout the weekend.

The B-17 was a heavy four-engine bomber in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II and was noted for its dangerous daylight missions over Germany.

Air Adventure rides will be available 4 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. May 19, as well as on 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. May 22. An Air Adventure ride is a 30-minute experience and costs $495 per person. To order a B-17 Air Adventure visit, go to www.yankeeairmuseum.org and click on “Fly With Us.” Additional flight times may be added as customer demand warrants. The Yankee Lady will be on static display during the TBM Avenger Reunion & Salute to Veterans Air Show on May 20 and 21.

The TBM Avenger Reunion is free and open to the public.