Fasten your seat belts and get ready to take off for Peachtree City's weekend air show. "Wings Over Dixie" opens at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday at Falcon Field with enough exhibits, aerobatics and pyrotechnics to fill both days. The air show itself will open at 1 a.m. with the Golden Knights, the Army jump team from Fort Bragg, N.C., followed by a succession of heart-stopping air displays and feats of skill performed by local and visiting pilots.

The proceeds from the first-ever Peachtree City air show will benefit the Fayette Youth Protection Home which provides two havens for school-age youth who are victims of neglect, abuse or other serious family situations. The second beneficiary is the Dixie Wing of the Confederate Air Force, whose mission is to restore and maintain military aircraft built between 1939 and 1945. The war birds are displayed at air shows to raise public awareness of their operational capabilities and historical importance.

The Dixie Wing is one of 80 units in the CAF with a current membership of 120 "colonels." Every volunteer is ranked a colonel in the CAF. The group has a collection of four war birds including the SBD, a Navy dive-bomber, like the ones used in the battle of Midway.

The plane is now hangared at Falcon Field, undergoing last minute preparations and adjustments for the show. While the bomber will not fly this weekend, it is considered one of the Dixie Wing's jewels. Mike Rettke, a retired Delta mechanic, is the designated test pilot when the compact bomber becomes operational.

"I'm just one of many to have worked on it," Rettke said. Restoration began in mid 1991 after the Dixie Wing acquired it from a California museum. Another member of the team is Tex Layton, whom Rettke referred to as The Guru because "he knows more than anybody."

Layton estimated that it has taken the group more than 15,000 hours of work to completely disassemble the plane and reassemble it. Its value in dollars cannot be estimated. The work took place in a hangar at Cedar Ridge, just west of Griffin and the SBD was towed to Peachtree City about a month ago. "We had a copy of the maintenance manual and we were lucky to get microfilm from the Smithsonian," Layton said of the guides they used to rebuild the plane.

Parts were another matter. "It must be built at the original strength or stronger," he said. "Some parts are relatively easy to find and some parts have to be made." He pointed out the unique design of the bomber's wing flaps which are perforated to allow dives at 70 to 90 degrees.

This particular plane did not see combat, according to Layton, which is why it was still around. "It's very rare to find a combat plane," he said. "They were never brought back from overseas."

The Dixie Wing's next project is restoration of a B-63 King Cobra. "We're just starting on it and we have about 50 rolls of microfilm. We'll get whatever happens to be present," Layton said.

Jim Friday, a CAF Colonel and chairman of the air show, has decreed the weather to be "72 degrees and severe clear" this weekend. He has lined up about 200 volunteers to staff the show along with the Kiwanis Club and local Boy Scouts. Expected attendance is 20,000 for the weekend, possibly more. A static display of aircraft is planned as well, with pilots flying in from as far away as Galveston, Texas.

If you plan to go to the show, you can pay $10 to park your car at Falcon Field or park at Starr's Mill High School and ride one of the buses to the field. Golf carts will be accommodated in a special parking area at Falcon Field, but will not be allowed into the show and display area. Golf carts are also required to use the underpass at Kelly Drive to cross Ga. Highway 74.

Scheduled to appear:

U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team

Douglas SBD-5 "Dauntless"

PT-26 "Cornell" Primary Trainer

Japanese "Kate" torpedo bomber

PT-17 "Stearman"

F-4U Corsair

B-25 led by Doolittle's Raiders

B-17 Flying Fortress

P-51 Mustang

AT-6 "Texan"

P-40 "Warhawk"

Flying Farmer

Christian Eagle

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