Jan Collmer is a native of Dallas, Texas. He received his initiation into flying at NAS Pensacola, and was awarded Navy wings at NAS Corpus Christi. He flew Navy fighters both active and reserve, including the Panther, Cougar, Banshee, Fury, and F8 Crusader. He retired from active reserve with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
Jan is an 20+ year air show veteran and has flown over 300 air show performances across the United States from Daytona Beach to MCAS Miramar and from Minnesota to NAS Corpus Christi, Texas.
Randy flies solo aerobatics, both day & night shows. During his demo in the MiG-17F, he routinely pulls 8gs, and reaches speeds approaching 700 mph, all while only a few hundred feet off the ground. Randy has also had the honor of providing the enemy aircraft to be flown against the
USAF's F-4 Phantom II at a number of air shows around the U.S. helping to tell the story of the
USAF's history over the skies of North Vietnam. Randy is the only civilian pilot ever approved by the USAF to fly with their Phantom. Randy has appeared in eighteen magazines, and on several occasions been filmed by the Discovery Channel, in particular while performing with the USAF F-4 Phantom II.
Jon started flying at eight years old when he jumped off the roof of his two story home into a pile of leaves. He dreamed of flying and went out and did it! After completing high school Jon joined the Air Force and flew as an MC-130 Special Operations loadmaster. At age 19 he bought an airplane and hired an instructor to teach him to fly it, receiving his pilot's license in only three weeks! In 1996 he partnered in a Pitts S2B bi-plane and started aerobatic training and competition. Now Jon is a surface level air show pilot with over 2,500 hours of commercial and instrument rated with the goal of demonstrating to all that airplanes can do more than fly straight and level.
Performance you ask? The Shockwave Jet Truck runs over 300 mph racing airplanes at
air shows; holds the world record in a quarter mile for trucks at 256 mph in just 6.36 seconds; and holds the world record for full size trucks at 376 mph as recorded by Guinness Book of World Records. Shockwave uses three Pratt & Whitney J34-48 engines, also used in the U.S. Navy's T2A Buckeye plane. The engines are arranged in a pyramid formation, tilted at a three-degree angle to help keep the 6,800-pound (3,084 kg) truck on the ground. The engines produce a total of 36,000 horsepower and 19,000 pounds of static thrust. The Shockwave has enough power to accelerate at 3 Gs vertical, which is as much as a Space Shuttle!
