(Plain Press August 2025) The “Cleveland Airshow” initially began back in 1929. It was held at the Cleveland Hopkins Airport which is just west of Parma. The main event was the different divisions of plane races that took place over the surrounding neighborhoods during the Labor Day Weekend. Amateurs and professional pilots would fly their souped-up aircraft just above residents’ homes as they chased each other around in a circle competing for 1^st place.

   Many of these planes lost control and crashed during the event. This happened mainly in rural areas, at the time, such as North Olmsted and Fairview Park.

   However, the Air-Races were discontinued in 1949. This happened after a mother and child were killed when a specially altered P-51 Mustang fighter plane, left over from World War 2, lost control and crashed into a home in Berea, Ohio.

   The Labor Day event was banned until 1964, when it returned to Cleveland as the “Cleveland National Airshow”. The event was moved to the Burke Lakefront Airport, to prevent putting people’s lives in danger.

   Some that came from out of town for the air show arrived in their small planes. They would land on an airstrip located just behind where Antonio’s Pizza is now, on Chevy Boulevard, in Parma, Ohio.

   If you are interested in learning more about this 1949 Air-Race disaster, you can watch the documentary, “Air-Show Disaster”, showing on COX Cable Channel 45, under the name “Shocker Enterprises”, Sundays at 9:00 PM. For more information, you can email: Kevin@shockerenterprises.com or call: (216) 230-1840.