Aeroshell Aerobatic Team brings a century of combined experience to Air & Water Show

ByMarissa N. Isang WLS logo
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Aeroshell Aerobatic Team brings a century of combined experience to Air & Water Show
Air and Water Show week is in full swing and all week long ABC7 Eyewitness News is helping you get to know the pilots.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Air and Water Show week is in full swing and all week long ABC7 Eyewitness News is helping you get to know the pilots.

With more than 100 years of experience of flight time combined the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team is a sight to see.

Chief Meteorologist Jerry Taft spoke one of the men behind the wheel and took a look inside their World War II fighter style aircraft.

For the last 20 years the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team has been firing up their engines and taking flight in the Chicago Air and Water Show.

"We're a close formation aerobatic team. We do the same thing as the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels except we're doing it in propeller driven airplanes. WWII vintage airplanes, up close and personal. You can actually see us in the cockpit when we're inverted," said Steve Gustafson, Left Wing, Aeroshell Aerobatic Team

Gustafson has been flying for 32 years and for him aviation is a family affair. He set his eyes on the skies from a very young age.

"Legally, I actually started when I was 12 but don't tell anybody. I did, I always wanted to but I grew up in an aviation family. My father flew everything and I just jumped in there and kind of followed along in his footsteps.

Aeroshell Aerobatic Team brings a century of combined experience to the Chicago Air & Water Show.