Attendees at the show won't have to listen for the announcer to tell when the AeroShell Aerobatic Team is flying – the roar of the four Pratt & Whitney Wasp 1,340-cubic-inch and 550 horsepower engines will let them know when the T-6s are flying.

They also won't have trouble finding the aircraft in the sky. AeroShell has the World War II trainers painted white with red tails and red leading edges on the wings. Around the cowling is a distinctive black-and-white checkerboard pattern. But that is not the only reason they are highly visible.

"It is a big airplane (42 feet, 1 inch long) so it is bigger and easier to see than (an aerobatic-built plane) and they have one of the best smoke systems on them in the industry," lead pilot Alan Henley said.

Henley noted that jet teams make a pass and then disappear, often traveling miles from the airport. He said the crowd will be able to see the AeroShell planes at all times.

"We zoom past (the crowd) but the airplane is big enough and slow enough that we don't get out of sight. We never leave the confines of the airport property. Our whole display and all the maneuvers – every part of it – are visible to the spectators," Henley said.

The T-6 was first developed in 1935 and more than 15,000 of them were produced until the 1950s. It was known as the AT-6 Texan for the Army Air Corps and the SNJ for the Navy. The British, who used it as an advanced trainer, named it the Harvard. Henley said the team is flying Texans with the smoke system as the only modification.

"All the military pilots that trained during World War II, this is the same exact airplane that they flew," he said.

Henley started flying the

T-6 in solo performances when he met Steve Gustafson at an air show. Gustafson was also doing a solo act in a T-6 and mentioned to Henley that his dad had once done a dual act with AT-6s. The pair started their own dual act and AeroShell was born. Gustafson today flies left wing. On right wing is Henley's brother, Mark, and Gene McNeely flies in the slot position for the team.

The team does many maneuvers in the diamond formation including loops and rolls. They also go into a "finger-four" formation (the lead plane with one plane on one side and two on the other) and do a roll while changing back to a diamond formation. The AeroShell signature maneuver is the downward bomb burst – the opposite of the Thunderbirds' bomb burst. Henley said AeroShell does the downward burst because the 60-year-old aircraft don't have the vertical penetration that the modern fighters have.

"Just a lot of nice, close formations – graceful and fun to watch," he said. "It is a show kind of similar to what the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds would do – except we are flying 60-year-old airplanes."

AeroShell performed at both the 2003 and 2004 Dayton Air Shows.

"We are very excited to come back to Dayton – the Birthplace of Aviation," Henley said.