Flandreau graduate David Myers will lead a four-plane, diamond formation over his hometown for its Sesquicentennial.
Myers, lead pilot for the Vanguard Squadron, said the group will make passes over the parade route beginning at 10 a.m. Friday.
“I’ve flown over the city a few times, but nothing like this,” he said. Crowds enjoy seeing four planes in formation. “When they’re blowing smoke and things like that, it’s pretty cool.”
The squadron needs at least 800 feet of cloud clearance in order to fly and can’t fly in the rain because the propellers are wooden.
“Let’s hope the weather is good,” he said. The squadron will orbit a few miles west of town before flying in for the fly-over.
Myers is a 1983 graduate of Flandreau High School and graduated from South Dakota State University with a bachelor’s degree in teaching and a master’s degree in counseling.

“It’s good for me just to get back to the community a little bit,” he said.
He has been with the Vanguards for eight years and participates in about 10 airshows a year.
“We practice about two to three times a week when the weather is nice,” he said. “From Flandreau, we’ll go to Phillips, Wisconsin, for an airshow.”
Myers, who is a counselor at Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, has been a pilot since 1989, but he bought an airplane first.
“I graduated from college, and I bought an airplane. I didn’t have my license. I bought an airplane and learned to fly,” he said.
The Vanguard Squadron will fly in from Tea, where they are based.
The squadron is the only ethanol-powered airshow team in the world. The team of four airplanes has been flying formation airshows for more than two decades.
The squadron flies Vans RV-3 aircraft that has been converted to burn ethanol, which gives a performance boost and is more economical.
The squadron’s main sponsor is Poet, and they also are sponsored by SDSU’s aviation program.
Vanguard is a corporation, and the team supports itself by sponsorships and doing airshows.
“It’s a part-time hobby for us. We’re self-supportive,” he said. “It’s just the thrill of flying. For most of us, it’s more promoting aviation.”