‘Having the Time of My Life’ as 50-Year Volunteer

Danny Clisham, EAA Lifetime 19320, said he always knew he would become an air show announcer.

“I grew up in an area with a disproportionate number of air show pilots and stunt men, and I knew a great number of them,” he said. “As I traveled the circuits, I felt … it was a bit too much like a carnival and not enough Hollywood. Pilots were really skilled and working [hard], but the announcers weren’t conveying just how difficult their maneuvers were. I wanted to rectify that.”

Danny has certainly done that. An air show announcer since 1965, he is celebrating his 50th year as a volunteer announcing the daily air shows at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

An airline pilot, aerial stunt coordinator, safety adviser, and member of the Air Show Hall of Fame, Danny said in the 1970s he did a lot of shows with the Red Devils, which consisted of Tom Poberezny, Charlie Hillard, and Gene Soucy. Through Tom, he got to know EAA founder Paul Poberezny, who was looking to improve the announcing at EAA’s air shows.

Danny announced his first EAA air show in 1976 and said the key to his success has been his ability to be entertaining, as well as educational.

“People come to air shows to be entertained,” he said. “They want to forget their worries so I entertain them and include a tinge of education so hopefully people find it interesting.”

Plus, he said it’s easy to know so much about aviation when you grow up surrounded by pilots like his uncle, Jimmy Mynning, an air show and airline pilot, and friend Bill Barber, air show pilot extraordinaire, who were always willing to share their knowledge. Coincidentally, in 2006 Danny received the Bill Barber Award for Showmanship.

Danny dresses the part, too, usually wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a heavily starched vest and creased black pants with a custom-made Panama hat.

He said it’s an honor to be asked to come back year after year.

“The fact that this is the world’s largest aviation celebration, and that it started with one man and one woman is amazing,” he said. “I often think back to the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams. When I first saw that movie, I thought they just copied from Paul and Audrey, except they used a flat field (for a baseball diamond) instead of an airfield.”

In the movie, Costner hears a voice telling him, “If you build it, he will come.” And that’s exactly what happened for EAA and its annual fly-in convention, except “he” became “they.” Attendance for the weeklong convention and fly-in set a record in 2025 at 704,000.

“Paul always said we have to protect the vast ocean of air above us and guard it or people will take it away from us,” Danny said. “In a lot of countries, the skies are not free. So for me, volunteering here is a way to pay back the vision that Paul and Audrey had ….”

Danny said he has no plans to retire as an air show announcer. “My current marketing and advertising says, ‘Now booking through 2030 and beyond,’” he said. “As long as I have the mental and physical capabilities and am able to entertain, I’ll continue. I’m having the time of my life.”