Photo:The longest wall of flame soared
into the sky at the Yuma Air Show, causing thick smoke to
cast a shade over the air field and thousands of spectators.
-photo by Laryl Hancock (enlarge
photo)
Event organizer Roger Lopez, the
Marine Corps Community Services marketing director. says the
Longest
Wall of Fire was made up of dynamite, electric blasting
caps and 20,000 feet of detonation cord. A bomb squad coordinated
the blast along the station’s flight line.
World Records guidelines for the Longest
Wall of Fire state that the fire wall must be continuous
without gaps for at least five seconds, with flames reaching
at least 40 meters high.
The inferno was the finale of a day filled
with daring flights by aerobatic pilots, skydivers and military
jet fighters.
A Marine dropped the plunger setting off
the charges as a flight of replica World War Two Japanese
Zeros buzzed the runway. The Zeros, along with a few Kate
Bombers, had just finished re-enacting the Dec. 7, 1941 attack
on Pearl Harbor, which they dubbed "Tora, Tora, Tora!"
The previous world record for the longest
wall of flame was a 6,636-foot wall of flame set in 2007 at
the Indianapolis Air Show.