Hugh Oldham
2022
After returning from Vietnam, Hugh Oldham began his airshow career in an odd way. He organized the Univ of South Carolina Parachute Club. This allowed him to break into the airshow entertainment business. He also became the Narrator/Pilot/Chief Bottle washer for the Skyhawks, a 3-man Pitts aerobatic team out of SC. They performed in over 16 shows a year for numerous years. Hugh has had a sorted career including: Air Traffic Controller in the Military, Airboss, Pilot with over 2500 Hours, Parachute Jumper, column writer for World AirShow News, but he is better know as the Hugh Oldham narrator extraordinaire for well over 3 decades. Hugh was and is very involved with the Boy Scouts of America and still today volunteers his time and talents for scouting events. Hugh is well known in Anderson SC for his volunteer work with High School boys who needed some guidance and direction in their life. He has several young successful men who benefited from the attention and guidance by Hugh. Hugh was well known for bringing these young men to airshows as helpers. He would pay them and drag them along to shows all over the Southeast. Hugh was a volunteer teacher in the local high school in Anderson SC for many years teaching technology courses as Hugh was an engineer in the real world.
Hugh has shown a willingness to serve the air show industry as a past ICAS BOD director. You could always count on Hugh to express his opinion and give advice to BOD members and ICAS members. He was very passionate about the Air Show industry. Hugh wrote a column for AirShow News for many years and just recently retired from that column. He always told it like it was. It sometimes was controversial but always made you think, which was his intent. It always was to help the Air Show Community get better and stay safe. Besides being a Narrator, AirBoss, Pilot, Parachute Dummy and Air Show Organizer, Hugh was always looking after the folks who provide support to the performers or better known as “Grunts”. Hugh was a big proponent of the little guy/girl who worked tirelessly to support their performer. Hugh was always working with up and coming narrators, both civilian and Military. Hugh conducted seminars at the annual ICAS convention for narrators both military and civilian. Numerous civilian and military narrators are indebted to Hugh for his willingness to mentor and provide valuable input and feedback to improve their narration delivery skills to ensure a professional act from start to finish. Hugh was always stressing knowledge to the new narrators. Hugh felt knowledge separated the good from the bad narrators. Hugh has stepped back from his narrator duties in the last year and was a consultant to the Anderson SC airport where he developed and directed numerous airshows over the last 15 years. Hugh deserves to be inducted into the ICAS HOF for his tireless efforts for the past three decades supporting our industry as a whole, mentoring the individuals who continue to work, and guiding the shows that keep our industry alive. Hugh is exactly who we need highlighted in the HOF to demonstrate the professionalism and expertise that are the foundations upon which our industry is built. Hugh has paid his dues! Let’s honor him for his tireless efforts on behalf of the Air Show Community.
