FOND DU LAC, WIS. – The wingwalking team of Dave Dacy and Tony Kazian were the featured speakers at the annual Midwest Antique Airplane Club (MAAC) banquet, November 15, 2025, at the Radisson Inn in Fond du Lac, Wis.
The award-winning team described what it was like performing and traveling on the airshow circuit throughout North America. Sometimes just getting to an airshow was as harrowing of an experience as actually performing, noted Dacy, who is based in Harvard, Illinois.
Dave Dacy started performing a solo routine in the early 1970s, up to the time noted wingwalker and Hollywood stuntman, Johnny Kazian, became his wingwalker. It was Johnny Kazian who performed the aerial stunts for the 1975 motion picture “The Great Waldo Pepper,” starring Robert Redford. Kazian’s son, Tony, became Dave Dacy’s wingwalker when his father retired. Today, Dave Dacy continues to be involved in the airshow entertainment industry as an Aerobatic Competency Evaluator (ACE).
Tony Kazian began wingwalking in 1988, and with Dave Dacy beginning in 1997. Tony explained that his mother demanded that he use a safety cable initially, but eventually he did away with it which gave him the freedom to climb from the cockpit of the 450 Stearman biplane after takeoff to its wings untethered! Kazian performed freestyle by just hanging on to the aircraft during all aerobatic maneuvers. It was a breathtaking performance shown on video at the banquet.
The wingwalking routine was just one act presented by the “Dacy Family Airshow Team,” which included Dave’s brother, Phil, announcing the acts; Phil’s wife, Julia, who took care of logistics; Dave’s sister, Susan, who flew a solo routine in her own 450 Super Stearman; and many other top performers including “Flying Irishman” Joe Dooley, “Flying Farmer” Sid Nelson, and Vlado Lenoch in his P-51 Mustang, “Moonbeam McSwine.”
The Dacy Family Airshow Team is the 2007 recipient of the prestigious “Bill Barber Award For Showmanship,” which was sponsored by World Airshow News, and Friends & Family of the late Bill Barber, airshow performer extraordinaire!
MAAC was founded to promote interest in antique airplanes. The organization has expanded to include all aspects of aircraft preservation and the restoration of antique and classic aircraft. The organization has grown to more than 800 members from throughout North America and several foreign countries. Honors earned by MAAC members include over a dozen national grand champions and numerous other top awards.
There are two events that highlight MAAC’s yearly activities: the members-only “Grassroots Fly-In,” held in September in Brodhead, Wisconsin, and its annual banquet, which is held in the fall in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
MAAC officers include Justin Niemyjski, President; Joel Gehring, Vice President; Alex Koerner, Treasurer; Julie Heston, Secretary; and Jessica Schaefer, Newsletter Editor. Directors include Fred DeWitt, Alex Koerner, Luke Lachendro, Connor McCartney, and John Ricciotti. Lachendro auctioned off numerous gifts and mementos at the banquet to raise money to support the organization.
For additional information, visit https://www.maacgrassroots.net/
