Staff photo / R. Michael Semple Jim Miller of Parkman, far right, and his granddaughter, Joanna Fisher, 5, of Southington, view an interestingly painted aircraft on display at the ninth annual Wings-n-Wheels event Saturday at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna. Miller likes airplanes and said he enjoys flying remote-controlled ones.

VIENNA — The ninth Annual Wings-n-Wheels event at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport has grown into a family affair as hundreds of people walked around looking at the vintage cars and vintage civilian and military aircraft on display on the airfield Saturday.

Families from all over Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties marveled at the dozens of cars, working airplanes and interactive models that allow visitors to act as mechanics and pilots. Visitors were able to take flights on several planes for a fee.

Champion residents Daniel and Melissa Bodhanel have taken their children, Connor and Logan, to the car and airplane show for at least six years.

“We like the planes and the cars,” Daniel Bodhanel said. “We started coming to the show when it was at its previous location, but came here last year when it moved.”

“Our kids like seeing both the Air Force and the local civilian planes,” he said. “They liked seeing the older World War II movies and the planes that were in them. It was natural to come here.”

Marietta residents Dave and Jamie Cody have been traveling to northeast Ohio for the car and airplane show because it is a good family event.

“We’ve been doing this for six to eight years,” Dave Cody said. “It is something we can do with the kids. “They like seeing the planes up close.”

This weekend’s Wings-n-Wheels is extra special because it coincided with the United States Air Force Reserve’s 75th anniversary.

Air Force Col. Michael Maloney, the newest commander of the 910th Airlift Wing, said the Youngstown Air Reserve Station employs more than 1,700 men and women and is the second largest employer in the Mahoning Valley and is Trumbull County’s largest employer.

“We draw airmen from all over Ohio, Pennsylvania, and, really, the world,” Maloney said. “Our main mission is tactical airlift, as well as providing security and civil engineering.”

Approximately one-third of those working at the air base are full-time employees including active duty military and civilian personnel.

The remainder are reservists who come onto the base for training in skills they already possess and learning new skills that will help protect themselves and others.

Leadership at the base and its civilian partners anxiously are waiting for a decision from Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall III to determine if the base will be the home of the new C-130 J aircraft.

“If we are awarded the C-130J’s, the new planes are expected to be arriving in 2026,” Maloney said. “Initially, we will be receiving the new planes while we are maintaining the older C-130 H planes.”

The Youngstown Air Reserve Station is the only Air Force Reserve base in Ohio. There also is an Airlift Wing of C-17s at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, but that unit is a tenant.

Senior Master Sgt. Bob Barko said YARS opened in 1955 to protect the Ravenna Arsenal, which spans a portion of Newton Falls and Portage County.

It is now known as the Camp James A. Garfield Joint Military Training Center.

During this weekend’s show, the air base is providing a glimpse of its aerial spray system, a cutaway engine, a full-sized F-16 display, a World War II-era B-52 bomber and a 60-foot by 100-foot hangar in which there is a maintenance centric interactive virtual reality exhibit. In it, participants are able to simulate refueling an air craft, change the tires of a C-130 plane and perform other duties that are done on the base.

Barko noted if the base is awarded the new C-130J plane, it will be a $780 million investment in the Mahoning Valley.

Barko, who has been assigned to the base for 17 years, has been part of its growth.

“In the last few years, the base has grown by 42 acres,” he said. “That’s the first acreage growth since 1958.”

The base received its first C-130 plans in 1980 and was assigned the aerial spray missions in 1992.

The base works closely with the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, which supplies its runways and the FAA supplies it dispatchers.

“We are always hopeful, with the community support, we will keep building our military value,” Barko said.

“There still is potential for growth, both on our base, and with the airport. We have potential to add new missions.”

The air base has more than a 330-acre footprint, which includes a 91-acre assault strip leased from the airport.

Today, the Ernie Hall Aviation Museum will have a mini display set up about the local aviation pioneer for whom the museum is named and what it has on display.

Longtime pilot and flight instructor Chester A. “Chet” West of Cortland will be inducted into the Ernie Hall Aviation Museum Hall of Fame during Wings-n-Wheels.

This is the second year the event is taking place at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport after starting at Griffin Sloas Airfield in Howland next to the museum.

The Wings-N-Wheels moved to the airport because it outgrew it previous location.

Wing-n-Wheels is the museum’s largest annual fundraiser.

It helps cover operating costs for the museum in addition to funding scholarships and other charitable donations.

The museum’s other primary source of income is its airplane raffles. Tickets will be on sale at Wings-n-Wheels for $50 for a chance to win a Piper PA-12 valued at $70,000. No more than 4,500 tickets will be sold.