Now 55 seasons later, Clisham continues his enthusiasm for air show announcing just as he has in the past years.

Clisham was in Minot this week taking part in the Upper Midwest Aviation Symposium held at the Grand Hotel.

Clisham said the first air show he ever announced was quite by accident.

“It was in Elkins, West Virginia. I had gone down there moving an airplane for a famous air show pilot,” Clisham said. The pilot had two planes so Clisham moved one of them.

Eloise Ogden/MDN Danny Clisham poses for a photo on Monday with a group from the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, during the Upper Midwest Aviation Symposium in Minot. From left to right are: Robert Lunnie, UND Aerospace faculty; Hunter Pearce, UND UAS student; Clisham; Jack Engstrom, David Karolinski and Scott Keane, all UND UAS students and UAS/RC Club members. At the bottom is Jordan Krueger, UND Research Institute for Autonomous Systems project manager.

He said the air show had hired a local TV anchorman to be its announcer. “It was justified because he was a pilot in a local flying club and he knew about aviation. He hyped the show and the festival it was associated with on his TV programs so it was a good fit all around,” Clisham said.

“While he was a pilot he didn’t think about the fact that he was going to announce an air show so as professional as he was he got up on the stage with his microphone,” Clisham recalled, Clisham was at the base of the stage.

“One of our air show airplanes took off and he said, ‘OK, it’s taking off now…. What a beautiful airplane. OK, he’s off to the right now. He’s turning around. He’s turned around. Here he comes. There he goes,'” Clisham said. The announcer continued in that fashion. The announcer didn’t know the maneuvers.

Clisham got behind the announcer and out of ear shot of the microphone and told him, “I’ll whisper the maneuvers in your ear and you explain them to the public.”

“About the same time I got up behind him, he realized that for 90 minutes that was all he was going to be able to say,” Clisham said. The announcer realized he needed to do something.

The announcer turned around and handed the microphone to Clisham, saying, “You got it,” and left.

“I carried the rest of the show which I have to say I had been openly studying air show announcing from the professionals for a long time in a lot of different ways,” Clisham said. “To say I was ready is an understatement but I was ready, I had the desire and here’s my opportunity.”

Clisham said the man who ran that air show told him he would be their announcer. That was in October 1965 and the start of Clisham’s air show announcing career.

Since then, Clisham estimates he has been the announcer at thousands of air shows.

He said all the air shows are very important to him.

“I’ve seen these great individuals that produce shows for their hometowns. I’ve seen them as young kids, I’ve seen them get married, I’ve seen them raise their kids, I’ve seen the kids go into college, I’ve seen their kids get married. So there’s a big family tie with all of this and we’re still accomplishing great entertainment for people,” he said.

“We’re proud of our form of entertainment because it’s family oriented. Whether it’s a little kid in a stroller or a young family or their parents or their grandparents, there’s something at an air show for everybody of every age – still thrills and excitement,” said Clisham.

He said air shows are held out of doors in a healthy outdoor environment and are good family entertainment.

“We don’t embarrass anybody with our words or deeds,” he continued. “We are very conscious that we are a family and we have a civic responsibility to be role models for these people of all ages, but especially the kids, especially the teenagers who might not have a clear direction in their life.”

He said air show pilots often will say, ‘I didn’t know what I was going to do until my father, brother, uncle took me for an airplane ride and from that time on I had a purpose.

He said those types of people have gone into all facets of aviation. “They have been great contributors and many of them, but not all of them, are professional pilots. But it’s the spark that we hope to give because it was the spark that we received as kids. We were inspired by our heroes… and given the great opportunity by our heroes to be what we wanted to be, to be like them. That’s the rewarding part of the whole business,” he said.

Announcing hasn’t been his only career. He’s been an airline pilot. “That was one of my other dreams,” he said. He said an airline pilot career fits in with air shows because they do not work every day and can do air shows on the weekends.

Clisham’s credits also include providing on-screen and voice-over work on film features and he has been an aerial stunt coordinator, a stunt double and safety adviser on feature films and hit TV shows.

He’s been to Minot at various times and is a charter member of the Dakota Territory Air Museum in Minot.

Clisham and his significant JoAnn Nortley spend winters in Los Angeles and summers in Ann Arbor, Mich.

People ask Clisham how long he’s going to continue in the business. “My quote is, ‘I am now booking through the year 2030.’ I have no intention of quitting because it’s still fun. I still have great enthusiasm for it and I strive at every show in whatever town we’re going to, to be better than I was the day before.”