Aero display pilots
Through being involved with an aviation mag and an airfield where we have our own air show and also host the stop over for a sea front display I get to know and watch a number of the displays. Quite often I have to tread carefully to avoid upsetting people as there are some big personality clashes out there but my own perspective is that anyone who is out there trying to make a living out of displaying aircraft in flight should be applauded whether they are giving a technically superb display or leaning more towards entertainment.
Denny was the subject at the start of this thread and he generates quite a bit of reaction on the circuit. I have flown with him and would again. His tail up arrival is entertaining as is his ribbon cutting display. I put him in the entertainer category and a hard worker.
Also entertaining are the guys who fly the Utterly Stearmen. Martin and Mike are not going to win awards for their extreme aeros during the display but they do know how to entertain the crowd and work hard for the sponsor.
Slightly different is the show put on by Will Curtis in the Sukhoi. The gyro manouvres are more interesting to a technical audience.
What I have seen as an attitude is that these guys don't claim to be superior. They don't pretend that they are better than the competition guys but just don't have time to compete. They do a different job.
My vote for best still goes to Dennis Kenyon. An unassuming guy who can make a helicopter do things I wish I could have the nerve to try.