Summer 2010 Recap

For the 2010 airshow season I didn't see a whole lot of action, as I had class on almost every Saturday. I did, however, get to make it out to the McChord AFB Air Expo Friday through Sunday, which was SPECTACULAR! Each year the McChord show gets better and better! Last years show had a LOT of vintage jets, including the FJ-4B Fury, MiG-15, MiG-17, 2 F-86 Sabres, and an F-4 Phantom. It was amazing to see a vintage formation including the FJ-4 Fury, F-86, MiG-15, and MiG-17 all together for Sundays show. The airshow did not have the Thunderbirds, but instead had the Patriots. For my first time seeing their show, I was VERY impressed! And if having them in place of the Thunderbirds means a greater selection of performers, I welcome them yet again for the 2012 show!

A few times I was able to sneak out of class during lunch time and make it to the airport just in time to catch the warbirds taking off for the Flying Heritage Collection's free fly days. I was very thankful that class was only about 10 minutes from the airport.

Below are some of my favorite images from 2010:


Fj-4 Fury turning final at McChord


F/A-22 Raptor on final approach as the National Anthem is played over the loudspeakers at McChord AFB


Flying Heritage Collection's Curtiss P-40C Tomahawk and Supermarine Spitfire Mk. Vc flyby in tight formation


Navy Legacy Flight featuring the FJ-4 Fury and F/A-18F Superhornet


You don't see this often! From top: FJ-4 Fury, F-86 Sabre, MiG-15, MiG-17


Two F-86 Sabres pass by in formation. The lead (green camo) aircraft is flown by Capt. (ret) Dale "Snort" Snodgrass


Air Force Heritage Flight featuring the F-16 Falcon, A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-4 Phantom, and F-86 Sabre


Colling's Foundation B-17G Flying Fortress


Historic Flight Foundation's Grumman F7F-2 Tigercat


Historic Flight Foundation's Grumman F8F Bearcat


Historic Flight Foundation's B-25D Mitchell "Grumpy" gets a figher escort from their P-51B Mustang and Heritage Flight Museum's P-51D Mustang during Vintage Aircraft Weekend


One of my favorite days of last year was Flying Heritage Collection's Luftwaffe Day featuring their Fieseler Storch and Messerschmitt Bf-109E-3 Emil, shown here!

Summer of 2011 saw the addition of a Focke-Wulf 190A-5!

Enjoy and I will keep the pictures coming!!

Practice and Arrival: Friday, July 18th

One of the things I love most about airshows is the arrival and practice day. This is when you get a chance to see some more rare aircraft that will be on static display. Also the teams practice earlier in the week and provides many more opportunities to get great photographs.
Friday was no exception.

This is how my day began:

KC-10 Extender on very short final.

This C-5A Galaxy seemed to just stop in mid air. As the jet was overhead it was so close all I could see through the viewfinder were individual tires. At 50mm!! It felt like a hurricane after she passed over.


Eagle West turning sharply overhead.

This is where I was for landing. As you can see, I'm just a few hundred feet from where the jets were touching down. Try to imagine that C-5 Galaxy where this F-15 is.


Thunderbird number one coming in to land.

The F/A-18F Super Hornet doing the high speed pass.


This was one of two F/A-22 Raptors that flew in for the static display.

HH-65 Dolphin

P-51D Mustang

C-130J Herculese

A-10A Thunderbolt II, Warthog

C-12

T-38 Tallon

RC-135 Rivet Joint

F-16C Fighting Falcon

McChord AFB Air Expo 2008

If you've read previous posts, you know I was waiting a long time for this show. Unfortunately, at the last minute many changes were made to the show, some major. For example, the MiG Fury Fighters team that flys a MiG-15 and MiG-17 against a FJ-4 Fury canceled a week before the event due to fuel costs. Later all of the other warbird jets backed out as well. For a show that was going to be mainly a jet warbird show, it ended up not having ANY jet warbirds. :( Bummer. But maybe in 2010 it'll work out.

Also, the event brought in record crowds! On Saturday the record was broken as 150,000 people attended the airshow. The next day 227,000 people showed up!

The linuep included the US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet demo, USAF F-15 Demo, USAF Thunderbirds, a B-2 Sprit flyby on Saturday, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Bud and Ross Granley, Tim Webber (I love your flying, but do you honestly have to sing about being high?), Air Force Reserve Jet Car, MiG-17 from Classic Aviation in Oregon, the C-17 single ship demo, Wings of Blue jump team, and the McChord Airfield assault with three C-17's.

Great show, everyone! There were no awkward pauses, except for the usual 45 minutes it takes the Thunderbirds to taxi out to the runway, twiddle their thumbs, then take off. But that's just how the Thunderbirds roll.

The next posts will feature photos from Fridays practice and arrival day, and the show on Saturday and Sunday, July 19th and 20th.