The Cleveland Air Show

It's been a pretty disappointing summer for me as far as Air Shows go.  I couldn't make it to the Dayton Air Show.  It was too hot when Willow Run came around.  So I had to go to Cleveland yesterday.  It looked like we might be too late to make it there.  As I said, it sounded like there were issues with parking.  So we didn't make it to the Air Show grounds themselves.

 We did make it in time to catch the tail end of the Golden Knights.  The jump was too far for me to get pictures of the knights themselves but I did manage this shot of their plane.

 The next part was a demonstration by the Canadian Air Force.  This was a CC-130 refuelling a CF-18 Hornet.  It was cool to see planes from something other than the United States.

 The CC-130 peels off and the Hornet goes on its way.

 Another shot of the Hornet with the Maple Leaf readily apparent.

 One of the nice thing about the spot where we watched the show was that I had a chance to get shots like this.  I think there was enough humidity in the air for this as well.

 The Hornet peeling away.  Again, Maple Leaves are evident.

 Another tight turn.

 I think a better shot of the Hornet.  I kind of wish I could have gotten a better shot of its tail.

 A Cleveland Police Helicopter.  If it was anything like last time, I think it was taking pictures of the crowd.

 And a shot of Fat Albert, the Blue Angels' C-130.  You can see the props creating their own vortices.

 Another shot of Fat Albert.

 And one as it passes over.

 I think the best thing about the spot where we were was the chance to get shots like this.  I mean there are thousands of shots of Fat Albert against a blue sky but few against landmarks.

 Fat Albert turning away.

 And coming in for a landing.

 Fat Albert landed.  This was another shot that I couldn't have gotten from the show itself.

 And the Blue Angels preparing to take off.

 Pulled back to show both ships.

 One of the slow demonstrations.

 The diamond passes by.  This was the unfortunate part about this spot, I couldn't get a proper shot of the diamond.

 A shot with the frigate's mast in the foreground.

 The diamond approaching.

 And passing by the Key Tower.

 This one sort of worked.

 A tight turn by one of the Blue Angels.

 And a roll.

 The diamond in landing formation.

The inverted diamond.

 One of the high speed passes.  This was one of the other disadvantages of our spot.  The passes were further out and we could see how far apart they were. 

 Another tight turn.  I just wish the plane were a little clearer.

 Passing by in review.

 Another shot of the diamond.

 A solo shot of one of the Blue Angels.

 Another shot with Cleveland in the background.

 The diamond peeling off.

 And reforming.

 And another shot with the Key Tower in the background.

 The Delta formation.

 One of the planes had to land early, so not quite a delta.

 The tip of the delta.

 One of the Blue Angels passes over getting ready to land.

 Another coming in for a landing.

 And another.

 The last one coming in for a landing.

As he passes by and gets lower.

All in all, I had a pretty good vantage point for the show.  It gave me a chance to get some shots I would have otherwise not gotten but I think I prefer to be at the show.