Chicago Air and Water Show - Part the Second

Even though we got a few sprinkles, the show continued.

 Next up was the Oracle team.

 The biplane is the Oracle Challenger III being flow by Sean Tucker.  The monoplane is the Oracle Extra 300L being flow by Jessy Panzer.

 I thought they announced that last season would be Sean Tucker's last season but apparently he is sticking around for one more.  When he retires, the biplane will be put in the Air and Space Museum.

 It is pretty amazing to watch these pilots put their planes though their paces.

 The biplane doing a pass.

 The monoplane after a dive.

 The pair of them coming by.

 After a loop.

 I think this was a hammerhead.

 A nice roll.

 A roll by the biplane.

 I'm not sure what this maneuver was called.

 The pair of them.

 And the pair of them fly off.

 Next up was a demonstration of the F-22 Raptor which I will have to say is a pretty amazing plane.

 I guess it should be after a 20 some year development cycle.

 It's really too bad they stopped production because I think it is a much better aircraft than the F-35.

 Definitely a view I would not want to see if I were an enemy.

 The Christopher Wheatley is the first fireboat delivered to Chicago in sixty years.  It was delivered in 2011 after being built in Wheatley, Ontario and is named after the first firefighter to die on the job since 1998.  She is designed for operation in Chicago with its low bridges and shallow rivers.  She is equipped with four diesel engines.  Two of which are used for the four water cannons.

 As I said in the last post, there was quite a bit of moisture in the air and that made for some dramatic pictures.

 I kind of like this shot.

 And I really like this shot.

 She goes by on a pass.

 And pulls up.  The plane has the ability to go straight up and still accelerate.

 This was a maneuver call the "falling leaf".  The plane goes down like a falling leaf.  It is pretty cool to watch.

 The F-22 is equipped with vectoring engines and that give it the ability to turn pretty tightly.

One more shot.