Thunder Over Michigan - Part II

 Continuing my air show pictures.

After the F-16 went through its paces, they did a heritage flight.  This year is the 75th anniversary of the US Air Force.

The P-51 was one of the first planes used by the Air Force.   The F-16 is one of the current planes.

Its always cool when they do a heritage flight.

Especially when you consider the F-16 is barely breaking a sweat and the P-51 is almost full throttle.

One more shot of the pair.

The F-16 going through a couple moves.

As did the P-51.

Another shoot of the P-51.

The F-16 goes off into the sunset.

A UH-1 doing a fly by of the crowd.

The Yankee Lady flying by.

The Yankee Lady coming in for a landing.

The Huey coming in for a landing.

Next was an aerobatic performance by Michael Goulian.

He is one of the leading aerobatic and air show pilots in the United States.

He also was in the Red Bull air races.

His plane is a specially designed stunt flyer.

It was pretty impressive to watch him put it through its paces.

It was amazing.

He flew up and fell down.

And all the turns.

Flipping over.

And coming in for a pass.

Another one where he flew up and let the momentum take him higher.

I kind of like this shot.

I really like this shot.

Upside down again.

One more.

Next up was a DeHavilland Vampire.

The DeHavilland Vampire was the first jet mass produced by the British.

She was first built at the end of the war and I think may have seen limited service.

It could go faster than the Me-262.

I think the Vampire would have come out on top.

This is another plane that had a long service life.

It was the first jet launched off an aircraft carrier.

One more shot of the Vampire.

This is one of the things that I like about Thunder Over Michigan and it's something they haven't done as much of lately.

It seems like they used to get a bunch of warbirds.

It's cool to see things like Spitfires in the air.

Especially when you think of how few are left.

A Bf-109.

And FW-190.

And of course, the Cadillac of the Skies.

The P-51 Mustang.

The Spitfire again.

The Focke Wulfe.

The Mustang again.

And the Spitfire.

The Bf-109.

All four of them in formation.

And again.

Then they put the Spitfire through its paces.

It was a pretty nimble plane.

But I still think the Hurricane may have been a little better.

One more.