Monday, September 4, 2017

Thunder Over Michigan Air Show - 2017

Saturday was the day that I went to the air show.  As expected, I took a bunch of pictures there.
 The first plane that I ran into was the Airbus A400M Atlas.  For some reason it looks like a C-17 and a C-130 had a tryst and produced this.  It roughly between the size of a C-130 and C-17, but liked the C-130 it can use an unimproved airstrip.  It first flew in 2009 and was introduced to service in 2013.  There are currently 51 in service.
 A front shot of the C-130.
Sometimes the crowds force you look for different angles.  A shot of the A400's cockpit.
 The Yankee Lady taking a flight.
 The Yankee Doodle Dandy was also out and about.
 A Delta 747 entering the pattern to land at Detroit Metro.  This wasn't actually part of the air show though.
 A Douglas A-1 Skyraider.  I ended up missing the heritage flight because of the lines for the bathrooms.
 An F-86 Sabre making a pass.
 A P-51 Mustang.
 This was a Super Stearman being used for wingwalking.  If you look under the right wing, you can see the person getting ready to go up on the wing.
 she is equipped with a harness so that the plane can do some pretty impressive maneuvers.
 She gives a wave to the crowd.
 And one more pass.
 This plane was pretty cool.  This is a Beechcraft Model 18 or sometimes known as a Twin Beech.  It was developed as a light aircraft in the 1930's. 
 Prior to the war, it served as an excecutive aircraft and feeder airline for larger planes.  During the war, it was used for just about anything.  Over 9,000 were produced.
 This particular one underwent extensive modifications to go through some stunts that it was probably never intended to do.
 I wasn't able to see much of the ground demonstration though.  Normally we get the club seating but this year that didn't happen.  But it was still cool what I did see.
 A P-40 Warhawk.  Apparently this one was salvaged from the wreckage of the squadrons at Pearl Harbor.
 A trio of C-47's.  They were being used to do an airborne demonstration.
 Prior to the drop, the did a few passes.

 Seeing the drop was pretty cool.
 After the drop, they did a few photo passes.



 A British Airborne soldier.
 The Michigan Survival flight helicopter.  I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a part of the show though.
 A Bearcat.

 And of course, the star of the show was the Blue Angels.
 I managed to get a couple of passing shots.
 The Blue Angels rolling in formation.
 The Mirror formation.
 One of the Blue Angels making a tight turn.
 the inverted diamond.
 Another passing shot.
 The echelon formation.

 Another passing shot.
 The diamond breaking.
 The two opposing solos breaking after doing the high alpha pass.
 They were doing their low altitude show.
 Since the show was kind of packed, I decided to linger around after the show to grab some of the static displays.
 The cockpit of an EC-121.
 A front shot of the Canadian C-130.
 A three quarters shot.
 A C-46 Commando.  I don't remember if I see this one flying or not.
 This EC-121 was saved from the scrapyard after the Chanute Museum in Illinois decided to abandon it.  The Yankee Air Museum hopes to restore it but not to flying condition.
 A line of Gooney Birds.

 An MH-53 Sea Dragon.  This is used by the Navy for minesweeping and other duties.
 Another C-47.
 A frontal shot of the C-47.
 Back to the Airbus A400M.
 A frontal shot.
It was kind of cool because the crowds had thinned a bit.
One more shot.

The air show was pretty fun this year but it seemed a little light on the acts.  I'm not sure if that was because it was cloudy.  It seemed that I saw two other biplanes practicing on Friday.  It also seemed like I saw another plan.  I believe next year is the 20th Anniversary, so I'm hoping it's pretty cool.

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