Thunder Over Michigan 2019 - Part I

I'm going to break this into three posts so as not to have too many pictures in one post.  I took quite a few again.  And there were quite a few that I ended up using.

 They didn't have either the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels this year.  I actually don't mind that so much because they don't get as large of a crowd.  I'm used to the air show starting around noon but this year they broke it into two parts.  They had a morning part and an afternoon part.  I missed the morning part and it looks like it might have been pretty cool.  But that's okay because they had the afternoon chock full of stuff too.
This year's theme was Corsairs and they had a bunch of them.  I think they had 11 on the ground and they ended flying ten of of them.  There aren't too many places where you can see that many Corsairs in one place.

 This is a Corsair wearing the markings of VF-17 or the Jolly Rogers.  That squadron has gone through a few iterations but is still in service today.  Currently they are VFA-103 and fly the F/A-18.

 The Yankee Air Force's C-47.  Recently they repainted her to look like a C-47 from the Burma theater.  I'm still not entirely sold on the idea as I liked the old paint scheme because it was unique.

 I kind of like the fact that it was a little cloudy.  Since they didn't have the Blue Angels, it didn't really matter.

 The C-47 coming in for a landing.

 Unfortunately, it was a little on the warm side, so I was getting a little bit of heat haze.  At any rate, they were taking people for rides in her.

 The P-51 that was about to take off.

 One of the other planes owned by the Yankee Air Force, a Waco.  This is another plane that you can take rides in.

 And of course, the Yankee Lady.

 This is known as the Quicksilver Mustang and is owned by a man named Scott Yoak.  He and his dad Bill Yoak worked on restoring this plane.  Bill Yoak used to work on planes used by various TV shows and movies.  He flew some of the planes on Baa Baa Black Sheep and helped build the Blue Thunder helicopter. 

 He started working on this plane in 1994.  He would later die in 2013.

 Scott Yoak started flying the Mustang at the age of 20 (which isn't much younger than the people that flew them in the war).  Over the years, he has logged over 6000 hours in it.

 Whatever parts they couldn't get, they ended up making.  I will have to say it was a pretty impressive display.

 Another picture a little more cropped.

 One more before the display ended.

 And a wave from the pilot.

 They were having some issues with the F-16, that was supposed to go up.  So they started the ground demonstration.  Here is a group of Germans.

 Some Americans on a White Scout car.  I'm not sure what kind of 50 caliber machine gun they were using though.

 The Germans on their half track.

 Some Americans in a half track with a more normal looking 50 caliber machine gun.

 The White Scout Car pulling away.

 The Americans taking some shots at the Germans.

I think this was a 37mm cannon.

The Dawn Patrol Rendezvous - Part II

After the flight demonstration, I decided to wander around and look at some of the things they had set up.

 They had a few people that were dressed up in World War I uniforms.  These guys were dressed up as US Marines from World War I.  If you will recall, the Marines fought in a few battles during World War I and they fought pretty well.

 A Vickers 0.303 inch water cooled machine gun.  This machine gun was developed by the Vickers Company in 1912 and saw service with the British Army until 1968.  It could fire at a rate of 450 rounds per minute.

 Someone depicting someone from the Medical Corps.

 Some of the equipment used by the Medical Corps.  He had a pretty sizable set of equipment. 

 There was someone there with surveying equipment from the period.

 A map and some of the direction equipment that would be used in conjunction with the map.

 A person representing a soldier from the Canadian Army.  Because they were part of the British Commonwealth, they were equipped with British equipment, so a British soldier from the same period would look similar.

 Some more British equipment.

 A pair of German helmets.

 A US Soldier.

 A US helmet from the 1st Infantry Division.

 This person would be depicting a US pilot from World War I.  I think he is wearing Cavalry boots from the era.

 A German Soldier.

 Another SPAD.

 I think one of the interesting things is how sparse the cockpits are.   Although many of these things are still in a modern cockpit in one form or another.

 I think some of the pilots opt for a more modern looking cockpit.

 They also had some cars from the era.

 A Buick.

 Another Buick.

 A pilot posing in front of the Pup.

The McLaughlin Auto Company began in 1876 as the McLaughlin Carriage Company near Oshawa, Ontario.  In 1907, they became a car company.  They became part of General Motors later.

 They also had some decent scale aircraft.  This is one of the German bombers.

 During the demonstration, it dropped some simulated bombs.

 A radio controlled version of one of the earlier aircraft.  I think this is a French aircraft.

 The Wright Flyer.

 A model of a Canadian airplane.

 The Fokker Triplane.  Sadly, I wouldn't see this bad boy take the sky.

 Another one of the radio controlled planes.  It's amazing how realistic these look.

A fire truck set up, just in case.