The Cleveland Air Show - 2019

In what has become a bit of a tradition for me and my dad, we headed to Cleveland to catch the air show.  When we went for the first time, we were on the air show grounds and then we discovered some spots where we could get decent views for free.

 One of those spots is pretty close to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I wish I had brought a chair or something with me as this would have been a pretty decent spot.

 We arrived in time to see a C-130 from the Ohio National Guard go through its paces.

 Considering the design is over 60 years old, it's amazing that these planes are still flying.

 I mean this plane isn't 60 years old but even this version is pretty old.

 It still does it's job though.

 And the plane coming in for a landing.

 This exhibit was pretty cool.

 I love watching biplanes go through their paces.

 The next group was the Geico Skytypers.  I presume if the weather were better, they would have wrote in the sky.

 They fly AT-6 Texans which was an advanced trainer during and after World War II.

 they were going through some pretty cool paces.

 A sort of bomb burst formation.

 One of the slot planes.

 And they break out again.

 An A-10 getting ready for a later sequence.

 Next up, we got to watch the F-35 go through its paces.

 Even though I'm not terribly fond of the aircraft, it was pretty cool to watch.

 Although I think the F-22 was more impressive to watch.  It's a shame they killed the F-22 before they got more of them.

 Kicking on the afterburners.

 A shot as it passes by.

 Another shot with afterburners.  Sadly, I missed what would have been a cool shot as it came in with a shock wave.

 It pulls up.

 The A-10 comes back.

 They did a heritage flight with an A-10.  I hate to call this a heritage flight as the A-10 is still flying.  I suspect there was supposed to be another aircraft with this but the weather was a little iffy.

 I kind of like this angle.

 This would have looked better with another fighter, I think.

 The F-35 pulls away.

 The Golden Knights preparing to go up.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get a decent shot of them.

This is a Cessna 208 coming in for a landing.  It was kind of neat seeing a float plane.

 Next up was the Yankee Warrior.

 Visitors to this blog know that the Yankee Warrior is from the author's current town.  She ended up doing a simulated bomb run.

 and she comes in for a landing.

 The main attraction was the Thunderbirds.  At this point we headed back to the parking garage because it looked like we were going to get rained on.  As a result of the weather, the Thunderbirds were flying the three ship formation and had one solo plane.

 They didn't do any high speed passes.

 And it was unusual seeing just a three ship formation.

 Usually, there would be four in the famous diamond.

 One of them flying towards us.

 The leader flying off.

The solo plane joined the rest for the diamond and this formation.  This would be the second show I saw this summer that had to be modified because of weather.

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.