Airshow
My car is somewhere under all that dust
I love airshows. I've been going to them ever since I was a little kid. When I was growing up my dad would take me to see the Thunderbirds when they came to Mitchell Field in Milwaukee. At the beginning of the year I still check the schedules for both the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds to see if they will appear anywhere close to Boise. Things just haven't worked out the past few years so it has been a long time since I've been to an airshow. This year I was excited to see that the Thunderbirds would be at Mt. Home Air Force Base, only forty miles from Boise. I've seen them there several times before since they usually appear at Mt. Home every three years so, which is their normal scheduling cycle for most venues. My son Mickey and I were there in September 2003 when one of the Thunderbirds crashed. Fortunately the pilot ejected safely at literally the very last second, although it pretty much ended his career as a fighter pilot.
There were two F35 Lightnings on static display
The airshow was scheduled for the two days immediatly after we got back from our two week trip to Alaska. Although we had been gone for a long time I was planning to be there for at least one and maybe both days. When we got back though we were busy sorting things out from the trip and I totally spaced it on Saturday. It was probably just as well since sadly one of the civilian aerobatic performers, Dan Buchanan, crashed his hang glider and was killed. The remainder of the show was cancelled Saturday but the decision was made to continue as planned on Sunday and dedicate it to Dan's memory.
Although the Thunderbirds didn't fly until late in the afternoon, I was there at 11 am. There are usually fifty to a hundred thousand people who attend the airshows at Mt. Home so I wanted to get there early. They had cleared a huge field for parking but the conditions were horrible. Where the cars drove in the dust had to be three inches thick. I felt sorry for the airmen who were directing cars for parking. They wore goggles and scarfs over their faces but were completely coated in dust. It was a very unpleasant and dirty job.
A Zero taxis by after landing
There were a lot of static aircraft displays but I had seen most of them before. The only one that was new for me was the F35 Lightning. They had two on display. Unlike the other aircraft they were roped off and there were two guards armed with assault rifles. A large sign proclaimed "Use of deadly force authorized". I was content to take pictures from behind the barrier.
There was a lot more to the airshow than just the Thunderbirds. A group called Tora Tora Tora flew several restored WWII Japanese aircraft and simulated the attack on Pearl Harbor. They had four Zero fighters, two Kate torpedo bombers and a Val dive bomber. I love to see old WWII airplanes fly and I had never seen a Zero in the air before. The planes made multiple passes to simulate bombing and strafing runs. A lot of pyrotechnics were set off as the aircraft made their passes to simulate bombs exploding. It was exciting to watch. It was amazing to see a whole formation of Japanese WWII aircraft flying overhead.
A P51 flies by another Mustang and two F22's on the ground
Next was a flight demonstration by a P51 Mustang. Of all the airplanes ever made, my favorite is the Mustang. It's just a beautiful airplane.
Whenever I see a P51, I remember an airshow that I went to many years ago with my dad out at the Caldwell airport. They had several P51's there and at one point four of them flew over in formation. I remember my dad looking at them and saying that it was the most beautiful thing in the world. It went back to his experience in WWII. He was just eighteen years old and was a tail gunner on a B24 bomber. On a mission over Germany, his plane had been hit by flak and lost an engine. On three engines it couldn't keep up with the other planes and had to drop out of formation. Stragglers were especially vulnerable to enemy fighters but his plane was lucky. Four American P51's flew escort for my dad's plane. They couldn't make it all the way back to England but did get back to allied occupied France before they crash landed. I remember an old 35mm movie he showed me once that he had taken from his tail gunner position of the P51's flying alongside his crippled B24. Remembering the look on my dad's face as he watched the formation of P51's fly overhead so many years later is still a powerful memory for me every time that I see a Mustang.
Brad Wursten doing aerobatics in his MSX-R
Next was an aerobatic display by Brad Wursten. He flew a small, light, highly maneuverable, high-powered aerobatic plane, the MSX-R. It seemed like he never flew straight and level for more than two seconds. He was always doing loops and snap rolls and stalls. He would make the plane pitch head over tail. He even flew it sideways, hanging in the air on the engine. The guy was a heck of a pilot and it was fun to watch him fly.
Next was a flight demonstration of the F22 Raptor. I had never seen an F22 really put through it's paces in the air. It was pretty amazing. At one point the pilot did a climb, gradually slowing until he did a tail slide. I've never seen that done in a swept wing airplane before. The risk of going into a flat spin and not being able to recover is too great. I guess the F22 can handle it though.
And when it did a high speed pass with full afterburner, it was loud. Not just loud.
IT WAS LOUD!!!
It actually hurt my ears. Remind me to take ear protection next time I go to an airshow.
Heritage Flight - P51 Mustang and F22 Raptor
At the end of it's demo, the F22 joined up with the P51 for the Heritage Flight. It was very impressive to see the P51, living history from WWII, flying with the state-of-the-art F22 fighter. I was reminded of a quote from Yogi Berra, the great American Zen philosopher (and a pretty good catcher too). "Honor the past. Embrace the future."
Next up was an aerobatic demonstration by the Yak 110, the first ever at any airshow. It was a weird airplane, literally two Yak 55's bolted together, a twin fuselage aerobatic plane reminiscent of the old P38 Lightning from WWII. With two engines it obviously had a lot of power but I was surprised that sometimes it sounded more like a jet than a prop plane. Then when I looked more closely I saw that there was a jet engine hung between the twin fuselages. The plane defintely had a lot of power!
Finally it was time for the Thunderbirds to fly.
I have probably watched the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels at least twenty times but I was still totally amazed when they
The Thunderbirds taxi by as they get ready to take off
As always, the Thunderbirds were great. I love to watch them. It's a combination of engineering mastery, pilot skill and artistic beauty when they fly over. The sight and sound is just amazing. My favorite maneuver came at the end, when the four plane diamond did the Bomb Burst and then the four plane crossover. When the two solo pilots do opposing passes they use the two ends of the runways to line up. I'm not sure how they do the four plan crossover. Obviously timing and positioning is critical. It's certainly impressive to watch.
When the Thunderbirds finished I hung around for a while. I wanted to wait for the crowd to clear out. That was when I bought my tshirt for the day. The one that I got was really cool, showing the history of the Thunderbirds, what planes they had flown for what years. This year is the sixty fifth anniversary of the Thunderbirds. It just so happens that it's also the sixty fifth anniversary of me. I guess 1953 was a good year.
