(Click on any picture to enlarge)
Go to our main page
 This summer was Jared's (and Daddy's) first time to a big air show. Wow have we been missing out. This show was at the Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, MI and featured all sorts of planes, including the Blue Angels!  Jared sporting his brand new dogtag  Lots of military equipment to see, get into and touch  Jared posing in front of the show's stars, the Blue Angels  Six F/A-18 Hornets, ready for some awesome aerial acrobatics  This show was also featuring the C-130 Hercules transport planes, there were about 15 there I think  And like most others, you could get up in there and even talk to the crew, very cool  You could fit a tank in these things (almost)  Jared waiting to get into the cockpit  Here we see Sgt. Wester fitting up a new crew member with his helmet  Hey, that's Jared!  Here's the big boy posing in the cockpit  You're cleared for taxi, let's move her on out  Check out the nose on that thing. Yup, Jared was way up there  The air show also included a couple reenactments  This one was an American WWII assault on a German fortification  As you can tell, our seats weren't so great for this part, but it was still very impressive to see the vintage machinery roll by In action, with a mustang strafing run!  Back on the midway, checking out the UofM hospital Survival Flight helicopter that actually visited us in Milan a couple months back  Here we see an MH-53E Sea Dragon attack/rescue chopper. Check out those jet engines, on a copter!  Jared hanging out with one of the crew members  In another area off the midway, they setup a WWII camp  This is where the troops were stationed before and after the event we saw earlier in the day  A long shot of the midway. If you have even the least interest in planes, you gotta get to one of these shows  We ended up getting some cool (literally), tented seats that had a catered lunch. Here's the line for the food  And more line  And even more  Until it ended right in front of us. Forget that! We waited til it died down before we got in line for the mediocre food  Now onto the planes. I don't know what they all are, but I'll try and give some info here and there. Otherwise, enjoy the photos...  These were some WWII Mustangs, the "Texas Flyers" I believe. These were the same guys that flew over some of the parades in Tecumseh In flight!    Avro Lancaster Mk X  B-2A Stealth bomber, ooo      I love this shot    And this shot, finally getting some feel for the 3D of the bomber  This thing was smooth as silk  This was a flight of one of the massive C-130's  The rear cargo hatch was open on this fly by    And now the next level, the jets. Here's the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The power of this thing is amazing The Fighting Falcon in flight! (with awesome high-speed pass action)     This is the "Heritage Flight" with a WWII Mustang  Beautiful  Here's the British Lancaster in the air  I believe this is a British Spitfire  I'm guessing another Spitfire  The "Victory Flight" with the WWII planes  Here's a Huey for the Vietnam reenactment  And now with it's sister  Here's the O-2 Skymaster, quite a unique design with the dual-tail  Here's a few more shots of the Huey choppers in action    What the hell is that?  It's the awesome B-52 Stratofortress!  Now here's the neat part. I happened to be on the phone with Tara for this one, and a few minutes after I hung up, she heard the massive bomber fly over our house  Back to the jets, F-4D Phantom - holy crap this thing has power    This maneuver is called a "dirty pass" where all flaps and gear are deployed during the fly by  The Phantom hitting the afterburner. Oh. My. God.  And that's it. Now, I gotta apologize, because none of the Blue Angels in-air photos came out. Granted, it was mostly me, because I was so enamored by the actual flight, I wasn't paying much attention to the camera. Anyway, you can always check them out on Youtube :) And yes, they are totally worth seeing in person, at the actual show |
Go to our main page