Thunderbirds

WannaFly

WannaFly

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
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19
Location
Sparta, MI
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Display name:
Mike
My youngest brother-in-law is doing a tour with the Thunderbirds. They are going to be performing in Battle Creek on the 4th and he has VIP passes for the whole family. :goofy: It is going to be a blast. I will get some photos and post them on my blog over the weekend.
Anyone ever seen these guys before?
 
They were at Sun 'n Fun this year down at the Lakeland, FL airport.

I've been watching them since they were flying F-4's.

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Also watched them fly -38's in the past and saw their first public show in -16's at Dayton, OH back in the 80's .
 
I saw them two days ago!
(Arctic Thunder, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska)

It was an overcast day, so I think we got the "low show" rather than the "high show". Great show. Pilot #5 was a local Alaskan (I think), and had the whole crowd cheering.

--Kath
 
Weather looks great for the high show this weekend. My wife has mentioned a couple times that she'd like to go, plus her brother's wife just had a baby. Could mean another trip across the pond.

We flew over last year to see the Blues and ended up parking at Duncan. They had a roped off customer appreciation area that ended up being show center for the Blues. While we had a great view, the paying public was stuck between the tower and 13/31.
 
Steve said:
They were at Sun 'n Fun this year down at the Lakeland, FL airport.

I've been watching them since they were flying F-4's.

d4c-118173-12.jpg


Also watched them fly -38's in the past and saw their first public show in -16's at Dayton, OH back in the 80's .
Click to expand...

I remember seeing them at Fairchild AFB outside Spokane in the early 1970s. F-4s at the time. That picture brings back memories.
 
I got to work the ramp at MLI in 2000 when the T-Birds were parking there for the Quad City Airshow which takes place across the Miss. River at DVN. DVN doesn't have the ramp space/personnel for a row of F-16's, so they parked at MLI.

I was working on my PPL at the time and my CFI was a regular volunteer for helping with the airshow. He told me to stop by after a solo flight, which I did of course. Spent the afternoon poking around the ramp with the -16's, a few -15's and assorted trainers. They asked me to come back the next day (which was the actual day of the show).

Since we couldn't see their show at DVN, when they came back from their show, they did a mini-show for us at MLI. Cool! One part of the 'show' that not a lot of people pay attention to is their ground show which includes boarding, startup, runup, taxi out. You could set your watch with their cadence!
 
Have you seen the next version of the Thunderbirds?
 

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Witmo said:
Have you seen the next version of the Thunderbirds?
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LOL!

I've seen the Thuderbirds at airshows a few times and they were superb. They were performing at Millville, NJ (MIV) one day and I flew into Atlantic City (ACY) and was lucky enough to time my depature as they were landing to stay the night and I guess get some R&R at the casinos. They performed a mini-airshow as they landed and it was spectacular. They parked the F-16's and were getting out as I was taxiing to the active. Each one of them snapped to attention and saluted me an my little Tiger as I taxied by. I returned the salute and thanked them on Ground. I had the biggest smile in my entire life after that. They were great.

:D
 
Awesome show. Great weather.
Had the opportunity to shake hands and talk with the 12 officers on the team and get up close with one of the jets. Very cool.
I even get to hang out with a few of the team Monday night at my brother-in-laws home before they leave for their next show. Looking forward to that.
I will post a couple of shots when I get out of work.
 
CJones said:
One part of the 'show' that not a lot of people pay attention to is their ground show which includes boarding, startup, runup, taxi out. You could set your watch with their cadence!
Click to expand...
That's true of the Blue Angels, too. We saw them at Boca Chica a few years back. Watching the announcer was interesting too. He's standing ramrod straight, with an assistant changing out the cards for him, in a very militaristic stance. Yet his delivery sounds like this wild, excited guy! Quite a contrast!

As to the pilots, they sat down precisely as their names were announced, and the linemen pulled out the chocks in unison. Never thought I'd see "Precision Chocking!"
 
This is as close as we got to the jets used in the show. There was another one in the hanger behind me for photos.
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They even had my brother-in-laws name on the side.
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These are some very nice images in these posts! Thanks!

Though the UAV thing -- ugh!

For those that haven't seen the Canadian Snowbirds -- I heartily recommend the effort to see them. They fly older, less powerful Mentors but their flights are more akin to ballet than sumo.
 
I saw the Thunderbirds at SnF this year and that was the first time I'd seen them since the mid-60's at Eglin AFB. They were flying the F-100 Super Saber at the time.

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Frank Browne said:
I saw the Thunderbirds at SnF this year and that was the first time I'd seen them since the mid-60's at Eglin AFB. They were flying the F-100 Super Saber at the time.

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Frank, killer shot.

Run that through Noiseware and USM that, and I bet it will pop like no tomorrow. The colors are almost dead on perfect.

Great shot. :yes:

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
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