The airshow itself was great, but you haven't seen fireworks until you've seen them at Louisville. They have the largest fireworks display in North America. It is quite a sight. Unfortunately; other fireworks displays just aren't as impressive anymore.
Here's a few photos from the evening.
The rest of the photos can be viewed here.
 |
| Thunder Over Louisville 2009 Fireworks |
This airshow was April 18th and was, so far, the best I've seen. While there was no USN Blue Angels or USAF Thunderbirds, it did have the F-22 Raptor. This was my second time seeing the F-22. My first was in Dayton last year. It is truly an amazing aircraft. It can do things other planes cannot and it has stealth technology. The most impressive thing about it is they don't have a dedicated plane. Every F-22 used in a demo is a full-combat ready plane. They take one from the nearest base that houses them. Unfortunately, this plane is nearly on the chopping block. I'm not going to get into politics here, so I'll leave it at that.
We left at 4am and arrived in Louisville at 12pm. I had already been up for 24hrs straight (my work schedule didn't allow me to sleep before we left). We went straight to the river to watch practice. It started with 4 Apache's and 2 Chinooks. The pilot of the Apache with the tiger mouth decided to show a little for us since we were the only ones there. He kept moving toward us until he was so close, the rotor wash was blowing water on us. It was pretty awesome.
This was our first time here and it has now become a must go to every year show.
Here is the list of performers:
Kentucky Air National Guard Special Tactical Parachute Team
Lima Lima Flight Team
L-39 Albatross
Red Bull BO-105
Mike Wiskus & the Lucas Oil Pitts
F-15 Eagle Four Ship Fly-by
F-16 Viper
F-18 Hornet
C-130 Hercules
B-52 Stratofortress
B-1 Lancer
A-10 Warthog
F-22 Raptor
USAF Heritage Flight: P-51, F-22, F-16, F-4
P-51 Mustang
F-4 Phantom II
Miss Geico Racing Team
CH-46 Sea Knight
AH-64D Apache Longbow
CH-47 Chinook
KC-10 Extender
T-38 Talon
German Luftwaffe Tornado
AC-130 Spectre
MV-22 Osprey
I had almost forgot about adding the random photo that is completely unrelated to the airshow.
A Mallard duck in the river.
All the photo's from the airshow can be found here.
 |
| Thunder Over Louisville 2009 |
...I take too many photos and have been working way to much lately to keep this currently updated. I still have Louisville, USAF Museum, and Wright-Patterson AFB Military Tattoo posts to do. I hope to get these done in the next week and half. All of the photos are processed now except for about half of the Military Tattoo photos. Then there will be another lapse after two airshows July 18 & 19.
Saturday, August 30th, I made the trip over to Cleveland to watch the air show. This year was much better than last year. I believe the US Navy Blue Angels are what pushed it over the top. Last year, the USAF Thunderbirds performed. I thought they were great. Now they are just good, the Blue Angels are great.
What I thought were just ordinary pictures, actually turned out to be great thanks to various backgrounds.
First off was a picture of a USMC Humvee. I was just taking a pic of the Humvee, after I got home I realized how nice the skyline of Cleveland looked in this pic.
The second picture is of the Blue Angels. I'm still learning how to photograph planes going several hundred miles per hour. I basically just click and pray. But this one has the sun in the background.
If you've never seen a C-5 in person, you cannot appreciate how enormous it is. While traveling to the airport, the tail was the first thing I seen.
I once again got distracted by the shiny objects. This one was a B-17G called "Yankee Lady"
Of course; I almost always find something completely unrelated to the air show that captures my attention.
A giant cow. Look at the back of the RV at the rear of the cow.
Complete with giant teats.
Now for a couple Blue Angels pics. The first pic is of Fat Albert. It's the Blue Angels maintenance plane that also does a demo.
I would like to post more, but I have to remember those who may have dial-up. So CLICK HERE and it will take you to the photo album where there is a whole lot more great pictures. I think there's about 420 pictures in the album
I took about 300 pics at the show and my new camera is much better than my old one. It's nothing fancy. Just a Kodak Z812 IS. It's 8.1MP with a 12x optical zoom. It takes pictures and records video in HD. Pretty good for $249.
During the air show, they were offering Huey rides for $50. It was tax deductible so I assume it was going to some kind of good use. I prefer to keep my feet on the ground. However; my brother jumped on the chance. The thing about my brother is, while other kids were acting stupid and whatnot, he spent his time studying aircraft. It's his passion. For him, going to an air show is like going to the Playboy mansion. He can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about anything that flies.
But back to his Huey ride:
Everybody boarding
That's him in the white shirt in the gunner seat
And away they go.
This was his first flight of any kind. He said it was the best $50 he ever spent. I'm surprised he got out voluntarily, I was sure security would have to drag him out.
They were operating two Hueys at a time. I think each one carried 10 people. They ran these Hueys until after the show was over to ensure everyone who wanted a ride, got it. There was no shortage of people wanting rides, the line went on forever.
This was my favorite of all the aircraft:
It's a B-25. Everywhere they could put a gun, they did. I think the reason I liked it so much was because it was shiny. I tend to get distracted by shiny objects.
As I said before, the flight crew stayed in the same hotel, and ate breakfast at the table behind us.
Out off all the amazing things at the air show, this was definitely the best:
This Hummer is awesome just to look at, but there's more to why I like it so much
Take a look at what's in the trunk.
Flat screen HDTV, Xbox 360, & a sound system that bumps so hard it vibrates your nether-regions.
Of course; they had many souvenirs you could purchase, and I picked a up a few, but my favorite is my coconut cup. For $12 I got a coconut cup with a non-alcoholic lemon daiquiri. It was actually just frozen lemonade.
I have to take a moment and tell everyone about the hotel. We stayed in the Dayton Airport Hotel. We got a room with 2 queen beds for $79. The room wasn't spectacular, but it was nice. The most important thing was the people at the desk were very friendly. It made a great impression and should we decide to go to Dayton next year, we will definitely stay at that hotel. The restaurant in the hotel, Wilbur's Bar & Grille, served me the best bacon cheeseburger I've ever had. It was delicious and not some happy meal cheeseburger either, it was hefty.
I will post some pictures here and include a link at the bottom for the entire album. I will go right down the schedule.
First off was the flag drop by the Misty Blues all-woman skydiving team.
The Collaborators aerobatic demonstration
US Army AH-64D Apache Attack Helicopter
The B-25 "Panchito". The flight crew stayed in the same hotel as I did and sat at the table behind us during breakfast.
USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon
Ohio Air National Guard C-130H Hercules
F-104 Starfighters. These things were FAST. I was only able to get 3 pics of them, one of which turned out good.
Sean D. Tucker aerobatic demo
US Navy F-18 Super Hornet w/Corsair legacy flight
AeroShell aerobatic team
USAF C-17 Globemaster
USAF F-22 Raptor
F-22, F-16, P-51 Mustang heritage flight
Video of the F-22
All the pics, including aerial demos and static aircraft
 |
| 2008 Dayton Air Show |
