Even with the Smoke over Michigan, leading to the cancellation of the Friday show due to weather being below minimums for safe flying, the show went on Saturday.
Smoke was still present, and having the show run from 3pm to 9pm with the airshow performances themselves taking place from 6-9pm made lighting conditions rather unpleasant for photographers. The joy of dealing with smoke and the sun shining right in your lens through breaks in the smoke made a less than ideal photographic environments.
For all that, the airshow offered some neat performances.
The highlight of the show was the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows, with this being their first time performing in Michigan, on a special tour for America's 250th anniversary.
Flying here via Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and on down to Michigan their next and final US performance will be at Oshkosh.
The Red Arrows did a staggered formation takeoff of 3, 2 and 2 for sevena aircraft in the air.
They quickly assembled into formation and the show began.
It began with a unique formation that may never occur again: The Red Arrows with the US F-16 Falcon Demonstrator jet:
Lots of cool formation acrobatics then took place.
The pilots were having an interesitng time keeping sight of each other in the smoky conditions which made it a tad harder than a typical show.
It ended with a formation break
and then a landing in beautifully timed, spaced, and tightly executed sequential order, with a perfectly spaced formation taxi back to the ramp.
An impressive display of precision team airmanship under difficult conditions.
The RAF Red Arrows did a phenomenal display and very well represented the best of the Royal Air Force and the United Kingdom.
1 comment:
Living in Muskegon for over 30 years now, I have had a lot of experience with air shows, but one year stands out.
I was leaving work, which was within a mile of Lake Michigan, and had just turned the corner from my small street onto one of the main drags that leads across town to my house. Overhead I heard a thunderous noise, that actually scared me. Looking above, I saw a Stealth Fighter of some type, banking and flying perhaps 200 feet right over me.
It was the most impressive sight that I ever saw, and it reminded me that nobody can touch America when it comes to military technology.
Having worked in the steel making industry that supplied the military industrial complex, with metal for things from jet engines to the tail fins of the sidewinder missiles, I have no doubt that in a 3rd world war, America could ramp up production fast enough to have it be a factor as it was during the 2nd world war.
And yes, I got my hands on thousands of fan blades from military jets and tail fins from the missiles. It is both cool and somewhat humbling.
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