Thunder Over Michigan 2026 - Got MiGs?

Yes, Thunder Over Michigan had MiGs.

Not one but two MiG-17s to be exact.  One a Lim-5 and the other a Lim-6 variant.

Lim-5

Lim-6

 The Lim-6 has a beefed up strakes on the wing with strongpoints for air to ground attack, and has and an extended tailcone that was originally designed to have a parachute but that was never put into production, and instead it is used as a transport pod.

Both MiGs taxied out together for a tandem takeoff.

 

Quite a sight as, with afterburners roaring, they took to the skies.

 

Then we got some formation passes.

They were hard to pick out of the sky in the smoke and twilight until they got rather close.

 

Managed some decent shots of the MiGs in the grey. Whether in camo or bare metal, both were hard to pick out of the muck.

 

Soon they landed and taxied back after a darn nice display of their speed, power, and maneuverability.

 

 

 

An impressive display of two historic jet warbirds.

Two Airplanes And Crews Down In Airshow Collision

A terrible accident at the Commemorative Air Force’s Wings Over Dallas Show occurred yesterday.

Fox 4: Historic military planes collide in mid-air crash at Dallas Executive Airport

The B-17 Texas Raider, seen in better days above,  was lost with all on board.

The P-63 Kingcobra that struck the B-17 was also lost with its pilot.

Freom looking at the various videos of the collision, it looks like the P-63 deviated from its own airshow lane and crossed into the B-17's airshow lane and hit it behind the wing, severing the rear fuselage leading to both planes having uncontrolled crashes.   The NTSB investigation will probably provide more detail in time.

Given the angle of approach, The B-17 pilots most likely never saw it coming and had no chance to react, and had no chance at all to recover after the collision.

That makes six dead in a tragic accident, along with the loss of two irreplaceable historic aircraft.

The C-17: When A Lot Of Stuff Absolutley Positively Has To Be Delivered Anywhere, Anytime

When you need a lot of stuff delivered around the globe, you use a C-17.

Selfridge featured a demonstration of the capabilities of the C-17 Globemaster III.

A four-engine transport par excellence, the Globemaster demonstrated a hot takeoff and with a roar of all its engines it up in less than 2,500 feet and climbing.

Turns out its also pretty darn maneuverable for a plane that size.

It made some pretty tight turns and was very photogenic.

It then came in for a landing and demonstrated a minimum distance landing as well.

 

It came to a stop show center and then taxi'id off the runway, 

Quite an impressive and nimble display for such a large aircraft.

The C-17 can carry 170,900 lbs of cargo and the aircraft has even been known to carry a whale to its destination.

A Perfect (A-) 10

Selfridge didn't just showcase their A-10 squadron, the 107th Red Devils only on the ground, although they did have an impressive ground display of multiple A-10s:

They also showcased the gun that the A-10 was built around.

You could enter the ready area where the planes are prepared for their sorties:

You did, however, have to cross this rather serious warning and red line to do so:

It was very neat to get to see the A-10s up close, in their native environment, including a demo of their tactical load-outs.

The A-10s did not stay on the ground however.

They also took to the air, with four of them airborne at once, and demonstrated the A-10s impressive low-level maneuverability.

 

The A-10s then performed a 4-ship mock ground support mission, complete with full radio communication with a JTAC controller running the simulated mission.  Basically pairs with good separation between aircraft would engage the target and approached from different directions.

This was impressive to see, especially as the squadron had deployed to Afghanistan and seen extensive missions providing ground support to troops in contact combat there.

 To finish it off, they formed up with a KC-135 Tanker to perform a refueling demonstration.

Simply an awesome display of A-10s in flight, and you don't get to see formations of A-10s flying at many airshows, much less doing a simulated combat mission.  Generally they're static on the ground.  

The A-10s in flight were a crowd favorite - not only did they put on one heckuva demonstration of skill in their awesome aircraft but they're our hometown heroes, based right out of Selfridge.

That was an incredible demonstration by Selfridge's A-10s.

A Nest Of Hornets

Selfridge played host to a nest of hornets this last weekend on the flight line.

 

There were Canadian Hornets in demonstration livery:

 

US Navy Hornets represented by a EA-18 Growler from Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ-131.:

And the rare US Air Force Hornet:

 

Up until this weekend I did not realize the Air Force had the Hornet in inventory. They do.  Yes, the US Air Force operates the Growler as part of the 390th Electronic Combat Squadron.

Unfortunately, both Canadian CF-18 Hornets were down-checked and unable to fly at the show due to maintenance issues.

But we did get to see the Growlers fly as they left Selfridge at noon.

They then formed up and did a loud and fast flyby.

Then they headed back to base.

Given the Super Hornet's popularity due to it's featured role in Top Gun: Maverick, the extra and unscheduled flyby was appreciated by the crowd.  

The Skyraider Roars At Selfridge

The Douglas A-1 Skyraider took to the skies at the Selfridge Air Show.

To say it's a big and powerful beast of a prop plane is an understatement.

Even on the tarmac, it exudes an air of power and menace just waiting to be unleashed.

It can certainly could carry a lot of ordnance on its ground attack missions. With 15 external hardpoints with a carrying capacity of 8,000 lb, it could bring a lot of bombs, rockets and other armaments on its missions.

The name of this particular Skyraider is Bad news, and it sure brought bad news to anyone who stood in opposition to its mission on the ground.

 

The Skyraider was in service from 1946 to the early 80s with reamrkable service in boththe Korean and Vietnam wars. The aircraft also served in the South Vietnamese Air Force, with the French in Algeria and Chad, in the Royal Navy, and even were put into service by the Swedes.

It's 18 cylinder radial engine carried it through the skies rather effortlessly, if loudly.

It put on quite an impressive demonstration.

More People Whose Takeoffs In A Plane Do Not Equal Their Landings In A Plane

To open the show after the lunch break, the US Army Golden Knights demonstrated why they are one of, if not THE, best parachute teams in the world.

First they dropped in a paratrooper with streaming the US Army flag.

 

The Golden Knights were not content with merely demonstrating how your landings can fail to equal your takeoffs.  

They decided to demonstrate how your landings via parachute can fail to equal the number of parachutes you started with.

They did this by deliberately fouling a chute and cutting it away.

Step One: Foul up a perfectly good chute:

Step Two: Cut off the main chute and watch it floating away:

Step Three: Deploy the reserve chute.

He landed faster using his reserve rather than the main chute, due to it being a smaller size, and quite likely also due to the additional weight from carrying a couple big brass ones.

He then nonchalantly landed right on the mark like it was just another day at the office.

Next was a jump of two jumpers who deployed the chutes together while staying connected almost all the way to the ground.

They disconnected seconds away from landing and each made a perfect landing.

The final jumper carried the Michigan flag to earth.

That was one heckuva impressive display of skill, precision, and daring by the Golden Knights.

People Whose Takeoffs In A Plane Do Not Equal Their Landings In A Plane

When is it that your number of takeoffs in  a plane do not equal your landiongs in a plane, but the plane still lands just fine?  It's when you jump out of a perfectly good working aircraft.

The Selfridge Air Show opened with a performance from The Misty Blues.

The Misty Blues are an all-female parachute team from Michigan, 

They opened the show by parachuting in during the playing of the national anthem with the American flag.

Soon followed by the Canadian anthem and flag for our neighbors also attending and watching the show.

Both jumpers landed on their marks with precision. The rest of the team then landed with their own streamers matching their parachute coloration.

An impressive opening to the show.