The Yankee Air Museum's B-17G Yankee Lady took to the skies.
The rumble of her 4 engines filled the sky as made her passes along the show line.
The Yankee Lady was then joined by some little friend - P-51 Mustangs flying escort.
The escorts protecting the bomber included Mad Max, Old Crow, Gentleman Jim and Cincinnati Miss
It's always thrilling to see and hear that many Mustangs maneuvering through the air.
The air show, while rather different from previous years, was still quite a show.
In short it was a lot shorter as I only had a ticket for the morning show. The updside to viewing the show form beside your car is all your gear, food etc was close at hand. The downside was good shots were often hard to get due to being blocked by other people's vehicles or people standing up in their truck beds etc and not being able to get to the front of the viewing area but being stuck viewing from where you were parked.
We could however walk and see the static displays before the show, which were a lot thinner than in normal years, butt here will still things to see.
Much more to report and some great pictures to show.
The F-22, the premier fighter of today was joined by the premier fighter from World War 2.
There was a herd (or is that a flock?) of P-51 Mustangs at Thunder over Michigan this year.
Gentleman Jim:
Old Crow:
Sierra Sue:
They did a number of circular passes to demonstrate strafing runs and those Merlin engines purred above the crowd. Awesome warbirds indeed.
Yes, the P-38, P-51 and P-47 didn't take to the skies alone. They flew in formation together, alongside a B-17, in a sight few now living have beheld before. Click any photo to embiggen and get a taste of the experience.
Here the P-51 and P-47 fly close escort for the B-17.
A view from the front:
And Below:
Simply fantastic.
Is The P-51 Mustang, with its Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.
Thunder Over Michigan had two of them in the air.
First, Hell-er Bust and it's pilot strutted their stuff, letting us see a P-51 from every possible angle as he put on an awesome aerobatic display.
In a climb:
In a turn:
Straight ahead:
In a dive:
Passing in review:
She was always surrounded on the ground by on-lookers and admirers, making a good shot hard to get.
The P-51 is an awesome warbird indeed, and one of the finest fighters of World War 2 and beyond.
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