The Premier Fighters Of Their Times Together

The F-22, the premier  fighter of today was joined by the premier fighter from World War 2.

The F-22 and P-51 flyby:

The P-51, F-100 and F-22 together on the taxiway:

The F-22 Raptor

The star of the show was the demonstration flight of the F-22 Raptor.

America's and likely the world's best fighter jet in the skies today was on display in a rare public flying display of this aircraft.

It looked awesome up close on the ground:

On Taxi the gold colored canopy really stood out:

The rectangular thrust vectoring nozzles are quite distinctive.

Takeoff was fast and relatively quiet:

Then right up into a burner climb. There's apparently 9 different afterburner modes on the F-22.

The F-22 Demo Team showed a lot of the awesome maneuvers the F-22 can do and made tons of quality passes by the crowd.

The F-22 from the front:

From the back:

Some good looks at the top of the plane as it passes by:

A very cool flyby was one done slowly with the weapons bay open:

A pass with the weapons bay closed:

There were low passes and low burner passes.

Fast moving passes:

A vertical climb:

Then just for fun they flew the F22 slow in the vertical and basically just let it stand on its tail in one spot neither gaining nor losing altitude without the use of afterburners:

To say this flight of the F-22 was an awesome display would be an understatement. But the display of the F-22 didn't end there.

Mustangs!

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.

Where BRRRT Comes From

The GAU-8 30mm Gatling gun, home of the Brrrt.

It's darned impressive up close.

Yes, those barrels are rifled, and the rifling on this cannon in particular was nice and sharp.

The GAU-8 is attached of course to the most impressive air-ground aircraft yet built, the A-10.

It's a very cool aircraft to walk around and the GAU-8 certainly is an attraction all by itself.

Sadly, the A-10 was static display only (with tons of people constantly crowding around it, forget about a shot taking in the entire aircraft) this time and did not take to the air, which would have been awesome.

Classic WWII Bombers

Two Classic US Army Air Corps bombers graced the skies and flew at Thunder Over Michigan, both owned by the Yankee Air Museum.

The B-25:

The B-17:

Both were giving rides to the attendees for a reasonable (considering the operating and maintenance costs of these beautiful birds) fee. Maybe one day I'll fly in one, but if I'm paying that kind of coin, I want the co-pilots seat!

The F-100 Super Sabre

The F-100 Super Sabre rocked through the skies over Willow Run airport.

The F-100 took off with the greatest of ease.

The first US Fighter to attain supersonic speeds in level flight, the Hun rocked the show, especially with the very distinct and loud bang sound of its afterburner igniting.

The Hun whipped its way across the sky.

Quite the sweet and loud sound from that jet engine.

The exhaust could be clearly seen during slow flight as the engine is not very efficient at low speeds at low altitude, but it made for some good pictures.

A perfect landing and then it taxied off to the ramp.

More Helicopter Encounters At Thunder Over Michigan

It was time for some crime-fighting demonstrations and for the Michigan State Police to demonstrate their helicopter and law enforcement skills.

There was a report of a "suspicious vehicle" on the west side of the airport, so an MSP car and helicopter went off to check it out.

Yes, it was a simulation not an actual incident, and they showed how the helicopter could track the "suspect" both in the vehicle and out of it, leading to his "arrest" by the trooper on the ground.

Either during the day or at night with its searchlights and FLIR, if a criminal tries to run from the MSP's chopper, he's just going to be tired when he's arrested.

Then another crime fighter took to the air.

Yes that is the original Batcopter from the original Batman television show.

Adam West sadly did not make a personal appearance, but it was very cool nonetheless.