Thursday, September 30, 2010

Whiteman Air Force Base Air Show - 9/19/2010

Scott invited me to take in the Whiteman AFB Air Show with him on Sunday, 9/19 . He drove and treated me for lunch which made it a really special event. The day started cloudy, cool, and windy. Around noon, the sun burned away the haze just in time for the aerial show to begin. I haven't been to an air show for many years so I enjoyed the heck out of it. In the photo below, the A10 Warthogs (Thunderbolts) are lined up on the tarmac.

A large cargo plane.


Air Force tanker.

An old B-52........still awesome.

The air traffic control tower at Whiteman.

A B-1B supersonic bomber.

The cargo bay of the medium sized freighter. It is large but the C-5 is even bigger.

The bay can hold one Abrams tank or it can be fitted with seats for 165 soldiers.

A aircraft carrier based WWII naval fighter/bomber.

F-18 Hornets ready to go.

The Army Golden Knights parachute team's plane.

Another view of the B-52. If you enlarge the photo, you can see major wrinkles in the skin due to age and the stress of flight.

The B-52's massive landing gear.

The B-52 bomb bay area.

Scott posing in front of the Air Force's monster truck fashioned after the A-10.

Another view of an A-10........one of my favorite planes.

The business end of an A-10.

Impressive rear view of the B-1.

Scott in the bomb bay of the B-1..........as big as the B-52.

A B-26 bomber from WWII.

A P-51 Mustang.

The DC-3.........a Hall of Famer.

Japanese "Zero" fighter.


The B-2 Stealth Bomber.


Apache Attack helicopter.

Acrobatic Bi-plane was fun to watch.


Look carefully to see the "wing walker".

The Navy's prop driven acrobatic team.

An old Russian MIG-17 fighter taxis down the apron.

Fly over by the B-2.

The Air Force Thunderbirds (F-16's) await their show.

A Golden Knight parachuter with smoke trail.

Two Golden Knights streaking down together from 12,500 feet.

The two pull the rip cord and separate.


The Thunderbirds in formation.




An awesome show.
Below is a video of the airshow. Still photos don't do an air show justice. The video isn't great but it has its moments. I used Sigrid's little point and shoot camera instead of my Canon because hers had video capability and I didn't want to carry two cameras. Her camera doesn't have a view finder on it so you have to use the LCD screen to frame your photos. That is tough in bright sunlight and trying to follow fast airplanes with outstretched arms. Click on the Play Arrow to watch the video.
By the way, some people never learn a lesson. With the cloudy start to the day and with me wearing a hat and making it a point to stay in the shade...........I didn't think that the sun screen lotion that I brought with me would be necessary (remember Hawaii). I am almost done peeling 12 days later.


No comments:

Post a Comment