It's Show Time....
The weather was ominus and rather eerie when I arrived for Air Show duty around 8 A.M. today. With the ceiling hovering around 5-7,000 feet and stiff winds flying, both aerobatic and formation, would be difficult....but the show goes on. Shortly before the first flights went up it did rain some big heavy drops, but then stopped. So the aerobatics pilots, professionals that they are, went about their business. And my transportation personnel went about their business of hauling aviation devotees in. 1000's of them. A little "iffy" weather doesn't stop most old airplane fans from showing up.
This is the 13th airshow I have assisted with since the CAF moved to Midland, and though certainly not blase about the flying, I have seen it all, at least once. But we do try and keep our eyes skyward, for these planes are something not to be missed no matter how many times you've seen them. The sound of a multitude of radial engines starting up, taking off and flying over head is something amazing. As my friend Del finally realized today, and said.....there is something gut wrenching and sensual about it. It's something to be missed in the jet age.
A few notes about the amazing performances. The jet assisted propeller driven Bi-Plane is always one of my favorites. It's an enigma. An old prop plane that is doing lazy loops until the pilot hits the "Jets" and streaks straight up almost from a stall. Then there are the Heritage flights. Three WWII vintage Army and Navy prop fighters flying with a fourth modern jet. It shows how far we have come. And then there is Ken Shockley's Jet Powered Semi-Truck. Julie saw it for the first time today and was amazed at it as I always am. Here's a guy who's mounted three military surplus jet powerplants onto a semi-truck cab allowing him to motor along at a top speed approaching 400 m.p.h. He gets there in about 5 seconds. I've met Ken and you can't really tell he's crazy by talking to him
Due to my "position" and stature in the CAF we are able to sit right along the taxi way not far from the runway where most of the planes land..and where Mr. Shockley performs his power run. He has a habit of driving the truck along this taxiway, dumping raw fuel into the jet turbines and lighting it off. The result is somewhat akin to a napalm explosion. Today he did this directly in front of us..surprising the beejeebus out of Julie and nearly singing our hair. It felt kind'a good on a chilly day.
Our private spot viewing spot is between the runway and the ramp where all the bombers are parked. As we sat there watching 15-20 fighters taking off right in front of us..P-51's, P-47's, P-39's, F4U Corsairs....we heard the bombers start to fire up their radial engines behind us. Four B-25's, two B-17's, a B-24, 2 A-26's and the B-29. It didn't take much dreaming to imagine that you were in Britain in 1944 and also to think of the sacrifice that so many pilots and crews made as they too started up there engines, headed for Germany and not the peaceful skies of West Texas. We owe them so much and our gratitude to them is the reason we have this show.
Today's pictures at: Saturdays Air Show
The weather was ominus and rather eerie when I arrived for Air Show duty around 8 A.M. today. With the ceiling hovering around 5-7,000 feet and stiff winds flying, both aerobatic and formation, would be difficult....but the show goes on. Shortly before the first flights went up it did rain some big heavy drops, but then stopped. So the aerobatics pilots, professionals that they are, went about their business. And my transportation personnel went about their business of hauling aviation devotees in. 1000's of them. A little "iffy" weather doesn't stop most old airplane fans from showing up.
This is the 13th airshow I have assisted with since the CAF moved to Midland, and though certainly not blase about the flying, I have seen it all, at least once. But we do try and keep our eyes skyward, for these planes are something not to be missed no matter how many times you've seen them. The sound of a multitude of radial engines starting up, taking off and flying over head is something amazing. As my friend Del finally realized today, and said.....there is something gut wrenching and sensual about it. It's something to be missed in the jet age.
A few notes about the amazing performances. The jet assisted propeller driven Bi-Plane is always one of my favorites. It's an enigma. An old prop plane that is doing lazy loops until the pilot hits the "Jets" and streaks straight up almost from a stall. Then there are the Heritage flights. Three WWII vintage Army and Navy prop fighters flying with a fourth modern jet. It shows how far we have come. And then there is Ken Shockley's Jet Powered Semi-Truck. Julie saw it for the first time today and was amazed at it as I always am. Here's a guy who's mounted three military surplus jet powerplants onto a semi-truck cab allowing him to motor along at a top speed approaching 400 m.p.h. He gets there in about 5 seconds. I've met Ken and you can't really tell he's crazy by talking to him
Due to my "position" and stature in the CAF we are able to sit right along the taxi way not far from the runway where most of the planes land..and where Mr. Shockley performs his power run. He has a habit of driving the truck along this taxiway, dumping raw fuel into the jet turbines and lighting it off. The result is somewhat akin to a napalm explosion. Today he did this directly in front of us..surprising the beejeebus out of Julie and nearly singing our hair. It felt kind'a good on a chilly day.
Our private spot viewing spot is between the runway and the ramp where all the bombers are parked. As we sat there watching 15-20 fighters taking off right in front of us..P-51's, P-47's, P-39's, F4U Corsairs....we heard the bombers start to fire up their radial engines behind us. Four B-25's, two B-17's, a B-24, 2 A-26's and the B-29. It didn't take much dreaming to imagine that you were in Britain in 1944 and also to think of the sacrifice that so many pilots and crews made as they too started up there engines, headed for Germany and not the peaceful skies of West Texas. We owe them so much and our gratitude to them is the reason we have this show.
Today's pictures at: Saturdays Air Show
