At the military base we explored numberless aircraft on static display. It was fun to see the variety of jets and airplanes. This was my favorite picture of the day:
A few aircraft were open to the public, so the children were able to climb into the flight deck and get some pictures taken. This was a highlight of the day.
Some of the bombers had the hatches open, so you could walk under it and look up to see the weapons perched above you. That was unnerving. I didn't take pictures of that because I don't want to glorify fighting.
Some of the planes were so huge that they made the people look like little bugs. It was strange to think of such a large piece of metal being able to stay airborne. It seems to defy reason. This isn't even one of the big cargo planes: they are so much larger. The kids didn't want to walk down the flight line so far to where the biggest cargo planes were sitting.
The air show itself was really interesting. They started off with the B-1 bombers. A few of them took off and came back over the crowd going faster than the speed of sound. Here is the B-1 coming at us.
It was amazingly surreal to see this massive jet coming towards you without being able to hear anything from it, then as soon as it passed, the sound of the engines was so loud that it vibrated my entire body. Amazing! This performance seemed to be a family favorite. The B-1 also tried to break a world record for speedy climbing up to 10,000 feet. It beat the previous record by more than 90 seconds! It was so incredible to watch this: it looked to us like the plane just made a vertical climb straight up into the clouds. Throughout the day they would occasionally fly past the crowd at Mach 1, and the noise after they passed was loud enough to set off all the car alarms in the parking lot!
Another great performance was done by the "Tora!Tora!Tora!" group. They reenact the bombing of Pearl harbor in restored American and Japanese fighter planes. This group stages reenactments for documentaries, and this was the fleet that performed in the Disney movie "Pearl Harbor". When I first saw them take off, they looked like toys compared to the other massive military aircraft. I wasn't expecting to enjoy watching this little teeny planes, but I was surprised with how amazing they were. THey were so agile it reminded me of hornets buzzing around. They dropped imitaion bombs along the air strip to add to the effect of confusion while the little fleet of planes zipped around the sky chasing each other. It was really neat to watch. It gave me a greater appreciation for the people that experienced this in real life. I realize this was just a handful of planes and don't come anywhere close to comparing to the real raids, but the sounds of the bombs, air raid sirens, the planes, etc all made me think how terrifying it would have been in real life.
Nathan loved a particular WW2 bomber, so we caught a picture as it landed.
There was an amazing stunt plane performance of a biplane. This plane did the most amazing tricks, doing so many loops and twists and corkscrews. We noticed something was on top of the plane's wings and tried to figure out what it was. I zoomed in with the camera and discovered there was a person standing on the top wing, connected by a cable! Incredible! That must be the thrill ride to top all rides! As the plane flew upside down and looped around the person would dance and wave to the audience.
At the end of the day the Thunderbirds performed. These are an elite group of pilots that travel the nation doing stunts with F-16s. Here is Sarah with the Thunderbird crew behind her.
By this time in the afternoon, the children were getting tired. Daniel was so funny: as soon as it was time for the highlight of the show, he no longer cared to see them. I guess the Thunderbirds aren't as riveting as they thought they were.
The show itself was really neat. They did so many tricks at such close range, there seemed to be a collective gasp whenever it looked like there was an impending crash. The pictures just couldn't capture the tricky maneuvers, so I didn't post any of the best moves on here. You'll just have to trust me.
The precision with which they flew was so incredible. I've only seen things like this on documentaries.
There was one pilot that kept flying over the crowd at high speeds with his afterburners on, causing a deafening roar. He's keep coming above us from behind, so we never knew when to expect him. It was so loud it set off car alarms, but it didn't wake Daniel. I don't know how he could sleep like that! It was so loud our ears hurt, yet he didn't stir.
After the show we took Peter out for dinner, then he took us out to Coldstone Creamery. It was a nice end to an exciting, albeit LONG day. Nathan had a 19-hour day since he drove all the way there and all the way back whilst everyone else slept in the van. He's so amazing!
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