Warbird Information Exchange

I guess the Hind didn't make it

Weather held out until the end of the show, although it clouded up for the F-22. It started to spit a little maybe 15 min after the flying portion of the show, but I was well home before the heavy stuff hit.

Absolutely beautiful day on Sunday...great temp and plenty of sun. Flying was fantastic and the crowd really seemed to love it. Attendance was much higher than Saturday.

I like round engines but really enjoyed the jets, those who prefer jets must have been totally thrilled.

Looking forward to next year the Blues will be coming on Labor Day weekend and it looks like it will be a three day show!

I made the practice on FRI out side the show, SAT inside [with 2 others], and SUN back outside.
Crowd was a heckuva lot larger, I'm sure the great weather was the deciding factor for that. Almost got knocked down by the F-18 demo on takeoff, he stayed low all the way down the runway, when he got to the crowd line he snapped pure vertical and pointed the nozzles right at us from maybe 40 or 50 ft up, quite a blast !
Knocked down 2 pop up sun shelters, blew my hat off about 30 ft away, what a blast ! Shook up some kids pretty badly, I had warned them in advance that they better cover their ears but they weren't prepared for anything like that, parents should know better than to get that close with kids.

F-22 put on a great demo, not much in the way of high speed but rather showcased its unique maneuverability. Stayed a couple hours after the show hoping for takeoffs, almost all aircraft used the runway that runs parallel to Ecorse, bummer. F-100 used the main runway but took off the other way. No one did goodbye flybys like they used to, probably a matter of economics and busy traffic patterns. Never did see the 18's, 22's or 16 take off, or even the P8 or A-10.

Great show, compliments to the organizers and looking forward to next year.

That Super Hornet take off was bad ass!!! I was parked right under the Runway approach lights standing on the side of my car taking pictures getting the F-18 shooting toward us on Ecorse. Friday when I was out there the F-18 would shoot upward before he got to the fence line but today decided to shoot upward over us on Ecorse - best experience ever. I got knocked off the side of my car and saw chairs and tents flying like in that youtube Blue Angels video on Pensacola Beach last year

I was inside the show saturday and most stuff was landing over Ecorse due to the strong South wind but today with the west wind they were landing on Runway 27 parallel to Ecorse. Was hoping that the F-22 would land over Ecorse. At least the Mig and F-100 did.

Great show if you love jets, which I do but I mainly have come here in the past for the WWII era birds.

Really the only gripe I have about what was flying in the show (everything else was great) but the so called Helotown with the Robinson Lawndart and the other civilian choppers- wish that Chinook, Super Stallion, USAF Huey would have gone up. Even the Michigan State Police Bell 430 would have been better than the R44

I must have been right by you, I was within 5 or 6 vehicles from the approach lights, towards Beck, and right next to the easyup shelters that got knocked down, in fact part of it ended up on my buddies van. Did you have a tripod setup with boom by chance ?

Never been much of a helo guy but I do like Chinooks and Hueys, and Skycranes too.
Bretling team was surprisingly good, nice formation work and the flare thing at the end is something I have never seen before. Their closure maneuvers makes me nervous though, don't know what system they use but its usually not runway separation like the Angels and Thunderbirds solos, looks to be more like pure altitude and position separation with very little margin of error.

You guys who were hanging on the roads outside the fence, did you ever make it inside?

If so, most of your questions here would have been answered.

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.

Both of us specifically said we spent a day inside, me with 2 other paying adults that I brought along who would not have been there without me, getting sick of this chastising every single year - And I personally do not have any unanswered questions bouncing around in my mind.

People have been hanging on the fringes of airshows since airshows started, its a fact of life that, unless you can work something out with local authorities, nothing to be done about it. If it makes you feel any better, I hang outside the fence at Selfridge too, which is a free show. I like the view better, I like the fact that I have access to a cooler with food and drinks, I like that I don't have to spend a day baking in the sun.

That said, I have always supported Ypsi shows, going so far some years as not going in at all but buying a ticket anyhow, I encourage others do to the same regardless of snide remarks from the usual source.

yessir - went inside on Saturday like I almost always do. I prefer Saturday since there are still usually more ground aircraft that hang around all day, but 2014 I went on Sunday because I flew on Diamond Lil that day. Last year I went inside on Sunday because the weather looked bad for Saturday as there appeared to be a wall of rain heading towards YIP (but fizzled out around Jackson) but Sunday last year had sunny weather so I went inside.

I have been inside every year either Saturday or Sunday, but Friday I do go outside. If I go inside Saturday, then I like to go back outside Sunday.

Question was about the Mil-24, even though I didn't see it on the ramp Saturday, was wondering if it had a mechanical and it was sitting in a hangar on the west ramp somewhere.

I was standing in the door of my car when the F-18 buzzed us. The tents were about 100 ft from me to the east. I was just standing on a seat in my car with a 600mm lens. I was parked on the south side of the Ecorse Access drive. I had just moved over to there from further east when the Brietling team was flying. Missed the A-4 demo on Sunday, just arrived when it landed - fortunately I saw it inside on Saturday.

I love the Brietling Team formation wise (not an L39 fan though), but they do a great job just like the Black Diamond Jet team with with L39s back in the day. Black Diamond had a mixture of Mig 17s and L39s for their team. Not sure what Rob Reider was saying on Saturday about it being a historical first about a Mig-17 going up with L39s when Black Diamond did it and I am sure Eastern bloc countries did it all the time too.

Solution: Send one of those old army trucks along Ecorse Rd during the show and on Fridays with a couple Rosie the Riviters holding buckets and I bet you could make a couple grand$$$ over the weekend. People would gladly chip in money.

As a photographer, there is no sense going into the show 2 days in a row to get exactly the same shots. Ecorse Rd helps you get different angles like that F-18 that nearly took my head off on take off, but one of my best shots ever of it head on. Thunder faces west so after about 2pm, the planes are back lit so the next day I can get the aircraft in good sunlight.

Like I have always said - I ALWAYS go inside one of the 3 days so I can shoot the statics that may have arrived earlier in the week or some of the show stuff that only perform right in front of the crowd. Arrivals are ALWAYS better on Ecorse Friday though. I have shot from inside on Friday in years past and planes landed too far like they did in 2008 when they were landing from the other direction and hardly anything taxied near us, would go to the other side of the ramp so we were just paying to see the practices that year. In the meantime my buddies were getting close up shots of the planes landing from the Zantop hangar area. Last year when we got kicked off of Ecorse at 10:30am Friday a bunch of people that I know that used to always go inside on Saturday were upset by it and stayed home instead on Saturday - but they went again this year since we didn't get the rude treatment by the cops this year and we were allowed to sit out on Ecorse all day friday without being bothered.

Good idea about a donation mobile working the Ecorse crowd line, should be easy to get volunteers to do, I hope they consider that.

I think with the vast majority of folks who sit outside shows, its not like if you kick them off Ecorse and they had no other options, they'd pony up and pay to get in. Most are just casual observers who could not tell a P-51 from an F-15, many have kids and just looking for something cool to do that day. Some no doubt are legit broke and don't have $50+ to spare to get in, so they watch from the outside.
If they have scanners/cameras then they are more than just casual observers and should feel guilty freeloading if they don't get at least 1 paid ticket. I myself might take an occasional cell phone video but am not into photography, I'm just there because I love military aircraft and have since I was a child.

Here is the F-18 buzz job which blew our socks off, taken by my nephews friend.
Did a great job of staying with it until the noise and jet blast caused him to go into self defense mode and stop recording.

http://vid4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/Xraywolf/Xraywolf028/IMG_08661.mp4

He said his one regret was not getting a shot of the pop up sun shelters getting obliterated too.

This pass is #3 on my list of all time great buzz jobs, had a Phantom and an F-14 that were even lower and scarier than that.

Three Super Hornets from the Navy's West Coast Demonstration Team flew three separate practices (using one E and two F's) on Friday's practice day!

Been hanging around this business for forty-two years and that is a first for me.

You never know what your going to see at Thunder Over Michigan.

An exceptional job Navy!!

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.

MiG-17PF From Photo Pit Friday or Bomber Club Saturday

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May all your bent wings be F2G Corsairs!

U.S.Navy Legacy Flight from Saturday Bomber Club

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May all your bent wings be F2G Corsairs!