THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN 2011

TOM WALSH · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 8:13 am

Jim,

The majority of the aircraft do arrive on Friday. A few may come in a day early, particularly, if the crews are from Michigan.

The people like yourself, who coughed up their dollars early on for the limited Taxiway Slots on Friday, are in for a treat!

More later on.

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.

jwc50 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:45 am

seabee1526 wrote:

I'd love to see both a Grumman Duck and Flying Barrel

Seabee, I agree it would be fantastic to see a Grumman J2F and F3F at Thunder Over Michigan. There was a Duck at the show several years back (2005 I think).

I am heading out to Chino, CA for the Planes of Fame show next month where both the J2F and the F3F are scheduled to fly with a ton of other vintage Naval warbirds.

And it's hard to believe it is now barely over 3 1/2 months to the show in July!

jwc50 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:48 am

TOM WALSH wrote:

Jim,

The majority of the aircraft do arrive on Friday. A few may come in a day early, particularly, if the crews are from Michigan.

The people like yourself, who coughed up their dollars early on for the limited Taxiway Slots on Friday, are in for a treat!

More later on.

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.

Thanks, Tom! I am looking forward to the Arrivals on Friday and a great show on Saturday. Can't wait to hear what other additions we may get between now and July.

Ztex · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 4:59 pm

TimAPNY wrote:

What the heck does being a "Tier One Event" For the Navy mean? I was really expecting to see more (maybe "some" would be better wording) active duty aircraft demos for the airshows.

Sorry to bring this up in the Thunder thread but I a bit shocked that there doesn't seem to be a respectable number of Navy Demos lined up.

Please fill me in if I'm missing something here.

Tim

Tim,

I think ...the Tier1 event status has to do with the vintage/heritage 100th anniversary painted aircraft. They are requested to have priority for static display at those shows....I think...

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:31 pm

Ztex wrote:

TimAPNY wrote:

What the heck does being a "Tier One Event" For the Navy mean? I was really expecting to see more (maybe "some" would be better wording) active duty aircraft demos for the airshows.

Sorry to bring this up in the Thunder thread but I a bit shocked that there doesn't seem to be a respectable number of Navy Demos lined up.

Please fill me in if I'm missing something here.

Tim

Tim,

I think ...the Tier1 event status has to do with the vintage/heritage 100th anniversary painted aircraft. They are requested to have priority for static display at those shows....I think...

If that is the case I guess I was hoping for more. Oh well. Still can't wait for Thunder but I might not do much traveling to any of the other Tier 1 Events.

Tim

Tim

michael luther · **Posted:** Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:39 am

Just added,

Mark Murphy's P-51D Mustang "NEVER Miss" & SNJ-5C Texan "Sweet Diane".

jwc50 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:22 am

michael luther wrote:

Just added,

Mark Murphy's P-51D Mustang "NEVER Miss" & SNJ-5C Texan "Sweet Diane".

Thanks, Michael. That "Sweet Diane" SNJ is a Real Beauty with the bright yellow markings and red fuselage band around the NAVY/Pensacola lettering. Our friends at "Warbirds Depot" have a great shot of her in their February 2010 Desktop Wallpapers.

michael luther · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 6:24 am

We are very excited to announce,

THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN has received the special honor of being chosen to host the first public appearance of a very rare and unique Navy warbird that has been extinct from the skies for over 25 years!!!

TOM WALSH · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:03 am

I know what plane it is, but I won"t spoil Mikey's fun!

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.

XL446 · **Joined:** Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:20 am **Posts:** 83

A-5 Vigilante?

In that case I'm glad I've already booked my flights and bought my tickets! :-)

Roger

kalamazookid · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 8:24 am

michael luther wrote:

We are very excited to announce,

THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN has received the special honor of being chosen to host the first public appearance of a very rare and unique Navy warbird that has been extinct from the skies for over 25 years!!!

I'll give it a couple guesses:

Boeing F4B- Any of the replicas close?

Grumman AF-2 Guardian- Jimmy Leeward's?

F-4B Phantom- Highly unlikely, but I remember hearing about one being rebuilt to fly in California. Doubt it would have slipped under the radar this long

Excited to hear what the new aircraft is. This is going to be a great show!

jwc50 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2011 8:39 am

kalamazookid wrote:

michael luther wrote:

We are very excited to announce,

THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN has received the special honor of being chosen to host the first public appearance of a very rare and unique Navy warbird that has been extinct from the skies for over 25 years!!!

I'll give it a couple guesses:

Boeing F4B- Any of the replicas close?

Grumman AF-2 Guardian- Jimmy Leeward's?

F-4B Phantom- Highly unlikely, but I remember hearing about one being rebuilt to fly in California. Doubt it would have slipped under the radar this long

Excited to hear what the new aircraft is. This is going to be a great show!

I think the first two are possible. The F-4 in California is actually a very early F-4A/F4H-1F model and I don''t think it will be ready to fly by then. Also, it has been LESS than 25 years since operational Navy/Marine F-4's have flown in service (I think so - but over on Fence Check someone mentioned that it has been 25 years/1986 since the last F-4S's were retired from service - if so, who knows??). The A-5 mentioned in the earlier post would be great - but I don't think there are any flyable candidates out there.

I am very interested to hear what it will be.

michael luther · **Posted:** Sat Apr 09, 2011 3:46 am

Jimmy Leeward will be debuting his AF-2S Guardian at this years THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN!!!

jwc50 · **Posted:** Sat Apr 09, 2011 8:13 am

michael luther wrote:

Jimmy Leeward will be debuting his AF-2S Guardian at this years THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN!!!

Michael, that is OUTSTANDING! The Grumman AF-2S Guardian is an absolutely terrific addition to the aircraft lineup for this year's show. Can't wait to see this RARE example of Post-War U.S. Navy Aviation history in action this July!

Thanks, and keep up the Great work.

XL446 · **Joined:** Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:20 am **Posts:** 83

michael luther wrote:

Jimmy Leeward will be debuting his AF-2S Guardian at this years THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN!!!

OK, it's not an A-5 Vigilante, but I'm still happy that I've already booked my flights and bought my tickets!

I'm curious to find out what colours it will be in. Hoping it will make a nice photopass on arrival,

Roger

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