THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN 2011

[chico]

Weather held out pretty well. Rain showers didn't catch the field until 18:00-ish. Took the wife and the two little ones, so our day was done by 13:00. Need to have a talk with that fella in the F-16. Beating up the field like that and making noise. My daughter spent most of that demo crying. Defending our freedom is one thing, but making a little girl cry? How rude

Very humid morning, so the photo guys should have gotten a ton of great shots of the F-16 squeezing a little water out of the air.

[kalamazookid]

Great day at ToM! I was very worried about the weather this morning but by the time the gates had opened, pretty much all the rain had stopped and it turned into a beautiful day. VERY HOT though.

Lots of stuff to look at! Probably the best military static display I've seen in quite awhile. From what I can remember the only no-shows off the aircraft list were the CoNA F-18 and the E-2C. Plenty of Texan IIs, the E-6B was pretty interesting, Osprey, F-16, C-130, etc.

Pretty much every warbird that was listed made it at some point today. The Harpoon, Wildcat and Bearcat all made it in after the Legacy Parade was done but will be able to fly tomorrow. It was especially nice to see the C-1 Trader and the PBY flying in the parade. The parade was one of the highlights of the show for me: 5 Corsairs, Trader, SBD, Avenger, SB2C, PBY, T-6 and the SNV-1 flew probably a half-dozen circuits or so.

The Corsair flight and the Zero aerobatics were especially well done. The Zero really surprised me with its turning ability- it's easy to see why the scouting report on it was not to try and turn with it! Really impressive aircraft. Outstanding choreography throughout the entire Corsair/Zero flight with a Corsair chasing a Zero on a line slightly further from the crowd while the rest of the Corsairs flew closer. Non-stop action!

Here's a rough aircraft count (may be missing a few):

6 Corsairs
5 P-51s
SBD
SB2C
Avenger
Bearcat
Wildcat
2 Zeros
A-4
MiG-17
MiG-21
PBY
Harpoon
C-1 Trader
B-17
2 B-25s
C-47
Convair 580
Many other trainers/liaison
Many military static displays

Looking forward to tomorrow's show. It will be a treat to see the Bearcat, Wildcat and Harpoon in the Legacy Parade. It's been a looooooong time since I've seen a Bearcat fly and I'm really looking forward to it.

[Dan K]

For those who require some imagery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5-j3E2yBjo

[Steve Nelson]

Just got home..had a great time! Like everybody else said though, extremely hot! I had planned to go back over to the ramp after the Blues landed and take more pics, but the wife and I were just too wiped out from the heat. Great show! For me, the highlight was getting to see not just one, but TWO actual Zeroes fly. The B-1 was pretty awesome as well. My wife was really jazzed about that, as her first husband was stationed at Dyess (in fact, one of her kids is officially a "B-1 Bomber Baby," a title conferred on all kids born at the base hospital the year the Bones first arrived.) I'll get some pics up in the next day or two, although my rather cheap camera doesn't do flying shots very well.

SN

[Xray]

3 days of broiling, thats enough for me.
After the show, I planned on going to Ecorse across from the runway to watch departing jets. I made it on the little service drive, and a cop came flying up like I was bin laden or something. Had a real bad attitude, told me to "sit there and don't move !". Came back with some backup and was interrogated, I told them I simply wanted to watch departing aircraft, as I have at that spot after shows for decades. They finally let me go on my way, but that was a very sour experience from Van Burens finest. I understand and respect the reasoning not to let crowds gather at a spot like that during the performance, but I can't see the logic in getting so anal about it once its over. I have been watching departing aircraft after shows since I was a kid, and this is the first time I've been jumped like that, glad I didn't have any kids with me as I usually do. Kids get freaked seeing cops act like that.

Made it over to the old factory, last time the Blues were there they flew right over my head on departure at that spot. This year they took off in another direction, towards the big garbage dump hill on the perimeter.
A-4 took off, the 2 F-5's and the Blues, just about the only jets left were the 2 F-16's.

[Baldeagle]

Well, the Curtiss Pusher crew sure had a good time at TOM, thank you to Kevin and Michael and all of the other people who made it such a good show. Probably the highlight of the show for us was being out on taxiway Golf getting ready for our time slot, and being strafed at rather low level by the Zeros. It made your skin crawl to see them go past like that, made me think of all the guys on the islands in the Pacific in WW2 who saw that scene in a much more dangerous situation.

If anybody got some good photos of when we parked the Curtiss next to the Blue Angels I'd like to see them-




-

[ZRoesch1]

Here's a couple videos from Sunday's show:

Highlights of the Naval Aircraft Parade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oQnkoyGk_s

The V-22 Osprey taking off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agW18MbQAOI

Here's a couple videos from Sunday's show:

Thanks for the video of the Legacy Parade on Sunday, good chance to see the Wildcat, Bearcat and Harpoon that were absent in the Saturday Parade.

Really enjoyed Thunder Over Michigan this year. It was my 5th time (attended 2005/2006/2007/2010 prior). I was there for the arrivals at Taxiway photography on Friday and the Photo Tour and Photo Pit on Saturday.

Weather could have been better, but Saturday turned out pretty good after a morning shower before the air show flying started. It was very warm, but not as hot as it could have been. I would have liked to see the F8F Bearcat and the PV-2 Harpoon in the "Legacy Parade," but it was nice to see both of them arrive during the afternoon on Saturday. I saw the Wildcat on static late Saturday so it apparently came in sometime that day also. The Six Corsairs and the Two Zeros segment was awesome as were the A-4 Skyhawk and MiG-17 dogfight and demos. The Legacy Parade was outstanding and the C-1A Trader and PBY Catalina were my favorites. I would have loved to see the colorful squadron 50th anniversary paint scheme C-2 Greyhound fly with the C-1 Trader and it would have been nice to see some of the other CoNA birds fly in the Legacy Parade, but at least it was great to see the C-2 arrive on Friday and some of the other current Navy birds. Sorry to see that the "Fly Navy" T-33 did not make the show.

Did not miss the lack of Hornets for the "Nest," but it would have been nice to see a few colorfully marked CoNA/Heritage birds.

Overall all another outstanding warbird show by the Yankee Air Museum. It would have been nice to see a few more vintage Navy warbirds and a few more CoNA birds like the EA-6B Prowler and S-3 Viking, but overall an excellent lineup and well worth the trip.

The Marine Osprey takeoff and departure in the late morning and its return in the afternoon was a great feature also. And I actually enjoyed the flybys of the GM Convair 580, although it wasn't really on theme. I would note however that the Naval Air Reserve did fly the Convair 580/C-131H for a brief time after inheriting them from the Air National Guard in the late 70's/early 80's time frame.

The B-1B and B-2A flybys were nice and if Thunder does a future show with a bomber theme including the B-29 Fifi, it would be great to see the trio of current bombers (B-52H/B-1B/B-2A) there for flybys and maybe even a 3-ship formation!

I plan to return next year (first weekend in August?), and look forward to hearing what the theme will be.

[Nathan Truninger]

I just have to say, for this being my first Thunder, I had an absolutely phenomenal time, and will be sure to never miss this show as long as there is a historical component to it. My hats off to the entire Yankee and T.O.M. crew for a job well done. Sucks about the Hornets not coming, but this isn't the first show this year to have this happen. With military budgets the way they are currently, its the luck of the draw.

For whomever reads this from the organizers crew, I was seated in the Blue's Friends and Family area. Your crew in that tent went beyond the call of duty to make sure everyone was happy and well hydrated. They really did a phenomenal job and their hospitality really made everyone feel welcome and right at home. Well done guys, that's the kind of stuff that keeps the jet teams coming back! Everyone else involved with the show were as nice as can be as well. Top notch! Here are some pics I've gotten to:

[Clanky]

On behalf of my wife and I, I'd like to thank everyone involved at Thunder over Michigan. Fantastic show folks!... see you next year... I'll leave you with a few snaps from Saturday...

Frank & Lori

[mikoyan29]

I have bunches of pictures on my blog.

The first post:
http://michiganexposures.blogspot.com/2 ... tures.html

http://michiganexposures.blogspot.com/2 ... after.html
And the last....there are bunches of posts in between.

[airshowwb]

Well, its been a week now, legs and feet getting back to normal, sunburn peeling and gray hair bleached a little more, however, TOM 2011 was a great show and friends and I really enjoyed all the warbirds attending. Missed the Hornets Nest, was looking forward to all the colorful tails on the CAG birds but heard most will be at Pensacola show in November along with CONA aircraft.

Hats off to the members of TOM 2011 for a great show !!

THE TEXAS LONGHORN .

[Roger Cain]

Nathan, is that flame for real, I took dozens of photo bursts on that gun and never saw any flash from it?

[michael luther]

Kevin and I wanted to give everyone a sneak peek at one of the star attractions we are currently considering for next years show.

http://youtu.be/Xq92ZC5cYoM

[Warbird Kid]

Red Wings?