coolest airshow moment

[Second Air Force]

Thunderbirds, 1967 (I think). F-100s. Ten years old, got to sit/stand in the bleachers with the "special people". Demonstration opener, #5 entering from behind the show line, and I happened to turn around and see him coming. I will NEVER forget that pass.

My second favorite thought is of seeing Ol'927 pull up next to us during the first hop/photo shoot in July 2007. Thanks for letting us help, Gary.

[Mudge]

'nuff said

Mudge the P-38 freak

[Ztex]

It went something like this....out one side of the airplane



and the other...

BTW anyone know which B-25 this is? Seems like we had a discussion about it here a while back with no definitive answer...

[Garth]

2) Attending my first major air show at Love Field just after the end of Desert Storm. It was the first public display of an F-117.

That triggered another memory for me. For the 1991 Desert Storm Victory Parade in Washington DC I was positioned with a number of friends on the Memorial Bridge side of the Lincoln Memorial. We were waiting for the flyovers to begin, and we could hear a "wave" of cheering/screaming building towards us from the other side of the Memorial. The noise reached a crescendo that coincided exactly with an F-117 passing overhead very low and going very fast. The Black Jet pitched up and executed a steep climbout right over Arlington House.

Then Summer before last I was with my family at the Jefferson Memorial right at dusk when two B-1s flew up the river in formation and at low altitude then kicked into afterburner, tucked their wings back and did a nice climbout over Rosslyn.

[N3Njeff]

It went something like this....out one side of the airplane



and the other...

BTW anyone know which B-25 this is? Seems like we had a discussion about it here a while back with no definitive answer...

When was the pic taken???

[Ztex]

1986 at Pampa, Texas....my first Warbird ride!

[RickH]

I got two...

First ride in the CF A-26 up to Chuckie's. We were on a long straight in for Meacham and slowly pulled up alongside a B-52 on a long final for Carswell. Art pushed the power up a little and as we pulled up on him the black smoke boiled out and he slowly pulled away. For a minute there we were in loose formation.

#2 was at Andrews AFB with the F-4 in 1999. I was back seat with Steve Ritchie and as we pulled the gear he said " your airplane ". He let me do the overhead and approach down to 50 ft. Then taxiing out of Birmingham after refuel, he gave me the takeoff, then I flew it to Randolph AFB.

[Airlift48]

There have been a few:

On a strictly airplane basis, Pope AFB in 2000 or so.
A fellow from Maine brought his Wright Model EX out and flew it right in front of me. Thought that was really neat to see such early aviation.

Watching the Indiana based F-100 do its thing.

Watching the "Sky Soldiers" C-7 Caribou wheelbarrow as it took off demonstrating its STOL capabilities.

Personally:
Walking the ramp at Tempelhof Airport with Gail Halvorsen and other airlift Veterans.

Meeting General Paul Tibbets twice.

There are many more....

[leo]

The last time I saw an SR-71 in flight. At Reno, the announcer says he has AF traffic dropping out of it's landing pattern for a pass. Seconds later it roars down the runway VERY low. Shooting flames out the back it pulled up close to vertical and was gone. The silence lasted for minutes till the cheers came up.
Same place. A B1 doing it's last high speed pass of a demo. As it pulls up and rolls past 90 the whole crowd is yelling "Roll it, Roll it". I have both on video to remember them.
Best ever is a day at the pylons. The "crack" of the air when they go by has to be experienced, and best ever, ducking from Lefty as he left us in a trail of dust and twigs.

[Steve S]

First time a saw a really low pass by a B17 being followed by a P51 and P40 at the Sussex Air Show (NJ) I think in 88. I rember the crowd line being way way way less than 500 ft and I konw that they were doing passes way way lower than 1000ft of the deck. After that I could never get the sound of that merlin and those 1820's out of my head.

I heard that they stopped that show just a few years ago- really a shame as it was a really great warbird show.

[Dudley Henriques]

Question to everyone is, what was the coolest thing you've ever seen happen at an airshow?

Coolest moment ever was during the NATC Air Show at Pax River in 72 (Bad memory for years;I think it was 72
I was narrating both the Prototype FA/18 demo for Northrop and the F14 demo for Strike Aircraft Test. In attendance were the usual thousands of people, the Chief of Naval Operations, and dignitaries too numerous to mention.
On the field right in front of my podium stood the Marine Corps Band, gentlemen and ladies all.
It happened during the Tomcat display. D.D. Smith, flying the Turkey, and I narrating his display, had briefed for an afterburner pass right after takeoff to be made left to right using the runway pluss the 1500 foot crowd proximity restriction.
Having the Marine Corps Band right in front of us must have been too much of a temptation for DD, because as I called the pass to the crowd
I saw him lining the Tomcat up coming dead on toward me and descending down in a long curving flight path that I knew would flatten him out just a few feet over the heads of the band.
I glanced over at the Chief of Naval Operations and saw a HUGE smile on his face as he watched the oncoming Tomcat.
The entire band was facing ME on the podium and as such had their backs to DD and the Tomcat.
I knew what was going to happen and it was all I could do to keep a straight face as DD flattened out the dive on the far side of the field and came on like a bullet toward the band and me.
The admiral was already ducking and laughing as I timed my narration to exactly match DD's arrival over the band.
"And NOW Ladies and Gentlemen.........the Grumman F14 TOMCAT!!!"
DD arrived about 10 feet over the heads of the band, hitting zone 5 burner in the process. I think EVERY member of the band hit the deck at the same time. It was as though someone pulled a carpet out from under them. A GREAT Navy moment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ))))
No harm done, ..................although it took us buying quite a few rounds of drinks later on at the O Club for the band to restore Marine Corps/Navy relations back to normal!
Dudley Henriques

[RickH]

Dudley, YOU WIN !! I would have loved to have seen that ! What a great story, thanks for sharing it.

[DaveG]

I met Kevin and the BAHF guys in Sevierville, TN back in 2000 or 2001 when they did a Berlin Airlift reenactment with a fella by the name of Gail Halvorsen...better yet, I helped Colonel Halvorsen with the packing of several hundred Hershey bar packed parachutes for the Candy Bomber drop. It was pretty awesome having him instruct us in how to wrap and roll the chute so it would (hopefully) open before it hit the ground.

It was a hot day during the drop and there was a delay for a bit after the drop before the assembled masses were allowed to run out to the drop zone to pick up the candy, so some of it was pretty runny by the time it was recovered, but it was a really cool thing to see and be a small part of.

It must be great to be a part of reenacting history with one of the most significant figures of that history.

Thanks for that honor, Kevin and crew!

Also, Dudley, were you by any chance at another early 70's PAX River show when they had an SR-71 on display in a well-guarded hangar as well as another one that did a single fly-by high alpha pass? I'm thinking '73 or '74.

Dave

[Dudley Henriques]

Also, Dudley, were you by any chance at another early 70's PAX River show when they had an SR-71 on display in a well-guarded hangar as well as another one that did a single fly-by high alpha pass? I'm thinking '73 or '74.

Dave

You got me to thinking and I went down to the den and did a bit of research through my old logs.
The show that involved the Band "event" was Air Expo 73. Hank Chateau and I did the FA18 prototype demo and the Strike F14 demo was flown by Cmdr Donald D Smith with me narrating.
A great show. I don't recall the Blackbird being on site when I was there but as busy as I was that day I might very well have missed it.
We were in briefings all morning and I ended up at the Officers Club shortly after the Tomcat demo.
One interesting side note to the FA18 demo was our 3rd team member from Northrop; Bob Elder. You might remember the story about the girl who survived a light plane crash in the mountains out in California. She walked out alive. Her other two friends died at the crash site on the top of the mountain where they crashed.
They did the story on a TV special called "I alone survived". The girl was Lauren Elder. Bob was her father.
DH

[Xrayist]

1) Meeting Howard Pardue at a airshow and having him get me my first warbird ride in Silver Lady.
2) Cleveland 1967, seeing Bob Hoover perform in his Mustang.