Warbird Information Exchange

Some more pics from the archive... The 2002 show was much larger.

That was the first year I attended a show at Willow Run. I had never been to a show even near that size before and it was completely overwhelming. I don't think I'd seen six different B-25s in my life up to that point (in my defense, I was only 13) and it was surreal to see them all lined up like that. I think that was back when "Barbie III" used to be based over in Rockford and we'd see her at the Goshen and South Bend shows.

I had forgotten that Jimmy Rossi had brought "Crap Shooter" to that show too. I remember talking to him with my Dad at Muskegon back in 1999. He was a great guy.

_________________
Matt

Thanks for posting the picture of my friend Jimmy Rossi... It's hard to believe that it's coming up on 10 years since we lost both Jimmy and also Joe Tobul within about 7-10 days of each other - just a few months after these photo's were taken... My stepdad and I rebuilt Jimmy's Mig-17 and then I got to paint it and then a few years later Jimmy had me strip the cilivian paint job off of the Sabre and paint the markings on it... The only thing I wouldn't do is polish the fuselage - told Jimmy it was against my religion...

Thanks for sharing. I lived in Michigan back in 2002 and didn't even know Thunder existed then - they did nothing to really advertise back then. I remember in 2002 seeing a couple warbirds fly over my house and wonder what was going on - I believe there was a Catalina at that show??? I remember seeing one fly over. I found out about it after the fact. I moved to Florida in 2003 and didn't attend my first Thunder until 2005, where it finally got some good advertising.

I knew they used to have fly ins for a while between the end of the County airshows of the 1990s and before Thunder started. I remember Fifi coming in and the MATs Connie in 2000 while I was working at a job site in the approach for YIP.