THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN 2014

[Rob W]

Fantastic shooting Steven. It looks like that 500 treated you exceptionally well!

[FAR148]

Fantastic shooting Steven. It looks like that 500 treated you exceptionally well!

Thanks Buddy! I love shooting 500 4.0

Here's another batch!













Thanks for looking,
Steven L
Prints available upon request Far148@gmail.com

[FAR148]

Last batch...















Until next show,
Steven L
Prints available upon request Far148@gmail.com

[Shawn M]

Nice to see a 25 with the proper cowl exhausts!

Great pics gang

[RV8er]

Beautiful pics! But, no love for the C-60 Lodestar? Can't we see just one, pleeeease? I know it's not as purty and shiny as the others posted, but I'm curious to see a good pic of the pig in action. Also, I was in the left seat for the Sunday show; wanna see a good close-up shot, check how big of a grin was plastered on my face... that was fun flying!

[myteaquinn]

Will this do. Not anywhere the quality of Steve's photos, but I'm happy with it.

[Rob W]

A few of the P-51 "Hell-er Bust." She immediately became one of my favorites after I saw her for the first time at the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends in 2007.









Enjoy! (More to come!)

[RV8er]

Will this do. Not anywhere the quality of Steve's photos, but I'm happy with it.

I like it, thanks!

[seabee1526]

Great show and great photo's everyone...we're lucky to have a show like this in the Midwest.

[k5083]

Nice pics guys.

I've been traveling since Thunder, so I'm just now finding time to share a few thoughts and hopefully a few PNEEGs (photos not everyone else got).

This was my first ToM, and I enjoyed myself. I can understand the disappointment of some folks about the no-shows. They didn't bother me much personally, just because I happened to have seen what didn't show up, and what I really wanted to see was there. But I can relate to those who found that most of what they really wanted to see did not appear; we've all been there. Certainly the modest amount of big iron made the display less exciting, but there can't be many complaints about the quality or eclectic variety.

The highlight of the show was the people running it, especially everyone associated with the photo pass programs, who were gracious and awesome. Most of the photographers were pretty well behaved also, despite having to jockey for position to shoot fewer fighters than expected.

Highlight 1 for me was the delectable P-63.
















It was also my first look at new-look Diamond Lil.










And the other stuff was also great!















































August

[k5083]

Here are two interesting items of old airport architecture from my trip to Michigan, one mysterious and the other sad.

At Willow Run, over near gate E39, was this fascinating structure.



Although everyone agrees that Willow Run built in 1942, this has a prewar look to it. Presumably one of the original buildings, it is in the southwest corner of the field far away from the old bomber plant and terminal, and nobody could tell me what it was built for. Anyway, it's a handsome deco airport building and it is good to see it still in use.

Not so pleasant was what I witnessed when returning my rental car at Detroit Metro on Tuesday after the show. The original 1928 passenger terminal in the old (northeast) corner of the airport has sat unused among the rental car parking lots for a long time. A couple of big yellow things had just started to tear it down, and looked like they would make short work of it. It might be gone by the time you read this.








(Screen shot from Google maps on my phone)

This structure must have been magnificent in its day. Also huge. I don't have official dimensions, but scaling from the 53-foot tractor trailers in the satellite image above, it was something like 570 by 160 feet. I've searched the web but haven't found a picture of it in its heyday, so I have to imagine what it looked like when Detroit was growing into America's fourth largest city. Maybe some of our old-photo hounds can track one down.

Sad to see this go, but obviously a difficult structure to repurpose nowadays. There is a much smaller "executive terminal" across the road, also an art-deco beauty, which is still in use and hopefully will be with us a while longer.

August

[Jeff H]

Nice pics guys.


The highlight of the show was the people running it, especially everyone associated with the photo pass programs, who were gracious and awesome.


August

August.....As one of the volunteers at the photo pit I appreciate your comment. I know Tom Walsh, who runs the pit is a regular here and will no doubt see this as well. We all genuinely love what we do for the show and what makes it so enjoyable is the quality of the folks that buy the photo pit passes. Hope you will come see us again next year.

Cheers,

Jeff

[marine air]

Three things;
1) Would love to see a photo of a Lockheed C-60 and a DC=3/C-47 in formation. Would make a nice comparison.
2) Same as above except a pic of a P-38 and C-60 in formation.
3) I've seen that old terminal building and it was awesome. Huge hangar bays, and corporate offices on each end. No doubt there was once a mailroom, cafeteria, etc. COntrol tower on top of the hangar, seems unique.

One thing I despise in the U.S. is how utterly wasteful we are with buildings and other structures compared to most other countries.

[JimH]

Don't want to take away from this thread but I found this photo of Lowell Bayles strapping in to the Gee Bee Z in front of this very hangar. This photo may be right before the ill fated speed run.

Jim

[tacoope]

Back to the pictures of Lil, can someone tell me why the US flag is painted backwards? It's not the first time I've seen the flag shown backwards so I'm guessing that there's some significance to it.

Terry