Keep on Rolling Girls

It has been a successful season to date for the 14U Ohio AAA Blue Jackets girls hockey team. We'll just forget that Bauer Invitational tournament....

Moving along...

Well my planned summer 'airshow' series ran out of steam after the unfortunate events at dayton this year. I just didn't have the desire to continue. Maybe i'll pick it up again. I had hope that we might get some relief from the sequestration and see our military back for shows, but that does not look quite as positive now. Never mind the government shutdown and its effects... So this post is just a Hi! I'm still around and swamped with hockey. Things have changed a bit there as we move to Midget and Bantam for the kids. One is playing AAA and the other is playing AA. Maybe i'll have time to post, but at the moment we're deep into the travel and i'm tired. Stay tuned.

RIP Jane Wicker and Charlie Schwenker

Today we lost 2 GREAT people in a horrible crash at the Vectren Dayton Air Show. The scene is one that will be hard to forget. I was unable to go on Friday and watch practice and had prior engagements for today, but planned to go on Sunday. I will be staying home now. Its not just because they died. Today was a horrible day before they climbed into the Stearman Bi-Plane. On lap 3 of the 24 Hours of Lemans there was a terrible crash which claimed the life of Allan Simonsen. Later I learned of 2 more racing drivers that passed on tracks as well. Wolf Silvester at the Nuerbergring in Germany and Jeffrey Bower in an SCCA race at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. I didn't know any of the drivers, but we all shared a love of racing. I did have some contact with Jane Wicker and as the air show community is fairly small it hurt badly. Just one of those days where you need to just put things in perspective. Thats what I'll do Sunday.

I took this photo last September at the Cleveland Air Show. RIP.....

We Interrupt our Airshow Series for the Great Story of Spitfire 944

I could type a bunch on this but I think its better to just let you watch. Fantastic!

Our Airshow Part 10: Low Flying High Speed RNZAF Boeing 757

Who says the airshow needs to be all overpowered jets?

I do!

Presenting the Boeing 757 which has AMPLE power to put on a show. Just look at the climb after the high speed pass and listen to those engines wail. The RNZAF has 2 of these which were purchased in 2003 after being retired by Transavia. Yes this jet was sent to an airplane graveyard to die. Thanks to the RNZAF to bringing this back to life so we can watch her.

As an aside I spent 10 glorious days in New Zealand back in 1987 and was present to see the Concorde make its first appearance to that country. While completely exhausted I went on the roof of our "hotel" with everyone else in the building to watch the Concorde arrive with an escort of A-4's. It was one of the coolest things I saw while staying in the outskirts Auckland for several days.

So if you happened upon this post I hope you take a few minutes to check out the previous 9 "acts" in our airshow. Don't worry I have many more to come!

Part 9 of our Airshow gets an RAF Avro Vulcan for some Private.....

This video is of a Avro Vulcan and was shot on August 19, 2012 while doing a PRIVATE show in England...Think about that for a moment... Private? Well obviously not only the intended viewers but many others saw and HEARD the howl. While 2013 is the last year this beast is supposed to continue flying there is a chance it might get extended. I'm crossing my fingers that XH558 will live long and prosper....

Suck Squeeze Bang Blow.....

What were you thinking????

Making our Airshow a bit more Stealthy...the F-117 and some KC-135 Too! Part 8

Now thats what I call a flyby! The F-117 Nighthawk or "stealth fighter" as it was called was a great weapon in the US arsenal. First flown in 1981 but not officially acknowledged until 1988 this product of the Lockheed "Skunkworks" was actually an attack aircraft rather than a fighter jet and was retired from USAF duty in 2008. These were deemed to be replaced by the fearsome F-22 and the at the time (2008) upcoming F-35. An easily recognizable jet that won't be confused with any other aircraft these were allegedly the source of many UFO sightings while in development. These jets saw extensive combat in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and were credited with numerous successful sorties. Below is a great photo of 2 F-117 Nighthawks after being refueled by the 121 Air Refueling Wing based locally at Rickenbacker Air Base.

Part 7 of our Airshow the Voodoo F-101

Continuing on my quest to replicate the ULTIMATE military jet airshow (not just search youtube to excess) while sequestration continues, Today we jump into the way back machine for a few minutes. Watch this video on the F-101 Voodoo for some great history!

Then watch a couple CF-101's from Canada shortly before they were retired forever from flight in a great 1984 home video from the Niagara Air Show.The F-101 was a high speed long range interceptor dating back to the late 1950's and produced by the McDonnell corporation. Retired by the USAF in 1972 it continued to be used by the Air National Guard until 1982. It was also flown by Canada and served until 1984 up north... It was ultimately replaced by the F-4 Phantom by the USAF and The CF-18 in Canada. Want to see one today? Many air bases use them out front on a pedestal or some made it to museums. Oddly enough if you want to see a pair preserved on film check out the 1966 film Russians are Coming, The Russians are Comingbelow.

Part 6 The Phantastic Phantom F-4

I saw this posted today on an aviation enthusiast facebook page and thought this would be the perfect day to go with the F-4. Phantoms Phorever!

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II flew for the first time fifty-five years ago today. The most important western fighter of the postwar period, more than 5,000 F-4s were built between 1958 and 1981. The aircraft began life as the F3H-G naval strike fighter and was adapted to meet a Navy requirement for a fleet defense fighter in 1955. A two-seat multirole fighter, it demonstrated performance levels far above anything then flying. Navy Phantoms set 16 world records which stood until the F-15 Eagle appeared in 1975. The first Phantom air-to-air victory of the Vietnam War took place on April 9, 1965, when an F-4B from VF-96 downed a Chinese MiG-17. Of the 57 Navy aerial victories in Vietnam, 36 were in Phantoms! The Air Force and Marine Corps operated the F-4, as did air forces of 11 other nations. Variants of the Phantom in reconnaissance and Wild Weasel configurations were also employed.

Part 5 The "Hun" F-100

Moving right along is a great old bird and sadly I believe only 2 are still flying. The F-100 or "hun" was a Vietnam war era fighter bomber that required the pilot to be very skilled. Nowhere near as nimble as the F-4 or F-16 which came later these big birds served their purpose and its nice to know you can still see one flying at an airshow. This video is from the 2010 Thunder over Michigan show and for those that want to see this plane fly its scheduled to be at the 2013 Thunder over Michigan event as well. I think I'll find my way there....

I present the Hun!

Our Own Air Show Part 4 FA-18 Super Hornet and F-14 Tomcat GO NAVY!

Making a ton of passes and showing some amazing vapor we now have the FA-18 Super Hornet in our Air show. This thing is an absolute beast and is always a crowd favorite. If you like jet noise you will love this video!

Hey whats this? A surprise from a now vintage F-14 Tomcat! This is the LAST full airshow demo that the Tomcat performed and its fabulous. Neither Maverick nor Iceman are piloting.... Today's update brought you a twofer of Navy goodness!

Plenty more to come. keep checking back.

M Y O Airshow Pt 3-- The F-22 Raptor

Buckle your seat belts for this one! In fact I was present at this show when this was shot at the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends Show in 2007 at Rickenbacker Field in Columbus Ohio. This demo by Paul "Max" Moga is just amazing. When it looks like the jet is doing back flips and floating it really is. When it appears its falling in a flat plane it is. This fifth generation fighter proved its worth every penny on this day. A truly memorable airshow which featured more firepower from the USAF than ANY other show had this demo as an appetizer if you will... Enjoy the show and its all real. No CGI needed with this beast.

Make Your Own Air Show Pt-2.....

Ok so i'm back again so quickly. I like the idea of this blog theme which I introduced yesterday and I found another great video for which I am choosing the F-15 Strike Eagle as the "jet-of-the-day". Even better is this video features several other jets making high speed passes as well. Heck we even throw in a C-130 amongst the Eurofighter Typhoon and Harrier jets as well as maybe a L39 or possibly a Tornado. I will have to go thru and catalog the others at some point, but i'm the first to admit i'm not good at identifying the jets from outside the US be they NATO or the other guys.... Chime in on the comments if you see something I missed. What I like best about this video is the soundtrack. No music! So many of the videos now overlay music when its already provided by the engines. So go ahead and watch the F-15's at full song carving some very low altitude thru the mountains in Wales. You'll be glad you did!

Sequestration Be Damned-- We'll Make our own Air Show!

So not to get to political on this blog I'll just say that the 2013 season of air show's will be lacking in the modern jet department with the lack of the US Armed forces flying and static displays. I'm not in favor of how our "government' has chosen to save money but as of today its just not going to go well when viewed from an air show fans perspective. I've made it a yearly summer family event to get to two of Ohio's biggest shows in the Vectren Dayton Airshow and the Cleveland National Airshow. This year the Dayton Airshow will go on as scheduled and Cleveland has chosen to cancel. Like many shows across the country without the military teams such as the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds the economics don't make sense. Cleveland was already going to go without those jet teams and plugging in a full F-22 Raptor demo but when that too was pulled.... So I WILL be going to Dayton on June 21 (actual show is June 22-23) to catch some of this years action and there will be jets, but not the modern kind. They are scheduled to have both a MiG-17 and a F-86 Sabre as well as an A-4B Skyhawk. None are going to rip your ears out, but will be exciting attractions to add to the great planes/pilots that will be on display. This year the airshow industry needs our support more than ever.

Ok so what i've decided to do over the next several months is spotlight some of my favorite military jets in youtube and other video clips. While its never as good as being there for 2013 it will have to do! Today I'm starting of with a clip of a couple B-1B just flying around with a little burner at night. I didn't shoot this video and there are certainly plenty of others shot at air shows, but I liked the night time afterburners. Go ahead and find some great videos. Maybe i'll post it here. Enjoy!

About That Asteroid in Russia....

OK so the end of the world did not in fact happen in December. If you look at my blog it appears that maybe it did... Yeah so much for writing something every month. I literally had almost no time to think with so much hockey going on. I'll get to a hockey post soon enough as for the most part the season has ended. No this was just a yes i'm alive and I survived the alleged end of the world and the close encounter with the asteroid as well as the meteor in Russia!