Warbird Information Exchange

I'll be there with the Dixie Wing...likely around the SBD....driving this year as opposed to back-seating it in the SBD so I can bring the girls...

_________________
Rauhbatz
Commemorative Air Force
CAF Ohio Wing/Airbase Georgia Member
PT-19/26, T-34 CAF Pilot


Favorite quote from Wind, Sand & Stars - A. St. Exupuery "friends are like trees...when they are gone we miss their shade"

I anticipate being there early Saturday morning and staying for a few hours. Sunday doesn't look so good weather-wise, and the flying schedule this year looks pretty weak (I don't think they even have an F-22 demo scheduled, at least as of checking a couple days ago).

I AM looking forward to seeing FiFi and Ol'927. Assuming they are able to make it in. Weather has been flukey here all week.

Amen about the weather...usual DC May! Some of our gang had to come in Thursday but all are here now and parked...

_________________
Rauhbatz
Commemorative Air Force
CAF Ohio Wing/Airbase Georgia Member
PT-19/26, T-34 CAF Pilot


Favorite quote from Wind, Sand & Stars - A. St. Exupuery "friends are like trees...when they are gone we miss their shade"

I went yesterday morning, although it looks like you all will have a good day today afterall.

Overall, it was the lamest JSOH I've been to. And my first one was 20 years ago. There were a lot of neat individual displays, but overall: meh. I was in the gate at about 8:30, back on the bus to head home (via FedEx Field) at about 10:45 having walked the entire display area thoroughly AND having had an early lunch (hamburger, polish sausage and an MGD).

Highlights of the show:

Getting to see and tour FiFi. I've seen her four times now: first at the Denton, TX airshow in Summer 1983, when she was still marked for The Right Stuff; then at the 1997 Thunder Over Louisville static park where I got bumped from a tour by the USAF CoS; then at Manassas Airport, then yesterday at Andrews. I AM looking forward to seeing her a fifth time week after next at Reading.

Seeing the CoNA Growler. Still wish they'd have done the undersides white to have a true tri-color scheme.

The F-35C flyby that kicked off the show.

Compare/contrast with the C-5M and the AN-124. Especially how the C-5M's cargo floor is flush riveted into place while the Antonov's ... isn't.

That Polish Sausage. Johnsonville didn't have their monster cookout thing going, but the offering from the generic vendor really hit the spot when washed down with the MGD. At 9:30am.

Disappointments:

Where was Diamond Li ... er ... Ol'927????? Ok, I understand completely the issues with flying warbirds around (sudden maintenance needs, bad weather, etc) so I'm not really upset - if she wasn't there it was because of a maintenance or safety issue and keeping her flying safely IS the priority. Hopefully she'll be at Reading?

Near-complete lack of USAF and USN airpower on static display. No E/F Superbugs, no F-15 (C or E), no F-22A, no bomber(s) (I fondly recall the year when they had a B-2A, B-1B AND B-52 lined up). No E-2. No AV-8B. No A-10. The DC ANG couldn't even drag it's CO/Color Bird across the runway? Etc, etc. The real highlight (from the one aircraft that people crowded around) seemed to be the Predator. One of which is hanging in the Smithsonian.

Crappy flying displays (once I saw the schedule and the F-35 flyby I decided to call it a day.) At this point they should really be doing a V-22 demo, for instance. Especially since they had both an MV and a CV on static. This isn't to denigrate any of the flying displays that DID take place (especially the T-Birds), but the flying schedule was WAY to sparse for what's supposed to be a Tier-1 event.

Lack of swag. Getting free sh*t to take back home to the kids is important to me. The NASA booth was giving out some cool blended-wing-body aircraft stress-relievers, tho.

According to what I saw on Facebook, the B-24 is having to have an engine change and might not be out on the road until late June or early July. So I guess that means no Reading.