Thunder Over Michigan 2010

[TOM WALSH]

The London International Air Show folded it's tent in 1997 after 23 great years . It was a victim of it's own success. There was a nasty takeover, resulting in my group being being ousted from the Airport. A couple of others tried to run a show for a few years under different titles, but they did not have the depth of experience to pull it off. There is civil suit ongoing for damages.

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.

[Xray]

Wow, that long ago, how the years fly by.

I went to at least 8 or so London shows ,, Including one of a perfect, sunny day that was called off because of high winds.
A Luftwaffe Phantom went up, that was all that flew that day.
We'd sit for hours after the Sunday show watching departing aircraft, which back then used to do 2 or 3 passes & wing wags before heading home.

What a shame, guess nothing lasts forever.

[SPANNERmkV]

OK... I admit it! I'm one of THOSE guys who take 2 1/2 months to finish a roll of film...
I didn't see hardly enough Reshpect paid to Sitting Duck, so that is included and I Loved the re-enactors tent

[bomberflight]

I FINALLY edited some video together ~ I hope you like it !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8916wj_X-M

[TimAPNY]

I FINALLY edited some video together ~ I hope you like it !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8916wj_X-M

Peter
Great Video! Loved and I don't hate you too much for the chance to take all that video.

Tim

[bomberflight]

Thanks Tim ! I suppose you won't wanna see the air to air stuff ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys-VdA0ixZ0

I had the choice of which B-17 to fly in ( like you do ) and obviously didn't think it through very well ....

I went for the one I hadn't flown in on this trip ~ missing the vital clue that the pilots available with formation cards
were in the first three B-17's.

I thought we would be close in trail but we were waaaaay behind the first group ..... Ah well ~ we live an learn

[wls3]

bomberflight wrote:
"I went for the one I hadn't flown in on this trip..."

Now, there were 8 B-17s there, how many people can say that!

Peter, enjoyed the videos.

[bomberflight]

The truth is that B-17's attract some of the nicest people on this planet. And quite a few of them post ( or lurk ) here on WIX.

Normally these days B-17's don't spend much time in each others company ~ but for TOM 2010 I figured that there was a window of opportunity to ride in some of them.

Not being a rich eccentric millionaire ~ I used some of the cash from selling my house to fund a "once in a lifetime" trip.

The final "mission tally" looks like this .........

July 23rd ~ B-17G ~ Nine-O-Nine ~ booked a ride at Chicago Executive
July 27th ~ B-17G ~ Texas Raiders ~ from Rantoul into Oshkosh
July 28th ~ B-17G ~ Aluminum Overcast ~ Oshkosh ( 75th birthday of the B-17 )
July 31st ~ B-25H ~ Barbie III ~ Fond Du Lac ~ booked a ride
Aug 2nd ~ B-17G ~ Thunderbird ~ Oshkosh to Willow Run
Aug 6th ~ B-17G ~ Sentimental Journey ~ TOM VIP package ride ~ as found on this tread !
Aug 7th ~ B-24J ~ Witchcraft ~ The original was built by Ford at Willow Run
Aug 9th ~ B-17G ~ Liberty Belle ~ Willow Run to Clark Regional

As Jimmy Doolittle once said ..... I could never be so lucky again.

Oh ~ one last thing ....... Joining a warbird group is the key to a world were dreams can come true.

[WIXerGreg]

That's quite a list, congratulations! Which Witchcraft flight were you on at Thunder? I was on the afternoon flight.

[bomberflight]

I was on the Saturday morning flight ....

Fellow WIXer Jim Harley was flying it for us

[WIXerGreg]

Yep, Jim was the PIC on my flight too and I got to talk with him for a few minutes afterward.

Here's a rather poor quality shot I took when they were starting engines for your flight.