Willow Run

[JimH]

Well the CF made it with 3 P-47's in tow. 7 B-17's are on the ramp...Chuckie and Memphis Belle made it as well. Watch for webshots!!

JimH

[Ontario-Warbird]

Mr. Russell's BF 109 their?

[JimH]

the 109 is here...1 mustang...sweetie face and 3 jugs...2 25's and a few TBM's

jim

[Ontario-Warbird]

Thanks a bunch, leaving @ 6am for the 3.5 hour drive see everyone at 11 am

[Lynn Allen]

Roger That on the Webshots............. ...............

Lynn

[Pat Carry]

Keep us posted as to what is happening there!

[m50a1ontos]

Got a call from my Dad this morning. He said the 8th B-17 was suposed to arrive this afternoon. The "real" 109 sounded VERY different with the DB engine (he's used to the Merlin powered versions, never heard a DB before). A mass overflight of all the heavies was suposed to happen at some point today...

[JimH]

Great day...lots of flying. The 109 was a real highlight..being chased around by the Thunderbolts. We launched all 8 B-17's...it was a real privilege to sit out there amongst all that aluminum..32 Cyclones droning away. We were #7 in the flight with Yankee Lady in trail. Will post more shots ASAP

JimH

[dors]

Can't wait for the pix. As I sit at my computer here I feel like I just missed the Prom. Hope the video turns out well. I can't wait!

[tom d. friedman]

uuuugggh i'm sick i couldn't make it. talked to scott this morning telling him of my cancellation / complication. hope he conveyed my regards to you boys, & sorry i had to bail out. all the best, tom

[kzollitsch]

Just to give those at home an update, the aircraft on the field at the end of the show on Saturday were: 8 B-17s, 2 B-24s, 3 B-25s, 4 P-51s, a P-40, 3 P-47s, the Duck, 2 TBMs, the 109, a Fury, F-86, Mig-15(or 17?), and an assortment of trainers. It was a great show with wondeful weather and flying.

[kalamazookid]

Great show! Got to hear the mighty DB engine on the 109 for the first time, and what a sweet sound! The 109 flew a couple of passes with Butch Shroeder's P-47 chasing him around the pattern then broke off and landed while the 2 other T-Bolts joined the pattern. Dick Hanson's P-40 and the Tri Sate Warbird Museum P-51 arrived in formation shortly after and the B-17 "Fuddy Duddy" arrived sometime in the late morning. I went off to lunch during the A-10 Demo (yawn) but I got a good view of the Heritage Flight with Ed Shipley's F-86. I just got back in the gate when the Duck arrived. What a sweet plane, a real show-stealer. I was lucky enough to be standing right where he taxied in so I got a real good view of it.
Two of the B-25s, Briefing Time and Yankee Warrior flew, the YAF one particularly aggressively. One of the highlights of the flying was the FJ-4 which put on a very impressive display. After the Thunderbolts and the 109 flew again, 4 P-51s (Old Crow, Gentleman Jim, Sweetie Face and Cincinnati Miss) did a nice beat-up of the field along with the P-40.
The B-17 flight was very impressive. All 8 of them flew. They did some individual passes first and then did they did a mass fly-over of the field coming straight at the crowd. First were 3 in a kind of loose formation, then came 3 more in a tighter formation, and then the last 2 staggered formation. That was certainly a sight I will never foget! The B-17s were Chuckie, Memphis Belle, Liberty Belle, Yankee Lady (still my favorite), Nine-O-Nine, Thunderbird, Fuddy Duddy and Sentimental Journey.
The LB-30 was on static display only today. It is looking great, you would be hard pressed to find a speck of oil on it. Witchcraft got a nice workout giving rides. Some of the static planes included the Warbird Digest B-25, a Convair 440, the YAF C-47 and 2 TBM Avengers. Some of the trainer highlights included the BT-13 "California Girl", about a dozen T-6s, a nice PT-17 in Coast Guard markings, a couple T-34s, another PT-17, a couple T-28s, 4 O-2s, an L-5 and a Navion.
I heard from a Yankee Air Force official that they are considering adding modern aircraft demo teams and aerobatics next year which in my opinion would wreck the show. There are too few warbird shows of this size and it would be a shame to not continue with it, given the success they've had. I've been going to this show for 4 years now and in my opinion this is the best one yet! It will be a tough act to follow next year!

[Ontario-Warbird]

A-10 demo Yawn??

I thought it was a excellent display of the aircraft. Havent seen a A10 do a display like that in many years.

I agree their are enough modern aircraft shows avaliable to view and i hope they keep this show mostly vintage warbirds, however it would be nice to see the fighters ( p47,p51,p40's ) fly like the Yankee b-25 did, on the deck with a little more speed. ( I see why most people have 400mm to 600mm telephoto len's on their camera's )

Over all was definatly worth the 7 hours of driving to see and will make this show a yearly event.

Hats off to the people that organized the show and the aircraft owners for bringing them for all us to see

[kalamazookid]

A-10 demo Yawn??

Not that I didn't enjoy it, but I've seen three of them this year now.
I enjoyed how the fighters flew, maybe not quite as aggressively as I've seen in the past, but I thought overall it was good flying.

[Ontario-Warbird]

Lucky dog

With the London Air show canceled this year ( Ontario ) which is pretty much all jets, Im missing out on my jet fix for the year.

Would have been nice to see the A-10 fly with a P47 instead and the F86 maybe play cat and mouse with the Mig