THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN 2014

[Boeing666]

I always go one of the days to the show. I have been at every show since 2005 except 2007, when I got a new job and didn't have enough vacation time to fly up. Since 2008 yes I go out to Ecorse or perimeter on FRIDAY for arrivals. I went on the grounds in 2006 for arrivals day, but the planes were landing too far away for my camera and I found I got much better pictures for arrivals day by going to the perimeter. That being said, I would always go into the show either Saturday or Sunday, however the opposite day I would watch from the perimeter for picture reasons - ie the show faces west so afternoon acts are backlit and on Ecorse I could move west of the aircraft line and get the planes in good light.

Again, I do go inside the show one of the days but the other day I stay outside. This year I am going inside on Sunday because I am going to be flying on Diamond Lil. I was supposed to fly on Yankee Warrior this year, but due to it being stranded in Indiana, I am going to take advantage of an opportunity to fly on a B-24. I flew on Yankee Lady last year a couple days before the show. - so yes I do support the show and the organization by buying tickets, buying programs, concessions and on top of that plane rides the last 2 years, so I think I can sit out on Ecorse Rd one of the days to get better pictures for the afternoon acts than I would inside the shows - without having to feel guilty about doing it.

[BK]

Any word on the P-63C - didn't see it up at Oshkosh.

Warbird Radio posted a pic of it flying over MI today.

[Boeing666]

It arrived at TOM on Thursday and went up today for a practice demo, and then flew with Yankee Lady, P-47, P-38 and a couple Mustangs today

[kennsmithf2g]

From today's demo

[Boeing666]

I don't recall seeing the Berlin Airlift C-54 being on the list of attendees, but I just checked Flightaware and see that it is inbound for Willow Run at around 8:30am this morning N500EJ

[MichiganRick]

Does anyone know if Super Rabbit made it in on Friday? Thx

[Dan K]

Where's the link to the webcams?

GOOD show at Thunder today!

The Super Rabbit B-25 did not make it in so far and that along with the so far no show of the Fagen P-40, "Old Crow" P-51B/C and the C-46 "Tinker Belle" are the biggest disappointments. And of course the Goss Hawk PB4Y-2 Privateer, but we have known about the loss of that one for awhile.

But it was very nice to see the late addition of the BAHF's C-54 "Spirit of Freedom" to the aircraft at the show. Did see it arrive this morning, but it would have been nice to see it make a flyby or pass before landing. That is one of my pet peeves is that frequently aircraft arriving on Friday (or in this case Saturday) for the show and which are coming for static display only do not make photo passes before landing. Understand they do not always have clearance for this, but it would be nice to see.

Not all the planned Texans made it either, but there was a nice large formation of 12 that did several flybys in three 4-ship flights. Think roughly 17 Texan/SNJ/Harvard types were on the ramp today.

Nice warbird formations today included a 5 ship with the Yankee Lady B-17, a P-38, P-47 and 2 P-51D Mustangs. All of these did nice photo passes along with the P-63 King Cobra, B-25 Yankee Warrior, C-47 Skytrain, C-60 Lodestar and the AT-11 Kansan. The B-24 "Diamond Lil" took off and made some great solo passes also.

Individual demos were flown by the WHF F-86F Sabre, a P-51D Mustang and the P-63 and they were all well done.

Overall a very good warbird air show. Not one of the best Thunder Over Michigans from a warbird standpoint, but definitely a worthwhile show.

Good job done by the entire crew at the Yankee Air Museum!

And a very early announcement has been made for the 2015 Thunder Over Michigan dates. It will be the latest show ever with the Blue Angels confirmed and the show planned for Sat.-Sun. August 29-30, 2015. A week before Labor Day weekend, I will be interested to find out over the next several months what theme or themes are planned and what some of the warbirds are that we might expect to see.

[cooper9411]

I agree it was a good show. The Jack Links biplane was a real headturner. I was kind of bummed when the P-40 wasn't there but I got over it rather quickly once the show started. The P-63 was IMO a very big attraction.

[WIXerGreg]

I would have been disappointed making a 12 hour round trip drive to find the P-40 and C-46 didn't show and I looked forward to the Privateer, but it still sounds like a great show and I'm sorry I couldn't make it this year. Somebody post some pictures!

[kalamazookid]

Pretty good show today. I would say it was probably the lightest Thunder lineup I've ever seen in terms of front-line WWII fighters and heavies, but I still had a good time and it was still a very good show. If I hadn't bought advance tickets to both days I'm not sure that I'd go back tomorrow since I saw everything thoroughly today. Still planning on going back tomorrow anyway for what should be another great day!

The formation flight and the USAAF Airpower flight were the highlights for me. The individual demos by the F-86, P-51 and P-63 were all superb. I particularly enjoyed the F-86 demo because the pilot did an excellent job showcasing the aircraft from different angles and giving the crowd a good look at the profile of the Sabre.

I thought not having more aircraft fly in the afternoon battle, or any aircraft fly in the morning battle at all was a poor choice. One of the things that makes TOM unique is the aircraft flying low over the WWII battle, and we didn't get that this year. I also found it odd that Rousch didn't tow over either of his P-51s for static display. The other problem was that the downtime between the B-24 and the Thunderbirds getting in the air was over 45 minutes. I'm sure this has more to do with the Thunderbirds than TOM, but it's pretty ridiculous. It's kinda stupid that the Thunderbirds need the entire airport shut down to sit on the ground with nothing in the air. Wish that time could have been used to get the Avengers or something in the air. Again, not really TOM's fault, but jet teams need to look into changing this because that amount of downtime seems entirely unnecessary.

Another good show by the Thunder crew and I'm looking forward to heading back tomorrow!

[martin_sam_2000]

Pretty good show today. I would say it was probably the lightest Thunder lineup I've ever seen in terms of front-line WWII fighters and heavies, but I still had a good time and it was still a very good show. If I hadn't bought advance tickets to both days I'm not sure that I'd go back tomorrow since I saw everything thoroughly today. Still planning on going back tomorrow anyway for what should be another great day!

The formation flight and the USAAF Airpower flight were the highlights for me. The individual demos by the F-86, P-51 and P-63 were all superb. I particularly enjoyed the F-86 demo because the pilot did an excellent job showcasing the aircraft from different angles and giving the crowd a good look at the profile of the Sabre.

I thought not having more aircraft fly in the afternoon battle, or any aircraft fly in the morning battle at all was a poor choice. One of the things that makes TOM unique is the aircraft flying low over the WWII battle, and we didn't get that this year. I also found it odd that Rousch didn't tow over either of his P-51s for static display. The other problem was that the downtime between the B-24 and the Thunderbirds getting in the air was over 45 minutes. I'm sure this has more to do with the Thunderbirds than TOM, but it's pretty ridiculous. It's kinda stupid that the Thunderbirds need the entire airport shut down to sit on the ground with nothing in the air. Wish that time could have been used to get the Avengers or something in the air. Again, not really TOM's fault, but jet teams need to look into changing this because that amount of downtime seems entirely unnecessary.

Another good show by the Thunder crew and I'm looking forward to heading back tomorrow!

I think they had a mechanical issue. They had the twin flying in the four ship instead of the single seats.

Sean

[kalamazookid]

Pretty good show today. I would say it was probably the lightest Thunder lineup I've ever seen in terms of front-line WWII fighters and heavies, but I still had a good time and it was still a very good show. If I hadn't bought advance tickets to both days I'm not sure that I'd go back tomorrow since I saw everything thoroughly today. Still planning on going back tomorrow anyway for what should be another great day!

The formation flight and the USAAF Airpower flight were the highlights for me. The individual demos by the F-86, P-51 and P-63 were all superb. I particularly enjoyed the F-86 demo because the pilot did an excellent job showcasing the aircraft from different angles and giving the crowd a good look at the profile of the Sabre.

I thought not having more aircraft fly in the afternoon battle, or any aircraft fly in the morning battle at all was a poor choice. One of the things that makes TOM unique is the aircraft flying low over the WWII battle, and we didn't get that this year. I also found it odd that Rousch didn't tow over either of his P-51s for static display. The other problem was that the downtime between the B-24 and the Thunderbirds getting in the air was over 45 minutes. I'm sure this has more to do with the Thunderbirds than TOM, but it's pretty ridiculous. It's kinda stupid that the Thunderbirds need the entire airport shut down to sit on the ground with nothing in the air. Wish that time could have been used to get the Avengers or something in the air. Again, not really TOM's fault, but jet teams need to look into changing this because that amount of downtime seems entirely unnecessary.

Another good show by the Thunder crew and I'm looking forward to heading back tomorrow!

I think they had a mechanical issue. They had the twin flying in the four ship instead of the single seats.

Sean

I did notice that. I guess that seems a reasonable explanation. Would have been nice to relay that info to the announcer stand- a lot of people in the seating area where I was didn't know what was going on and were getting frustrated.

[Xray]

I heard on the scanner there was a delay in closing Ecorse, was supposed to be shut down at 3pm sharp but it was more like 3:15, not sure if this was the factor behind the delay or not ... Tbirds went up at 3:30 sharp, probably as scheduled.
Nice show, the B-17 led warbird formation was great. Sasquatch was a kick, a biplane making jet sounds. Too bad USAF doesn't do bomber flybys often anymore, a few B-1 passes would have really spiced things up during any lull.

[cooper9411]

Some lulls in the action. Formation flights were good, wonder why the B-24 wasn't part of it?

Last edited by cooper9411 on Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:58 am, edited 1 time in total.