Warbird Information Exchange

All,

The dates for the 2022 THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN Air Show will be July 16th & 17th.
The theme will be "The British Are Coming".

More to come soon!

https://www.yankeeairmuseum.org/airshow/

_________________
Michael Luther
Yankee Air Museum's
Air Show Director
THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN

May I suggest a Curtiss and/or Lockheed Gathering.

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Zero Surprise!!...

Why are they still saying 4 shows/4 tickets...are they really keeping this format going forward???

Oh #@$@$@_@$##@$@&$-$-@&@_&@$&!!!!! I hope they don't keep the Covid format. Bad enough we lost the Luftwaffe gathering, now the whole day affair as well... Ugh...

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Wish I had a plane to put here... anyone got any leads on a (prewar) J3 Cub?

1952 Ford F6 Howe Fire Truck
1951 Ford F5
1949 Ford F6 Dump Truck
1978 Ford Mustang II
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle
1949 Ford 8N; 1948, 1949 & 1950 Baird Beavers

Really disappointing to see them latch onto the covid format as the new normal for airshows, especially this early - Seems to me they lucked out by having both the Blues and Tbirds on the same show in 2021, will likely never occur again and I predict weak sales for the show without a premium jet act [as it should be]

They are for 2022. It's bad.

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Matt

Yes, they are using the morning/afternoon show drive-in format again, got the email a few days ago. Morning show starts at 9 am with gates opening at 7am and the afternoon show starting at 3pm with gates opening at 1pm. The morning show features a "warbird salute" and the afternoon show has the Blue Angels. The wording makes it sound like the Blues are the only act in the afternoon with 3pm start time. I hope that is not the case. On the positive side, if you got a free car pass for the 2021 show then you get another free one for next year's show. Having attended another drive-in format show today I can tell you the format has worn out it's welcome.

That's really disappointing to see with Thunder. I get that its a system that has worked for them for the past few years, but it doesn't seem like a very visitor friendly model going forward. That being said, I attended the Geneseo airshow this summer with a large group, and we found overall the drive in aspect more visitor friendly. Think of a tailgate situation. There were no restrictions as far walking down to the flightline and get up close and personal with the aircraft. And no mask mandate really. It was very relaxed. Especially considering space is plentiful on D52. It just made it easier for your home base to also be where you watch the show vs having to unpack your chairs, cooler, etc, walk to show line, and then setup everything. But then again there wasn't this split show nonsense that Thunder is doing to rake in more $$$. People could stay at the show for as long as they wanted. Once the show ended, a number of aircraft started going up, including the new Fokker D.VII based there started doing orbits right over our car! So I think there are some benefits to the drive-in show aspect. As long as its done correctly, with maybe the option still to have a general audience seating area at the show line too.

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

I really enjoyed the drive-in format at TOM last year. As Warbird Kid stated about Geneseo, it was really nice having your supplies right there in your vehicle with you. There were no issues getting on and off the field, visibility was great without all of the tents along the front and it was nice having some room to yourself. Besides that, you could move around the field and check out the ramp the same as always.

That being said, the split show format is an atrocity and i'd really like to see that go away. We drive from 4 hours away every year and the only reason we didn't stop last year was due to getting one show for "free" because we had purchased tickets for 2019 and only had to pay for the second show to make a day out of it. It was nice seeing all of the planes twice, but the cost is too much even for that. We'll see how the second show looks this year with it not starting until 15:00.

I did not like the experience of sitting in between a bunch of vehicles at all. Sitting in a chair while a bunch of people around you are standing in their truck bends is not an ideal airshow viewing experience. At a normal show, it's easy to space out on the show line away from the tents.

What it comes down to for me is that the drive-in offers a fraction of the usual experience at multiple times the usual cost. Having an adequate amount of time to look at aircraft on the ground before they fly is a significant part of airshows for me. There's a reason I don't go to shows where the feature aircraft are parked on a hot ramp away from the crowd - it's because it isn't fun. I arrived plenty early last year, and didn't even get to look at the B-25s I hadn't seen before because they were already being towed out. The amount of time they were actually available to be looked at before the flying started was so short as to not even be worth mentioning. Geneseo sounds more palatable because you had an entire day, and you got to see everything that was at the show without having an act (or acts) deliberately withheld unless you wanted to pay an additional price to be there all day. Why should I pay multiple times over what I usually do for a fraction of the usual experience? That's bad business. There are plenty of other airshows that won't charge extra to be there all day or for the "privilege" of seeing all the booked acts fly.

I also agree that the split format is bad. It feels like the attitude is to rush everyone in as quickly as possible, cram as much flying as possible into the shortest possible window that allows for a second airshow, then rush everyone out so you can charge another group of people in the afternoon. I work in marketing for a living and have seen a lot of bad decisions dressed up in marketing BS. This feels exactly like a shameless money grab dressed up in "choose your headliner" marketing BS.

I won't further dilute the thread with more negative comments so those of you who are going can share in your excitement for the show. I do hope those of you who like the format enjoy yourselves. I've been attending this show with my Dad since 2000 (we've missed one year) and have had a lot of good memories associated with TOM. Hopefully they will continue to make the money they need to support the museum. If this is the "new normal" for the show however, we've spent our last time and money there and will enjoy seeing the YAM birds elsewhere.

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Matt

On a more positive note, when can we expect a theme/themes announcement?

All,

The theme for the 2022 THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN Air Show will be "The British Are Coming".

_________________
Michael Luther
Yankee Air Museum's
Air Show Director
THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN

Many Possibilities!

Ohh…I like.

Hopefully VWC sends some stiff down and I can get in on the action.

Sean

The theme announcement, along with any other announcement is meaningless to me, and I imagine quite a few others, until predicated with an announcement reverting the show format back to one comparable with the tradition enjoyed by myself and many over the past decades. Those shows have been very enjoyable and left great impressions and left life-long impressions. However, if this Covid format persists for the show, the allure is no longer there to make the multi-state journey and support the museum efforts.

_________________
Wish I had a plane to put here... anyone got any leads on a (prewar) J3 Cub?

1952 Ford F6 Howe Fire Truck
1951 Ford F5
1949 Ford F6 Dump Truck
1978 Ford Mustang II
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle
1949 Ford 8N; 1948, 1949 & 1950 Baird Beavers