Saturday, July 31 - The Arctic Thunder Air Show was awesome! Wow, it was a full day of exciting performances and demonstrations. Really reminded us of the value of our military. Here we are heading in.
You can see it's a pretty cloudy day, wet from an overnight rain, again.
We walked around the planes. This is the Blue Angels "Fat Albert," the C-130 support plane for them. It carries extra gear, parts and equipment to keep them in the air. You can see of their planes parked next to Fat Albert.
There were all sizes of planes available for us to view. Here's one that Tiffany and Kaylee should like.
We got there right after the gates opened, so we beat most of the crowd, lucky us - having camped inside the base. Here's the Blue Angels and the Canadian Snowbirds lined up for their afternoon performances.
The first performance was of the Screaming Eagles and Air Force Adademy' jump teams. Here's the C-130 that dropped the jumpers. It made several passes and different jumpers got out each time, sometimes 2 people, sometimes 4 or more.
Joe got some great pictures of the jumpers. They are flying different flags (American flag, Alaskan flag, POW flag).
Here's the cockpit of one of the many planes available to tour. It sure has a dash full of the instrument panel.
The Marine Corps "Harrier" plane was awesome. Here it is on the ground. Later in the show, they demonstrated its capabilities and, wow, it can do some awesome stuff. It's like a helicopter in some respects, can take off and land straight up, normal, and on short runways. It can hover, go sideways, go backwards, can stay in one spot in the air and do a complete 360. The demonstration was fascinating, and it was Joe's favorite part of the day.
Another very interesting demonstration was what they called the "warbirds." They had different kinds of planes flying through, some of them exploding bombs or firing onto the ground. We learned later that they used simulator bombs, which are about the size of a fist, so we could not see them drop from the aircraft. They even did a smoke ring from the explosion.
There were lots of people, estimated 50,000 in attendance today. They had a special performance for handicap and special needs people on Friday, and the have another full performance on Sunday. I think the expected attendance for the 3 days is around 170,000.
The afternoon started off with the Canadian Snowbirds. They had 9 in the air, and did some exciting demonstrations of their ability to fly in close formations and come together from different directions.
Another really interesting segment was a demonstration of the Alaska Joint Forces Capabilities, enacting an actual battle and rescue. They used screaming jets dropping bombs, other jets providing cover fire, helicopter medical rescue, helicopter troop recovery (Chinooks and UH-60s, also known as Hueys). This was my favorite demonstration, it really made me think about what goes on with our troops, and I am so proud of our great-nephew who is joining the Air Force (this month, I think). Way to go, John Coulter!
The F-22s put on a demonstration of their own, and you had to plug your ears when they came screaming through. They are VERY maneuverable in the air, and they are radar-resistant, so the enemy is unable to locate and fire on them. The narrator said we have never lost a battle when the F-22s were used. The F-22s were designed to replace the F-117 Stealth, incorporating some of the characteristics from that design but including other unique capabilities that make it the best fighter plane in the world.
The C-17 demonstration was canceled due to the crash and tragic death of the 4 crewmen on Wednesday. The C-17 has a cargo weight capacity of about 166,000 lbs. In place of the actual flight demonstration, they had a very touching memorial ceremony honoring those who died on Wednesday, concluding with the F22's flying in the "missing man" formation. It was very sad, and they did a good job of memorializing the crew. The investigation is on-going, so we still haven't heard what actually happened. We talked to a man back at the campground who is currently stationed here, and he told us they almost canceled the entire Arctic Thunder air show due to the crash. I'm sure it was a very difficult decision.
They did not have the B-52 flyover that was on the schedule, probably because of the overcast weather situation, but they had one on display.
The show concluded with the U.S. Navy's mighty Blue Angels. I don't even know what to say about them. They just take your breath away (and give you a heart attack when the come at each other, roll right in front of you, and it looks like they are touching each other). Fat Albert set the stage, and then they took over.
If you get a chance to go to these air shows, they are fascinating. I know Arizona has had them out at Williams from time to time, and probably at Luke. It is worth the trip!
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