Hill Air Force Base Air Show
Alright, it's a little late. The Air Show was on the 10th and 11th of June. Still, I wanted to make a note of some of my thoughts and observations:
First of all, this was my first air show in literally decades. I grew up literally under the flight path of Hill, and since my dad worked at the base as a civilian contractor, I took special pleasure in going to the Base "Open House", as it was called back then. I got to see all sorts of great stuff, got to sit behind the controls of many a cool plane, and usually scored a ton of free swag, in the form of posters, pictures, pamphlets, and little plastic figures of everything from F-16's to Minuteman missiles. ^_^
This airshow was no different, although allowances had to be made for the fact that we were hauling around very small children. However, seeing some of the cutting-edge bad-ass technology up close and personal almost made me want to sign up just for the chance to fly one. Of note:
I learned that you can carry AMRAAM missiles on the wingtip mounts of an F-16. I thought only AIM-9's could go there. Yes, I am a military tech geek. ^_^
The F-119 Stealth fighter was cool. Very, very cool. And the armed guards with M-4 carbines and body armor just added to the coolness. They would occasionally pull out kids or people from the crowd to cross the crowd barrier to stand in front of the plane so that their loved ones could snap pictures. I wasn't sure if they were the kids of base personnel or some such, but we didn't have time to wait and ask.
The F-22 Raptor was even cooler. There's not many body parts I wouldn't give for the chance to fly that one. No armed guards, and they let us come up a little closer, but it was still "No touchie." Needless to say, it was the most popular attractions on the tarmac, and much money was being exchanged for shirts, mugs, jackets, sweaters and the like. It was sleek. It was stealthy, it was the plane that every pilot wants to fly and nobody wants to mess with.
I loved the A-10. It's ugly. It's slow. It's very low-tech. It'll shred your nice new tank into confetti, and laugh when you try to shoot back. What, you blew off one of my engines and took out half of a wing, too? Alrighty, hold on right there while I fly back, land, and get a new set. Then I'm coming back and messing you up. Be right back. I stared down the barrel of that 30mm 7-barrel gatling cannon that sticks out the front like a malignant nostril tumor and decided that there was one really good place to be looking at this monster if it wasn't on your side... from behind.
They had a Mitsubishi Zero-sen... a flying one. My dad nearly cried that he finally got to see one. ^_^
The air demonstrations were incredible too. Stunt fliers that did things you shouldn't be able to do on the ground, flybys by a lot of planes, including an "Heritage Flight" of a P-51 Mustang, an F-4 Phantom, a F-16 and an F-22. Heh. And the demos by the F-22 itself. You hear a lot about the capabilities of that plane, but the pilot was doing things with it that shouldn't have even been possible, like balancing on the tail and nearly hovering with the thing. Mind blowing.
And, of course, the Thunderbirds. Their routine hasn't really changed since I was a kid... and that's alright. Because it was still awesome. My two boys nearly went apoplectic with excitement. My daughter... well, she didn't like the noise very much, but she loved the planes. ^_^
In any case, it was wonderful weather, a great show, and my kids are dying to go again. Too bad it only comes around once every four years or so. :(
First of all, this was my first air show in literally decades. I grew up literally under the flight path of Hill, and since my dad worked at the base as a civilian contractor, I took special pleasure in going to the Base "Open House", as it was called back then. I got to see all sorts of great stuff, got to sit behind the controls of many a cool plane, and usually scored a ton of free swag, in the form of posters, pictures, pamphlets, and little plastic figures of everything from F-16's to Minuteman missiles. ^_^
This airshow was no different, although allowances had to be made for the fact that we were hauling around very small children. However, seeing some of the cutting-edge bad-ass technology up close and personal almost made me want to sign up just for the chance to fly one. Of note:
I learned that you can carry AMRAAM missiles on the wingtip mounts of an F-16. I thought only AIM-9's could go there. Yes, I am a military tech geek. ^_^
The F-119 Stealth fighter was cool. Very, very cool. And the armed guards with M-4 carbines and body armor just added to the coolness. They would occasionally pull out kids or people from the crowd to cross the crowd barrier to stand in front of the plane so that their loved ones could snap pictures. I wasn't sure if they were the kids of base personnel or some such, but we didn't have time to wait and ask.
The F-22 Raptor was even cooler. There's not many body parts I wouldn't give for the chance to fly that one. No armed guards, and they let us come up a little closer, but it was still "No touchie." Needless to say, it was the most popular attractions on the tarmac, and much money was being exchanged for shirts, mugs, jackets, sweaters and the like. It was sleek. It was stealthy, it was the plane that every pilot wants to fly and nobody wants to mess with.
I loved the A-10. It's ugly. It's slow. It's very low-tech. It'll shred your nice new tank into confetti, and laugh when you try to shoot back. What, you blew off one of my engines and took out half of a wing, too? Alrighty, hold on right there while I fly back, land, and get a new set. Then I'm coming back and messing you up. Be right back. I stared down the barrel of that 30mm 7-barrel gatling cannon that sticks out the front like a malignant nostril tumor and decided that there was one really good place to be looking at this monster if it wasn't on your side... from behind.
They had a Mitsubishi Zero-sen... a flying one. My dad nearly cried that he finally got to see one. ^_^
The air demonstrations were incredible too. Stunt fliers that did things you shouldn't be able to do on the ground, flybys by a lot of planes, including an "Heritage Flight" of a P-51 Mustang, an F-4 Phantom, a F-16 and an F-22. Heh. And the demos by the F-22 itself. You hear a lot about the capabilities of that plane, but the pilot was doing things with it that shouldn't have even been possible, like balancing on the tail and nearly hovering with the thing. Mind blowing.
And, of course, the Thunderbirds. Their routine hasn't really changed since I was a kid... and that's alright. Because it was still awesome. My two boys nearly went apoplectic with excitement. My daughter... well, she didn't like the noise very much, but she loved the planes. ^_^
In any case, it was wonderful weather, a great show, and my kids are dying to go again. Too bad it only comes around once every four years or so. :(