Just Plane Cool

I got to KNEW this morning right when they opened. Had to get there early to get my pics before all the people who have been put n this earth specifically to get in front of whatever I want to take pictures of could show up.

Here's a nifty C-47.

And a T-6 Texan.

Bell P-63 King Cobra, one of just four left.

A P-40.

A Goodyear FG-1D. (WANT!!!)

A General Motors-built version of the Grumman F4F Wildcat known as an FM-2.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk9.

Can't have an airshow without a P-51 Mustang or three. (There were two here.)

Grumman TBM Avenger.

The B-17 that has been taunting me the last two days.

And Fifi, the B-29.

Yeah, this was gonna be a good day. No power in the 'verse could mess this day up. And these are just a prelude of pics to come.

Corsair time!

Because of everything that flew in the skies during World War Two and Korea, the Chance-Vought Corsair (and it's Goodyear and Brewster step-brothers) was one of the coolest.

And Thunder Over Michigan had one again.

If I could only have one, it'd be this one without question.
Oh, and the sound of that big Pratt and Whitney motor turning that massive Hamilton Standard prop...

And here it is flying in formation with a Douglas Skyraider and a Douglas Skyhawk.

Sweet, huh?

F-86 at the Airshow

Back at Thunder over Michigan, they had one of my all-time favorites back again--the North American F-86 Sabre Jet.

Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover both described it as one of the sweetest jets that they'd ever flown as it still handled like a high-performance prop fighter.

It flew here, as part of the Heritage flight with the North American P-51 Mustang and the North American F-100F Super Sabre.

And here it is, coming back to it's parking spot and passing several other classics.

Stearman time!

Because there were three cherry Boeing Stearman bipanes at Thunder Over Michigan.

I wish that these had flown this year, bad sadly, they did not, unlike last year.
This aircraft is high on my list of potential replacements for the Cessna when the time comes.

The T-34 Mentor

Found one of these at the airshow, too.

This nifty Beechcraft was offered to the US Armed Forces as a replacement for the T-6 Texan trainers after World War Two. The Air Force and the Navy used them well up into the 1970s, and there are still quite a few kicking around. It's one that I'm looking at as a possible Cessna replacement down the road. It's kind of a two-seat aerobatic Bonanza.

Mustang Love

Thunder Over Michigan always seems to turn out the P-51s.
(Sorry Keads--no Ford products here.)

They fly, too.