10/12/24

 The Frontiers in Flight Air Show at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita had several performance planes.  The old WWII planes were very cool to see both on the ground and especially the ones that flew.  This is Swamp Fox, a P51 Mustang that was very cool to see.  The hubster's grandfather help to build them during the war.

10/05/24

 This is another image of the Blue Angels that I was able to get at the Frontiers In Flight Air Show at McConnell AFB in Wichita.  As I mentioned, there is a great documentary on them on Amazon Prime.  Each pilot is only in the group for, at most, 3 years.  It is a very prestigious position but requires them to be away from home for quite a lot of time.  They have a Winter Training where they have to complete 120 flights and then a very rigorous schedule of shows across the country.  They fly Boeing FA-18s and pull very high G Forces in the maneuvers but don't wear G suits as it can affect them having complete control over their plane.  They control G Forces by doing muscle contractions. When they perform their maneuvers, there are times that they are only 18 inches apart.  Pretty incredible.

# Frontiersinflight

09/28/24

 At the end of August I went down to the Frontiers In Flight Air how at McConnell Air Force Base.  The second day was cancelled due to a bad storm causing some damage that morning.  It was a great show with various airplane flying acts of which the Navy Blue Angels were the star of the show.  They put on a wonderful demonstration of their precision flying.  I highly recommend seeing them in person if you can.  I also highly recommend a documentary on them that is on Amazon Prime Video right now and shows how the pilots are chosen, how they train and what their life is like while in The Blue Angels (title).    

I have a very short video HERE of a bit of the performance.

#frontiersinflight

09/07/24

 Today's image is from the Frontiers In Flight Air Show at McConnell AFB in Wichita Kansas I was able to attend a couple of weekends ago.  I really wanted to see this group, the Blue Angels fly.  I had seen them years ago when I was a kid.  They put on a really impressive show with their close flying acrobatics.  

#frontiersinflight

09/03/24

 Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend an air show at McConnell Air Force Base down by Wichita, KS.  I say lucky because the Sunday show was cancelled due to a bad storm in that area.  It was hot but not horrible as there were some clouds that would keep it a bit cooler most of the time.  One of the flying demonstrations we were able to see was Tora Tora Tora which recreates the attack on Pearl Harbor during WWII.  They use T6 Texans to recreate the planes as there no Japanese Zeros around any longer.  It was quite the neat show.

I have a video HERE if you would like to see a bit of the performance.

#frontiersinflight

6/8/21

 This past Saturday, my town held it's Annual Fly-In. It is not strictly for Bi-planes any longer but there were a couple of them there.  I missed being able to get a photo of one of them due to having to work the event in a booth but I was able to capture this one and there were some great clouds around to capture it in as well. 

7/2/19

I used to host a theme called Transport Tuesday.  At times I still like to share some transport related photos here.  I thought this one was appropriate for the 4th of July week.  This is the P-51 Mustang from the Commemorative Air Force named Gunfighter that I saw while I was at the Air Show in Great Bend this past autumn.  It was just coming back from it's flight demonstration.  Gunfighter is currently out on Tour and will be in Salina and Topeka Kansas in early September. 

6/18/19

This was an interesting plane that came to the Bi-plane Fly In a couple of weekends ago.  This was the last one that will be called a "Bi Plane" Fly In.  They want more people with planes like this to know that they can come as well.  This plane is a Romanian Aerostar that was painted to look like a Japanese Zero from WWII.  It was quite neat looking.  It was actually built in 2002.

6/11/19

This is another new Bi-plane from the Fly-In that was held here in my town on June 1.  A neat plane from the 1940s with a cute paint scheme.  The owner and plane were here from Oklahoma I believe.

6/4/19

So the last "Bi Plane Fly In" was held in my town this past Saturday.  They say there will be Fly Ins in the future, just not limited or focused on bi-planes.  It was fun while it lasted and several neat planes turned out for the event.  This is one that was not a bi-plane but you can see part of one behind it.  This was a neat one that I believe is a T6 Texan though I could find no markings on it.  I was able to fly in and fly one very similar several years back.  It was quite fun.

2/5/19

Yikes it is cold again.  Sigh.  Highs in only the teens and 20s F after a 70 degree day.  I am so looking forward to spring!  Anyway, my image today is from the Great Bend Kansas Air Show from last September.  I captured 2 of my favorite WWII fighter planes flying past the field.  These are a P-40 Warhawk and a P-51 Mustang.

1/15/19

This is another image from the Great Bend Air Show this past September.  The airplane taking off is a T28 Trojan.  Of note is the triangle shape below off to the side of the runway.  It is an old Army Air Force Wind Tetrahedron which rotated on a pedestal as the wind blew to show the direction. 

1/8/19

I love old motorcycles.  At the Great Bend Air Show they had several types of military vehicles on display including this neat vintage Harley.  I am not sure if it was actually used in the war or just made to look like it but it was a nice bike nonetheless. 

12/18/18

My image today goes back to the Air Show at Great Bend Kansas.  The main show was over and these planes were sitting On the Flight Line waiting to move out again to do a flight demonstration for the veterans who were attending.  In the row are the P-40 Warhawk, the P-51 Mustang, the C-45 Expeditor and, I think, a Thunderbolt.

12/4/18

Posting late, sigh.  An image from the Great Bend Air Show I went to this past September.  One of my favorite WWII airplanes making a fly by of the crowd, a P51 Mustang fighter plane.

11/27/18

Yikes, I have been busy lately and totally forgot a day.  Sorry about that.
This image is from the Great Bend Air Show.  The airplane is an SNJ Navy Trainer, another of which was flying in the show, sitting in front of an original hanger.  This hanger used to house the B-29s that were used to train pilots in Kansas.  2 B-29s were at this show but as I mentioned, I unfortunately did not get to see them fly.

11/20/18

My image today is from the Great Bend Air Show I went to this year.  This is a Navy SNJ which was a WWII training aircraft and exactly like the Army Air Corp T6 Texan I was able to fly in a few years back, just different paint schemes and designations.  Here it was performing some stunt flying with smoke.  I liked how the smoke trail was captured in this image.  

10/23/18

This image is un-cropped from the Great Bend air show a few weeks ago.  This Navy SNJ was taking off and I was in the front row with a zoom lens and was able to get this shot.  I got to fly in and fly the Army Air Corps version of this plane a few years back, the T6 Texan.  There is no difference between the 2 except for the color and designation of SNJ or Texan.  They were both used for training pilots in WWII and are quite capable of acrobatic maneuvers and this pilot performed some of them.

10/9/18

I went to the Great Bend Air Show a couple of weekends ago mainly to see these two B-29 airplanes that were supposed to fly together.  I went down on Saturday which started out cold and dreary but the clouds lifted and they had the show.  Unfortunately these 2 still did not fly which was a huge disappointment as it is a rare thing to see 2 of this type of aircraft together.  I did not go the next day because the weather was crappy again but I saw later that they did fly that day.  Incredibly disappointing that I missed it.  Anyway, this is  Doc which was very recently restored in Wichita Kansas and Fifi in the rear which belongs to the Commemorative Air Force and I got to see fly over 30 years ago so it has been around a while.  I captured them sitting after the airshow on the tarmac of the former B-29 training facility there which is now the Great Bend Airport.