Thunder Over Michigan - Navy Version

This years theme for TOM is the The Centennial of Naval Aviation, featuring a multitude of naval aircraft spanning the 100 years.
After last years B-17 theme, I figured I had to check out the airshow outside of Detroit again this year.
Driving down friday to stay over night allowed for an early start to the airshow day. But again, as was traditional, Friday saw a military parade down the main st of Belleville.

As the parade approached, Havards from the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association
flew down the length of the street.



The parade was led by an honour guard from the Police,



with the re-enacters from WW2



along with vehicles, like this Stuart tank following behind.



As they reached the end of the route, a Mig 21 began to make passes over town.



Then everyone looked out to the lake, to watch 4 LVT's demonstrating there ship like abilities. These were used through out the pacific campaign during WW2.





During the airshow, all 4 were involved in a reenactment of a pacific battle.



The next day, bright and early, it was time to head to the show at the airport. The first thing that greets you is the same reenactors in there camp. Lots of soldiers, from allied and axis armies, were on hand,





along with some representing the women of the time, like these ladies!



Then it was onto the aircraft. They ranged from the origins of the navy, a replica of the Curtis Pusher, the first aircraft the navy used on a ship,



to the most modern of aircraft, like the B1 Bone;





the B2 Spirit of Michigan;



and the MV-22B Osprey.



Another 70's generation aircraft, the f-16, showed that it still has the right stuff to battle in the sky.





I also thought it was unusual to see an fF16 with a hornet tail marking, as thats the standard image for a F18 Hornet!



Other periods including the Vietnam era, where an A-4 Skyhawk



battled a Mig 17 over the airport;





while a WW2 battle involving Japanese Zero's





and US Corsairs also took place.





It was amazing to see two real Japanese Zero's, a first for me. They were very capable, and you could understand how the dominated the battle, until one was discovered by the US and flight tested to learn its weakness, which was negative g's and rolling to the right!

Also on hand for a Legacy flight including aircraft like the PBY-5A Catalina



SB2C-5 Helldiver



TBM-3E Avenger



This one is done up like that used by George Bush in WW2
SBD-5 Dauntless



grumman c-1a trader



The show had two battles, which included a american attack on a german strong point, as well as a pacific island battle with Marines and Japanese soldiers.



Strafing runs by the aircraft represented attacks on ground targets. This is where the skill of the pilots was really on display! Simulating ground attacks, the pilots put the planes down as low as your going to see at any airshow!









And the stars of that battle were the Mustangs, a beautiful aircraft that ended up dominating the sky's above Europe.

Hamilton Airshow

Its been 10 years since they held a full airshow at the Hamilton International Airport. I remember going to one airshow there, years before, when one of the stars of the show was the relatively brand new Stealth Fighter.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Musuem will be celebrating 40 years next year, and they plan on having a big airshow. To test out the idea, they held a small, 3 hour airshow over the Fathers Day Weekend.

There were definately some problems in running the show, the most glaring being the transportation from the parking area.

Once arriving at the parking area, you ended up in a long line of people waiting for a bus. The problem was that the buses were in the same road that the cars coming into the lot were in, so they got bogged down.

Once on the bus, they drove right to the gate of the Museum, only to drop you off again. Another line up to pay, then another line up to get into another bus, to be driven to the field! That was stupid, and I believe part of the way through they decided to allow people to walk the distance, as eventually the line thinned out, which was good since it was nearly 2, the start of the show.

Once the show began, the airshow was generally good. But as with every event I've attended at CWH, there were problems with the show. Many of the promised formation flights never happened. The ones that they did were simply just passes, not real formations. I would have loved to see both B17's flying with the Lanc, but only the b17's went up at the same time, band simply did once pass each before landing!

Some of the planes included Chuckie,





Memphis Belle (movie version)



Nine harvards,



B25,



WW1 planes



and a formation of fighters including the mustang, corsair, warhawk, spitfire and hurricaine.





Some of the static aircarft included a C-130 hercules,





a CAF rescue Griffon,





A Sea King,



as well as CWH aircraft





Here are some of the other aircraft flying saturday.