I almost didn't go. I didn't think I could. This year is the United States Air Force 70th Anniversary celebratory Aviation Nation Air Show at Nellis AFB, Las Vegas, NV. I've been dealing with a bout of gout in my left foot over the past few weeks and, although the pain is much reduced, it still hurts some. Then there's the grandbaby. I kinda didn't feel like taking her along, not really knowing how well she'd take to all that walking. But then it happened...
...Bettina took those absolutely gorgeous shots of FiFi, the world's only flying B-29 Superfortress, right over our house and I was hooked (the pics were taken two days ago but were just posted yesterday - see yesterday's post)! Good grief! I just had to find a way. Well, "determination will out", or " where there's a will, there's a way" kicked in and Bettina and I just said, "To heck with it, let's just go!" - and go we did yesterday afternoon.
So Bettina, Shelley, and grandbaby Melody all got ready and we left - albeit a tad late. We didn't actually vacate the house 'til about 1PM and it was about 1:30PM before we finally stepped out of the car. The show was open to all Military ID card holders yesterday, and is opened to the general public today and tomorrow. Now, to put things in perspective, by 1:30PM nearly all the flying routines are finished for the day, all the vendors selling water and refreshments (which we sorely needed by the time we called it quits) were closed, and because of that lousy Daylight Savings time-change crap, it gets darker earlier now so everything pretty much shuts down at 3PM. That only gave us an hour-and-a-half to see stuff. And actually we were quite okay with that. One-&-a-half hours with a toddler in tow and me with a gimpy foot was far more that enough!! Fortunately enough the ECP (Entry Control Point) I always use is the one closest to the greater majority of vintage aircraft and those are the ones which hold true meaning to me.
Air Shows here have become monotonous affairs. Far too often the pics I show one year can be recycled and used again for the next show. The last air show was a little bit different because there was a terrific display of vintage WWII Army vehicles, the first time these had been to one of our shows. THIS YEAR was awesome - for me at least - for several reasons:
FiFi
PB4Y-2 Privateer
TBF (or TBM) Avenger
Spitfire
P-40 Warhawk
WWII era German Kettenrad and Hanomag (military enthusiasts will know what these are)
That right there made the trip all worth while! As a bonus, the grandbaby was pretty well behaved, although she did want to run off a few times, but we got her settled down some. Overall she was a good girl for us. By the time 3PM rolled around we were on our way back to the car with yet another air show under our belt. But just as we were leaving the base I looked up and saw a U-2 Spy Plane flying overhead at low level. It may have been late arriving for the air show but I don't recall seeing a U-2 at one of these shows. Sorry, no pics of that one! Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina
I have no clue what type of aircraft this is.
...Bettina took those absolutely gorgeous shots of FiFi, the world's only flying B-29 Superfortress, right over our house and I was hooked (the pics were taken two days ago but were just posted yesterday - see yesterday's post)! Good grief! I just had to find a way. Well, "determination will out", or " where there's a will, there's a way" kicked in and Bettina and I just said, "To heck with it, let's just go!" - and go we did yesterday afternoon.
So Bettina, Shelley, and grandbaby Melody all got ready and we left - albeit a tad late. We didn't actually vacate the house 'til about 1PM and it was about 1:30PM before we finally stepped out of the car. The show was open to all Military ID card holders yesterday, and is opened to the general public today and tomorrow. Now, to put things in perspective, by 1:30PM nearly all the flying routines are finished for the day, all the vendors selling water and refreshments (which we sorely needed by the time we called it quits) were closed, and because of that lousy Daylight Savings time-change crap, it gets darker earlier now so everything pretty much shuts down at 3PM. That only gave us an hour-and-a-half to see stuff. And actually we were quite okay with that. One-&-a-half hours with a toddler in tow and me with a gimpy foot was far more that enough!! Fortunately enough the ECP (Entry Control Point) I always use is the one closest to the greater majority of vintage aircraft and those are the ones which hold true meaning to me.
Air Shows here have become monotonous affairs. Far too often the pics I show one year can be recycled and used again for the next show. The last air show was a little bit different because there was a terrific display of vintage WWII Army vehicles, the first time these had been to one of our shows. THIS YEAR was awesome - for me at least - for several reasons:
FiFi
PB4Y-2 Privateer
TBF (or TBM) Avenger
Spitfire
P-40 Warhawk
WWII era German Kettenrad and Hanomag (military enthusiasts will know what these are)
That right there made the trip all worth while! As a bonus, the grandbaby was pretty well behaved, although she did want to run off a few times, but we got her settled down some. Overall she was a good girl for us. By the time 3PM rolled around we were on our way back to the car with yet another air show under our belt. But just as we were leaving the base I looked up and saw a U-2 Spy Plane flying overhead at low level. It may have been late arriving for the air show but I don't recall seeing a U-2 at one of these shows. Sorry, no pics of that one! Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina
Today we'll feature the photos Bettina took
Most, but not all, of the flying routines were done for the day but Bettina did catch some in action
What we first see when coming through the ECP
***UPDATE: This has been identified as an L-17 Navion as built by North American and Ryan***
Thanx Al!
AWACS a staple of these air shows and a frequent visitor to the exercises here at Nellis
B-52 Stratofortress, also a staple of these air shows and a frequent visitor to the exercises here at Nellis
B-1 Lancer, also a regular to Nellis
PB4Y-2 Privateer
We saw this for the first time at the last air show and it's making a return visit
Another shot of the B-52
Opa and Melody - double-diapered just in case hahahahaha (the baby not me!)
Wandering aimlessly
FiFi!! the star of the show in my humble opinion :-)
Shelley and Melody, oh yeah, there's an airplane there too
C-17 Globemaster III
A 75% reproduction of a Fieseler Storch
Cessna O-1 Bird Dog
No Clue
No clue here either
Again, no clue! A lot of these planes have placards out front and nearly all have their pilots or reps nearby to ask questions of but I just didn't have time to record details
Russian Hind Helicopter
Melody putting Opa through his paces
B-25 Liberator
Dump Truck! huh?
Where's the wings? LOL
There are a few monitors setup on the grounds that let you see the action up close. Shown here is the Thunderbirds pre-routine ceremony
Ahhh, more my speed :-)
The display of vintage Army vehicles
Yup, seen these guys before :-)
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