Airpower Over Da Hood

Bettina got some nice pics this past week. I wish I could post more but it is what it is and I'm glad to have the time just to do this. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

China - Playmaker Toys Plastic F-35 Lightning II and U.S. Air Force 70th Birthday

Today marks the 70th Anniversary of the United States Air Force, when on this date in 1947, President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act making the Air Force a separate and equal partner to the Army and Navy. 

I had intended to do a series of toy airplane posts over the course of several months but - as long time readers will attest - I got distracted by other things LOL  Oh well, I'm not a terribly celebratory person to begin with so this post will do just fine. Wanting to showcase the latest hardware in the Air Force inventory a quick post on the latest fighter jet, the F-35 Lightning II was a natural (due to time constraints however the usual quickie history lesson on the jet will be skipped). As usual, I tried to find a more toy-like representation of the jet vs. shelling out the money for one of the more highly detailed (and expensive) diecast versions. This plastic F-35 from Playmaker Toys with light and sound fit the bill nicely. It measures 7 1/2" (19.05cm) L x 5" (12.7cm)  wingspan x 2" (5.08cm) H, has a pull-back friction motor and lights and sound as seen in the short video. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

A couple of F-35s flying over the house

Photo by Bettina Berg

Nellis AFB Aviation Nation Air Show 2014 - Pt 2

Air Shows cane be exasperating. You want to get photos of all the cool airplanes on static display while at the same time the flight demonstrations are roaring overhead and you want to watch and take pictures as well. Bettina and I both were out there with our Flintstones* camera's just snapping away and we still didn't get it all LOL

Today we'll post more static display photos as well as some of those action shots that make up the more dramatic moments of the air show. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

*'Flintstones' camera's because they were so slow to react it was like there was a little bird inside chipping away at a stone tablet to get our pictures!

Heritage Flight

The opening ceremonies include what's called a Heritage Flight, a mix of old and new aircraft doing fly-by's. Normally it's a great photo op but we had just gotten in the gates, and while walking the grounds were trying to take in all the displays plus trying to catch some the action overhead. The result was we only got shots of a couple of the aircraft landing. Oh well. These same birds would participate in other displays throughout the day.

The planes come in from the south (our right as we face the runway), land and taxi to the north where they then turn around, then taxi south to their parking spots on the ramp.

It is now in its parking spot

Aerial Demonstration by ?

Bettina only got a few shots of this action before we got distracted :-)

WWII Demonstration: Mock Bomb Run

The C-4,  Expeditor AT-6 Texan, B-25 Mitchell, and Mitsubishi Zero take off for their demonstration.

(We didn't get shots of the C-45 taking off)

The base newspaper, the Bullseye, acts as a free souvenir program for the air show, yet there is practically nothing written about the vintage warbirds appearing in the show. As I was taking photos and trying to listen to the narrator over the loudspeaker I did catch that this WWII era Mitsubishi Zero was recovered in New Guinea back in the '90s and took many years to restore to flying condition. It is only one of five flyable Zero's in the world.

Static Displays

We'll leave you for today with a couple of static displays

F-16

F-35

F-22

 

F-15

 

To Be Continued