The Marine Corps F-35Bs have been in service for plenty of time now and I have had the opportunity to photograph them on quite a few occasions.  However, I had not, until this year, seen their air show demo.  I have seen the RAF F-35B at RIAT on an occasion, but it was not a full demo but a brief flyby and hover.  Consequently, when the jet was slated for the Seafair schedule this year, I was interested to see the performance.  It turned out to be an interesting combination of things although maybe not intentionally.

The displays at Seafair are a bit tricky.  The alignment of the lake and the populated areas means the show box is a bit distant from the shire.  Consequently, the flying takes place quite a way from the crowd.  This is not ideal for photos.  However, the Marine demo did seem to approach the box from some interesting angles that included coming almost along the shoreline at one point.  Not sure if this was intentional but it did make for some closer shots.

Sadly, the hovering portion was quite a way offshore.  I had hoped that this might be closer in given the lack of speed but that wasn’t to be.  Even so, it was fun to watch the jet doing its thing and looking to see how much the surface of the lake was being disturbed by the efflux.  Hopefully, I’ll get to see the demo again at a location that allows some closer passes.