Tag Archives: air

Thunder Over Michigan

I made a last minute decision to go to Thunder Over Michigan at Willow Run. For some reason, I have never been to this show before. I have seen plenty of interesting shots of the aircraft from previous years so why I have never been is a mystery to me. There are some practical issues about going but not that can’t be overcome.

Being just outside Detroit, it is the best part of a four hour drive to get to Thunder. It is also a time zone change so making the trip across early in the morning is not a practical proposition. Therefore, an overnight is required. I decided that two nights would make for a more relaxing time. In the run up to the show, the heatwave across the Midwest was still forecast to be in place and the chances of storms were mixed in with the high temperatures.

I booked the room since I could cancel it at short notice and then decided to wait and see. In the end , I figured I would take a chance. Nancy was convinced I was not going to make the trip and looked amazed when I finally walked out of the door.

It was definitely worth the trip. I met up with a bunch of people I either already know or have crossed paths with online including the team at Warbird Digest who recently published the article on Warbird Heritage Foundation I wrote. Greg was particularly generous as he had a photo pass I could use for the show. This was a welcome addition since it not only provided a good location but also included shelter from the sun and cold drinks!

The weather ended up being okay. The heat was pretty significant and the light moves round during the day making the shots a bit trickier. It also got cloudy when the Blue Angels closed out the show. however, it was the warbirds that I was there to see and they were a lot of fun.

I would include pictures to share with you but instead, I have written a piece for Global Aviation Resource which is illustrated so here is the link to that instead.

http://www.globalaviationresource.com/reports/2011/airshows-usa-thunder-over-michigan-review/index.php

Bye Bye JAL 747s

When I was a small kid, I had a book called Pictorial History of Aircraft. This was the 1970s and so the Boeing 747 was still a relatively new kid on the block. It certainly wasn’t the times of the 400 series being knocked out at the rate of one a week. The pictures in this book showed Japan Air Lines (JAL) as an operator of both passenger and freighter versions of the jet.

As time passed by, JAL grew its fleet substantially and was for a long time the largest operator of 747s in the world. Therefore, it is hard to come to terms with the fact that the poor financial state of JAL combined with the introduction of more efficient big twins has meant the 747 has gone from JAL’s passenger operations. It is odd to know I won’t see one again (except perhaps at a storage yard). Every once in a while the airline industry has a big change – the end of Pan Am is one that springs to mind. For me, this is one of those moments.

Anyway, they are gone but I have a few shots of them to remember them by. I wonder what will be next to go?!

Indy Air Show

The beginning of the air show season has already arrived but my plans for the year are rather sparse. Some things I had originally planned to go to have been overtaken by competing events so there are relatively few shows that are presently a firm fixture in my calendar. That is fine. If the other things weren’t things I wanted to do, they wouldn’t have taken precedence. Besides, when I am looking at a show, I am looking for something a little different since there are a bunch of acts, all good in their own right, that I can see any number of times through the year.

The show in Indianapolis caught me off guard therefore. I hadn’t really been thinking about heading down to it. I had read that the lighting is a bit harsh and had originally thought I had something else on. However, I ended up being free and they had some aircraft that piqued my interest. Besides, it is only three hours to drive down. The forecast was looking mixed but I decided to give it a go.

The drive down was not inspiring! Crappy conditions in Chicago as I left got worse as I drove down through Indiana. At some points, the fog was quite bad with the wind turbines looming out of the murk as I headed down I-65. However, as I reached Indy, the skies parted. We were pretty lucky for weather for the rest of the day to be honest. There were bursts of sun but mainly clouds. However, I watched a few heavy looking downpours approach and they all passed east of us – at least until I was back in the car!

The show had a nice mix of performers. I had never seen the PV-2 or C-1A fly before and that was nice. They organized some warbird combined flights which were pretty good and photogenic – well, if the light had been better they would have been. Overall, a good mix of things to keep me interested. The light was tricky all day and there are a lot of shots that will never be seen in public because they are just blah!

All in all, though, a good day out and it was nice to get back into practice of shooting things moving rather fast. Also nice to bump into some familiar faces during the show. Good to see you guys!