Andrews AFB Air Show 2009
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Caryn & I at the Andrews AFB Air Show. Meet the F-22 Raptor. I have never seen raw air power executed like this.The Raptor would creep toward us and we wouldn't hear it coming -- no engine noise. It would stop in the sky, flip itself sideways and dart away. Several times I put the camera down because my jaw had dropped. I want one for Christmas now.
The highly reflective coating you see on the Raptor is part of its "stealth" qualities to reduce its radar signature. A long time ago when I used to write about the Raptor for Sheppard AFB/Wichita Falls Newspaper, Boeing marketed/told me that the Raptors radar cross section is smaller than a bumblebee. I believe it.
Take off, and into an immediate vertical
Notice there are no external weapons bays -- there can be, but that reduces its stealth. see next picture, they opened it up for us.
Internal weapons bay (empty of course.)
I just thought this shot was cool -- Raptor passing by the Sun
During the day they had a few "legacy flights" -- pairing today's airpower with its predecessors. Top to bottom, the F-22 Raptor, the P-51 Mustang (WWII, 150,000 were produced, 150 remain mostly in private collections) and the A-10 Thunderbolt/Warthog -- A Vietnam era aircraft that is still an active part of the airstrikes in Afghanistan and Iraq today. I have a special affection for the Warthog due to Iraq.
A couple other angles ...
The Thunderbirds (here, one of the six F-16s is getting ready to depart) were a treat, every part of their performance, including little things like removing the chocks, was perfectly synchronized.
They are just fun to watch -- and for most visitors they were the highlight of the show.
An interesting way to fly ...
The F/A-18 Super Hornet on a high-speed pass, right as is flew over us. I have to say its high speed pass was more impressive to me than the Raptors -- but that may be because they let the Super Hornet pass by closer in than the Raptor, and the Super Hornet made a lot more noise -- it was pretty startling. I was suprised to catch these shots b/c it went by so fast -- sometimes I really love my camera.
F-4 Corsair (WWII carrier-launched fighter) and the present day carrier-launched F/A-18 fighter.)
WWII SNJ-2 aircraft, now comandeered by GEICO as "Skytypers."
Who doesn't want a photo with good-looking, armed men?
I gave Caryn my second camera and she was shooting too -- thank you for the glamour shots of me shooting :)
I think this is a very cool picture. Thank you Caryn!
More A-10 Warthodg
I had never really thought of the A-10 as an "agile" aircraft, but here it is executing a 4-point roll, where it stops every 90 degrees
Caryn and the C-5 Galaxy, our biggest airlifter. It is a beast.
Me and the Galaxy, feeling very small
There were several stunt shows. This one is Greg Poe, sponsored by Oracle, flying (according to their press release) a "highly modified Christen Eagle."
NO idea what the other aircraft are. But they were a lot of fun to watch.
