Westfield, MA Airshow

DJ-S1 · August 29, 2005

I took my son to the airshow on Saturday; got up at 5AM to drive the 2 hours there, yuck! I'm not a morning person. But the weather was great and we had a fun day. Here's a few shots:

We were there in the early morning and the mechanics were already going over the A-10's preparing them for the day.

For those of you who don't know the A-10 Thunderbolt, it is basically this gun with wings.

Seriously. The gun was designed first, then they built the aircraft around it.

Being a Massachusettes based squadron, they are of course proud of our 2 reigning Champion teams, so they painted a couple of A-10s appropriately.

The A-10's are known affectionately as "Warthogs" as they aren't the prettiest planes in the sky. The F-16's are a bit sexier.

The F-16 Falcon is my son's current favorite plane, although he's a bit small for one yet.

Nir · August 29, 2005

Cool shots DJ!

Is that a camera your son is holding next to the f16 cockpit? What is he doing with a camera?

DJ-S1 · August 29, 2005

It was fun to see some older aircraft that I haven't seen before. Here's three that I don't know the proper names of.

Now this one I do know. The F4U Corsair, one of my favorites and the first time I've seen one. What a sweet machine this was!

While I was gawking at the Corsair, the US Army Golden Knights parachute team made a jump.

There was another sexy fighter from WWII as well - the P-51 Mustang. Very cool!

DJ-S1 · August 29, 2005

But of course, the real show was the US Air Force Thunderbirds who put on a fabulous display. And no wing-touching this time!

If you've never been to an airshow, they are a lot of fun! Thanks for looking -

DJ-S1 · August 29, 2005

Nir wrote:

Cool shots DJ!

Is that a camera your son is holding next to the f16 cockpit? What is he doing with a camera?

Thanks Nir! Yep, that's my 1st junkie digital camera he's got, a real antique. He loves it, and takes tons of pictures. I don't care if he breaks it, and I don't have to pay to get the shots developed! What could be better than that?

G K · August 29, 2005

wow
talk about sensory overload - thanks for the show

gaurav in Central MA

webwizard · August 29, 2005

THe first is the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star. Flew in Korea.
The next is the P-47 Thunderbolt, also called the JugHead because of its big radial engine.
The last is a Douglas SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber, I think.

DJ-S1 wrote:

It was fun to see some older aircraft that I haven't seen before. Here's three that I don't know the proper names of.

This one above is the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star

This one above is the P47 Thunderbolt, affectionately known as the JugHead

Now this one I do know. The F4U Corsair, one of my favorites and the first time I've seen one. What a sweet machine this was!

While I was gawking at the Corsair, the US Army Golden Knights parachute team made a jump.

There was another sexy fighter from WWII as well - the P-51 Mustang. Very cool!

DJ-S1 · August 29, 2005

Thanks for the IDs WW!

webwizard · August 30, 2005

DJ-S1 wrote:

Thanks for the IDs WW!

Nice pix. I was wrong on he last one though. It bothered me so I had to do a little research.

It is a TBF/TBM Avenger Torpedo Bomber. TBF's were built by Grumman, the TBM's by General Motors but they were the same airplane.

Stan · August 30, 2005

DJ-S1 wrote:

I took my son to the airshow on Saturday; got up at 5AM to drive the 2 hours there, yuck! I'm not a morning person. But the weather was great and we had a fun day. Here's a few shots:

We were there in the early morning and the mechanics were already going over the A-10's preparing them for the day.

For those of you who don't know the A-10 Thunderbolt, it is basically this gun with wings.

Seriously. The gun was designed first, then they built the aircraft around it.

Being a Massachusettes based squadron, they are of course proud of our 2 reigning Champion teams, so they painted a couple of A-10s appropriately.

The A-10's are known affectionately as "Warthogs" as they aren't the prettiest planes in the sky. The F-16's are a bit sexier.

The F-16 Falcon is my son's current favorite plane, although he's a bit small for one yet.

When there was a US air base at Alconbury, they used to fly over here and line up on my tractor in the field. I always wondered if they were armed :uhoh It is quite something to see one VERY SLOWLY coming towards you...

Cheers for the memory

Stan

Westfield, MA Airshow

Comments