Quonset Air Show 2005

[DJ-S1]

Last weekend I went to the air show the RI National guard puts on every year. The weather was overcast and windy, so some of the flight demos were cut short, but we had a great time anyway. Here's a few captures:

The festivities opened with the British Red Devils bringing in the flag.

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The wind pushed them around pretty good, and some of the jumpers ended up down the flight line and had to walk back to "show center". Along the way, a Red Devil gives the thumbs-up to a young fan clapping for them.

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A riddle: What do you get when you strap 3 jet engines to a semi? The world's fastest truck, and a cool show!

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The flames are for show. When it turns those 36,000HP into speed, it looks like this as it nears 300mph:

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Then came the real jets. This old timer was pretty cool.

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Then came the Hertiage Flight, old school and new school:

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That's an F-15 on top and an F-16 below.

The Canadian Snowbirds made their first appearance in RI and put on a fantastic show. Hope they come back again!

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[DJ-S1]

The finale: the Blue Angels. They come every other year and are amazing. Unfortunately the high upper level winds kept them from doing a good chunk of their show.

Their cargo plane, called "Fat Albert" started off by doing a short takeoff using 8 rockets strapped to the tail.

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The winds whipped up a pretty good grass fire from the rockets. This guy thought he could handle it with a bottle of spring water...

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Needless to say, they had to bring out the real fire apparatus! On to the Blues...

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I was worried that I wouldn't get any shots because the longest lens I have is 75mm, which gives me ~115mm in 35mm equivalent. My wife asked me if I had "lens envy" from this dude: :lol3

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I believe that's a 500mm f/4. :huh

[Netgarden]

Hey DJ, those are great shots, of a fine day. I wonder how soon that deisel will blow up! lolol:rolleyes Wow, bet that made some noise! Kids must have loved it.

We live by a base [now shut down] and had such good memories of the air shows. The blue angels used to practice for a few days right over our houses, and we'd all sit out in our beach chairs watching. Amazing site to see. I remember seeing the faces of the pilots as they cruised by, the sound slightly after they wizzed by. Awesome.
Thanks for sharing your day. Wish I had a camera back then!:thumb

[Higgmeister]

I really like this shot. Getting those jets in focus while flying is a tough job, but you caught this one very well. I too used to watch the Blue Angels at the same base Netgarden used to watch them. I tried a few time to photograph them with a 35mm and most didn't come out:cry. You have some really nice shots here.

Thanks for posting,
Chris


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