[iamsam2407]

My dad and I are thinking about going to this airhsow. We live in Texas and I dont want to make the trip if its a bad airshow or something of that sort. It looks to be a great show ,but if you guys can tell me otherwise I would greatly appreciate it.


thx Sam

[parsig9]

I live 90 minutes from there and go every year. Not sure it is worth a drive from Texas though. Heck, in the time it would take you'd better go to OshKosh.

That said, it is a very good show. Here is a link to some fantastic pics from '05 & '06 which were really great years!

http://www.pbase.com/keith1959/thund...michigan__2005

http://www.pbase.com/keith1959/thund..._michigan_2006

[STARMAN 352ND]

Better yet wait for the Mustang Round up this year.
JP

[Raven]

Just ordered my advance tickets and parking pass today - $38 (vs.$50 on site) - YIKES!!! Guess it goes to a good cause - Yankee Air Museum. Thank goodness my kids are free.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Now I just need to start making my list of things to take to the show...last year I went with no more than sunscreen, a camera, and a bottle of water. Need to be more prepared this year...

[parsig9]

I always bring a chair too and park myself under the port wing of the B-52. From there you can walk around and see everything but when the sun beats down it's nice to have some shade. Watch your head on the fuel tank! They say no coolers but you can bring food and ice packs. Frozen water is a must as $2/bottle is the show price I think. Not sure how to dodge the no coolers thing, but the food is not cheap. Anything that insulates is a cooler is their definition. Not sure if it's b/c they are hard to search or they want you to buy food from the vendors...

The last few years, I always take a bunch of pics but it's getting where I have one of all the planes w/in 1000 miles and I always find better ones on the internet anyway.

[mustangdriver]

The money spent to get in there is well worth it. The plan they have is to put up a new building to house their entire collection. Also, there is always a large turn out for the show. I will be there.

[Tyler109]

I'm going to try to make it out there Sunday pending I'm not having to fly solo up there. Who's going to be up there Sunday?

[parsig9]

Just got back from the Thunder show and it was not the same. Because the Blue Angels came it was on the other side of the airfield and all strung out. Lost the feel of the previous shows. They must have made a boat load of money but I give it 3/10 overall as a show.

No trees for shade like by the museum and no static display of unflyables, so no sitting under the wing of the B-52 like the last few years. We had umberellas but still..... I think the Angels do for small intimate airshows what Tiger Woods did for nice little public golf courses, WRECK THEM!
Now, to be fair, the Yankee Air Museum has to raise $ to pay for the rebuilding of its facilities and I get why the change happened. I still hated it. There must have been 70,000 people there and I bet they had 10,000-15,000 for last year's Sat. show. The food vendors were everywhere and prices were double. No deals at all, and not much else to look at. Commercial everything all the time. Testdrive a JEEP! Who cares. A big playstation 3 RV blasting rap music over the tarmac instead of the usual big band era oldies I like at airshows. The MC talked non stop over many of the planes and made so many errors and generalizations that I couldn't hear the engines or enjoy the fly pasts. If you don't care or know much about planes, you might not have noticed or cared. Few interesting little shops with airplane stuff with one exception, aviationmilitary.com. A nice online shop with some original items was allowed in this year (he said for the first tiem and it was pricey for him) Nice shop and I bought a couple things.

Saw an F-86 fly for the first time and it did a few passes with a MIG-17. Very few passes and none of the warbirds made as many passes as the previous 4 years. No re-enactors at all and no military vehicles unless you want a big ugly Hummer blasting more rap music. A bummer overall and if it's like tis next year count me out. Mitchells were good but made few passes unlike the past.

Sad but true. If this is your first time to a Thunder show: 1. I'm sorry. 2. Thank goodness you don't know any better.

[Captain Eddie]

parsig, if you like WW I, come on down to the Air Force Museum at Dayton the weekend before the shindig at Rickenbacker, ie. the next to last weekend in September. Low key, lots of aircraft (one can walk right along the flightline), lots of static displays of various kinds, up close and personal, re-enactors, everyone very friendly, lots of flying!

[SKUNKY]

I completely understand your disillusionment,parsig....Airshows just don't seem to be what they used to be anymore...For the most part it seems they've gotten to be one big noisy expensive commercial with a few airplane acts thrown in for the hell of it....