Operation America Strong

We're in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis here in Northern Virginia. My employer has me on a week-on, week-off schedule, so I'm half as busy as usual. One of the few events that has happened over the past couple of months, aside from lock down, is the joint flyover of the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels. Here are some shots from their DC area flyover.

Below, the Thunderbirds passed in a turn, smoke on. Seems there was a problem with the smoke generator on the far left.

Thunderbirds Delta Formation

There was a National Park Service police helicopter that hovered to observe the flight. Now THAT looks like an awesome seat for the show.

Hovering National Park Police Helicopter

 The Blue Angels looked tight and crisp as usual.

Blue Angels Delta Formation

I didn't notice this until I got home, but I got a few shots with the Thunderbirds and a bald eagle. I posted this one on Facebook, and one of the comments was that the eagle needs to tighten up in the formation.

Six Falcons, One Eagle

Here's a pass where both teams were in the delta formation. The perspective is strange because it looks like they're grouped oddly. Also, there were two Blue Angel #4 aircraft.

Joint Flight

 And here's the last shot of them departing the area.

Delta Formation Perspective

I've seen both of these teams perform several times, and once even separately at the same air show, with their performances separated by a few hours. It was really cool to see both teams in the air at the same time. The air shows this year have largely been cancelled, so I won't have an opportunity to see them perform any time soon. This was a nice unique sight in what is otherwise a pretty awful time period.

Joint Base Andrews Air Show 2019

It was bad weather for the air show this weekend. So bad that they cancelled the Sunday flying on Saturday. I knew the skies would be overcast, getting darker as the day progressed, and photography would be a challenge. But hey, I didn't get a new camera to sit at home. I didn't want to miss a chance to see the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels on the same day.

I arrived in time to see the Thunderbirds taxi out and take off. They did the high show, and disappeared into the clouds a few times. My photos are not my best capture of this team. I should have learned last time that 1/1600 is too slow to freeze the close passes. I saw the maneuver developing, tracked one plane, then fired away when they were about to pass each other. Note to self: read the previous blog post for this event next time to refresh my memory about lessons learned.

Head On Pass

 I was pleased with the new camera. Several times I fired away on continuous high. It tracked focus very well and never filled the buffer.

Mirror Image

 Of course number 5 spends a lot of time upside down.

Number 5

 After the Thunderbirds, there were a few other acts, of which the Mustang show was my favorite.

P-51 Mustang

When I was in high school, I lived near an Air Force Base that had a wing of A-7 Corsair aircraft. I saw them flying around all the time. Then the Air Force switched that wing's aircraft to the A-10. I recall the first time I saw one: it's really ugly. And slow. And did I mention ugly? Well, over time I began to appreciate it. It's relatively quiet. It flies gracefully and is highly maneuverable. And several times I was able to witness it firing the Gatling gun during demonstrations or just target practice. Now decades later, I saw it again, this time flying at the air show. It's not like the F-22 and F-15 demonstrations that I've seen in previous years at the show. It doesn't have the raw speed and noise that I can feel in my chest. There are no afterburners to kick its acceleration. In contrast, it flew quietly, mostly stayed right over the field, and made lots of close passes. And it's still ugly.

A-10 Warthog

Finally, the Blue Angels closed the flying out. I haven't seen them in a very long time and it was worth the wait for them at the end of the day's flying. I was disappointed that Fat Albert did not fly. But the jets put on a great show.

Blue Angel Solos Take Off

Note to self: higher shutter speed for the head on passes.

Head-On Pass

There were a few chances at an afterburner shot; sadly it seems I always had to shoot through the trailing heat haze.

Afterburner Photographed through Heat Haze

 And here's my favorite formation shot of the show.

In Tight

Mist forms in the low pressure above the lifting surfaces.

Vapor Forms Above the Wings

 And finally, here's an awful shot, but it shows the engines on afterburner. For many of their maneuvers, they turned smoke on, and with the light breeze it settled at ground level and I had to pass on many shots just because there was too much smoke to shoot through. I did take this one, shot through a thick cloud of air show smoke as they trailed their own smoky exhaust and exited on afterburner.

Afterburners Lit

It was a good show, even though they did the low show. Hoping for better skies next time.