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We went to the Quad-City Airshow today. It was a good day for an airshow, not too hot, and cloudy so the sun wasn't too bright. I love airshows. There's no such thing as a bad one, because you get to hang around airplanes in general, and warbirds specifically. The Wife took the day off to go with the kids and me. She's done a good job of learning the names of the planes, just because she knows I like them. One more reason I love her. We went with my brother and his family.

There were no WW2 bombers this year. No B-17, no B-25, no B-24, that's rather unusual. There were a few WW2 warbirds, fewer than normal. When flying, there was a P-51B. They have at least one P-51 each year. Not that I'm complaining, they're a beautiful plane. Despite being plentiful for a warbird you still don't get to see them often. P-51's have a very pleasant sound, almost like a fan humming.

A nice surprise was the F4U Corsair. If you sniff and say that Corsair was actually built by Goodyear, and was, therefore, an F4G, I shall have to congratulate you, and then beat you with a pitot tube. The Corsair was the first one I'd seen airborne. I'd read many times of the Japanese referring to them as the "whistling death." I expected something shrill, but it wasn't that way at all, it was more of a low whistle. Perhaps it becomes louder at higher speeds, but it doesn't matter, it was just a thrill every time it made a pass. In the back of my head was a little voice screaming, "you kick ass, you kick ass!" I smiled from ear to ear.

There was a mock dogfight between the P-51 and a Jap Zero. Of course, the P-51 'won,' which was kind of silly. Flying slow at low altitude they were in the Zero's domain. In real life the P-51 pilot would have been lucky to get out of there alive. Even though it was all beyond belief it was fun to watch them fly. You want to know what I really wanted? No you don't, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I wanted the Zero up there with a Hellcat. The two greatest carrier fighters of the Pacific. Not that I'm complaining. I was grateful for what I got, I just wanted more.

Or they could have put the Corsair up there, it was a famous Pacific fighter also. The P-51 certainly saw service in the Pacific. But when you think Pacific Theater, if you think of it at all, you think Wildcat, Hellcat, Corsair, Lightning. If you include China- P-40 Warhawk. Flying Tigers! Ding Hao! Sorry, but the P-51 got it's name in Europe. The P-51 should be up there with a Messerschmitt or Focke-wulf.

While I'm dreaming, how about one of the ME-262's they scratchbuilt in Seattle? Oh baby. They couldn't even pretend the P-51 would win. Not unless the P-51 came at it while it was taking off or landing. Whoosh. You can see them at:
http://www.stormbirds.com/

Well I can dream can't I?

There was an A-10 Warthog demo. Always cool. If I was a tanker for the bad guys nothing would give me nightmares like an A-10 plinking tanks. Iraqi tankers must have been insomniacs. Or they pretended they were infantry.

There was an F-117 Stealth fighter flyby. On the one hand, they're certainly an impressive piece of technology, on the other, calling it a fighter seems a misnomer. They're black for a reason, they fly missions at night. They would never fight an air-to-air duel. They aren't a fighter, at least not in the usual sense of aircombat. They're a precision mini-bomber.

What was particulary neat about the Stealth was that last night Trainboy and I had put together a model of one. When I drove by the hobby shop I just decided to stop and pick up a model to make with him. Cosmic moments.

Last, but not least, because there were six of them, were the Blue Angels. What can you say, beautiful blue F-18 Hornets flown low in close formation, the smell of jet fuel, ear-splitting noise. They're impressive. But I've seen them at least a half-dozen times before. They did one maneuver I hadn't seen them do. Coulda run for the parking lot. Shoulda run for the parking lot. Long lines to get out of the parking lot. Not that it mattered, we'd spent an afternoon looking at airplanes.

The kids liked the airplanes, I think. Trainboy just loved the Shock Wave jet-powered truck. It's something they must throw in for the beer drinkers. Can you imagine that thing four-wheelin' man? Four-wheelin! What all the kids REALLY liked was the Army display. They got to climb on a Bradley, and a self-propelled 155 mm gun. There was also a humvee to climb into and sit behind the wheel. Conspicuous by it's absence was the Abrams tank. Must be due to that Iraq thing. I would say M1A1 Abrams, but some geek would say, "surely you mean the M1A2?" Hardware snobs, gotta hate 'em.

Then we went up to the Wife's parents. Mr. Phillips was there. Mr. Phillips was a B-25 pilot in WW2. Why didn't I ask him if he wanted to go along? Blown opportunity. Oh well, maybe next year. He told us some stories about flying in the Big One. So today I got an air show and first-person stories about WW2 flying. I'm a happy boy tonight.
Publicserf

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