Spirit of St. Louis Airshow 2018

Discussion relating to 2018 airshows/fly-ins/exercises/other events. Post news before the event and post your photos afterwards! Please create only one thread per event.
kalamazookid
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:15 am
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Contact:

Spirit of St. Louis Airshow 2018

Post by kalamazookid » Thu Dec 07, 2017 5:04 pm

Spirit of St. Louis Airshow 2018
October 13-14
Spirit of St. Louis Airport
Chesterfield, MO
http://spirit-airshow.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SpiritOfStLouisAirShow

Performers
F-16 Viper Demo
USAF Heritage Flight - F-16/P-38
CF-18 Hornet Demo
B-52 Stratofortress
Phillips 66 Aerostars
Skip Stewart
Susan Dacy "Big Red"
B-29 Superfortress "Doc"
CAF Missouri Wing B-25 Mitchell "Show Me" and TBM Avenger
P-38 Lightning
CAF SB2C Helldiver
Paul Wood A-4B Skyhawk Demo
A-1E Skyraider
P-40 Warhawk
AU-1 (F4U-7) Corsair
P-51 Mustangs (2)
Aeronca L-3

Additional Statics:
P-8 Poseidon
F-15C Eagle
F-15E Strike Eagle
MV-22 Osprey
CH-53E Super Stallion
C-45 Expediter
C-47 Skytrain
EA-18G Growler
F-16 Viper
F-18 Hornet - VFA-113
P-3C Orion
T-2 Buckeye
T-6B Texan II
T-45 Goshawk
UH-60 Blackhawk
AH-1W Cobra
UH-1Y Huey
Last edited by kalamazookid on Thu Sep 13, 2018 3:53 pm, edited 6 times in total.
0 x
Matt

kalamazookid
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:15 am
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Contact:

Post by kalamazookid » Thu May 03, 2018 8:25 pm

Not many updates so far, but tickets are on sale. I thought there would be a more substantial lineup posted now that ticket sales are open. Note that ticket sales are online ONLY and there won't be any tickets available for sale at the gate. Don't think I've seen that before for any airshow.

I bought a ticket for Saturday and have tentatively booked a hotel. I'm betting that the past lineups I've seen in reviews will be a good indicator of what to expect.
Last edited by kalamazookid on Fri May 04, 2018 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
0 x
Matt

kalamazookid
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:15 am
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Contact:

Post by kalamazookid » Tue May 22, 2018 12:12 pm

A P-38 Lightning flown by Kevin Eldridge has been added for the Heritage Flight!
0 x
Matt

kalamazookid
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:15 am
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Contact:

Post by kalamazookid » Thu Sep 13, 2018 3:55 pm

Checked this for the first time in ages and it's looking really good! B-52, A-4 and lots of warbirds and statics have been added. I updated my original post to include everything listed on the website.

Anyone else going? Still think it's kind of odd to not sell tickets at the gate, but that at least allows the show to plan for the number of people attending. I have a ticket for Saturday.
0 x
Matt

KC_Aviation
Posts: 104
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2017 2:00 am
Location: Kansas City, MO
Contact:

Post by KC_Aviation » Sat Sep 15, 2018 4:28 pm

Yeah, they're really starting to improve this show in a hurry, I wasn't really looking forward to this one, but I am now! With all of these good statics now, I am planning on heading across the state early Friday morning to watch arrivals and practices. I do like the online only tickets, makes the entry into the show much better...this one gets VERY crowded, and has been a mess in the past getting in. Last time I went there got some great shots of the QF-4 coming in on static at a spot off the airport, to the East...
David
ImageQF-4 on final @ St. Louis Spirit Air Show 5/13/16 by D_Jackman, on Flickr
Last edited by KC_Aviation on Sat Sep 15, 2018 4:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
0 x

kalamazookid
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:15 am
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Contact:

Post by kalamazookid » Wed Oct 10, 2018 4:26 pm

Unless there's a major change in the weather forecast, I will be there Saturday. Here's hoping we don't get any bad weather spinning off from the hurricane.
0 x
Matt

User avatar
RyanS
Posts: 2886
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 4:50 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Contact:

Post by RyanS » Wed Oct 10, 2018 4:59 pm

It'll also be interesting to see if statics are better or worse because of the hurricane. Maybe some jets will evac to the show?
0 x
Ryan Sundheimer
www.AirshowStuff.com

kalamazookid
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:15 am
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Contact:

Post by kalamazookid » Wed Oct 10, 2018 10:09 pm

RyanS wrote: Wed Oct 10, 2018 4:59 pm It'll also be interesting to see if statics are better or worse because of the hurricane. Maybe some jets will evac to the show?
I'm not feeling really optimistic about the military statics, as I'm assuming most of the aircraft will be coming from the east coast. Maybe we'll get lucky.
0 x
Matt

Doug C
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2017 6:29 am

Post by Doug C » Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:55 am

I'm planning on going i hope mother nature gives us a break!
0 x

kalamazookid
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:15 am
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Contact:

Post by kalamazookid » Sun Oct 14, 2018 2:08 am

Easily the coldest weather I've ever experienced at an airshow, but a great day anyway! The only major no-shows that I noticed were the P-38 and both P-51s that were listed on the website. The four-ship Heritage Flight they were hoping for didn't happen, but thankfully, Andrew McKenna stepped in and brought his P-51 so the show could still have a Heritage Flight.

One of the most interesting things I've seen this year was the Shaw AFB F-16 demo jet flying in formation with a T-38 from Langley. I'm not sure that this was necessarily a planned part of the show, but it was really cool. Someone around me said that T-38s are going to be added to the Heritage program next year and that the flight was part of the certification process for that. I have no idea if that's actually true, but the profile of the passes that were being flown were exactly what you would see in a Heritage Flight, the only difference being that these were flown at a higher altitude and a bit looser of a formation. Very cool!

The demo jets couldn't do any climbing because of the low ceiling, but the low passes in full afterburner were awesome. I actually enjoy those a lot better than craning my neck to look way up, so no complaints here. The F-16 made lots of extra passes. The A-4 stole the show though. Paul Wood really knows how to get the most out of that aircraft.

Static display ended up being great. There were eight F-18s of various models as well as two F-15s, F-15E, F-16, P-8, V-22 and others.

Hard to imagine a better show to end the season with (although the temperature could have been warmer). I'll definitely be back in the future.

I'll try to post a few pics at some point this week. I have a point-and-shoot that doesn't like dark days like this, so I'm not sure if I got anything decent.
0 x
Matt

Post Reply

Return to “2018 Airshows/Fly-Ins/Exercises/Events - Discussion and Photos”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests