Thunder Over Michigan 2019 "Corsair Crazy"

[EricP]

I saw 8 Corsairs on the ramp when I left, and I've heard that a 9th apparently showed up? A group of 3 is/was working their way in.

A very tame day for arrivals today. The runway is just soooo far away even with the parallel show line.

Practice was short, just the P-51 acro (Swamp Fox), Michael Goulian, Class of 45, and the Viper Demo. The Viper lost an 18x18 panel off the jet during the demo, which doesn't sound big until you see it...

I was watching the practice demo from Ecourse and saw the emergency personnel head towards the runway as the Viper was taxiing in so I was wondering what was going on. Must have been searching for that panel.

Actually, that was just the planned emergency response drill. The panel didn't get mentioned until the jet was in and parked, then they sent a truck out to roam around looking for it

Haha...well so much for that theory! I need to go back and look at my photos to see if any of them show the panel missing. I didn’t notice it at first glance and that seems like it would be hard to miss. Hope to meet up with you at some point this weekend.

[RyanS]

A few quick edits from the ramp.

For anyone interested (lurkers or posters), I'll try to be at the nose of the Neptune fire bomber at 12:30 tomorrow. Right in the middle of the intermission and (unless they move it) also in the middle of the ramp. My standard uniform of white t-shirt and camo shorts will be in effect Hope to meet some of you!

[kalamazookid]

I had every intention of making it to the meet up at the Neptune, but got caught up talking to the A-400M crew and when I checked the time it was already 12:45. Figured everyone had probably moved on by that point. Shoot! Hopefully, I'll get to run into some of you at Waukegan or Grissom yet this year. I saw quite a few familiar faces and talked to some regulars, but I actually don't know if any of those people post here.

In my opinion, this was the best Thunder Over Michigan since 2015 and the last three shows don't come close to what today was. The morning show by itself was better than the last two years combined. The "Corsair Crazy" flight at the very end was awesome and worth the wait. A gathering of 11 Corsairs is a heck of an accomplishment and the TOM crew should be proud of the show they put together this year. The P-51 flight was also a highlight and I enjoyed the way the military fly-bys were mixed in.

I wish I could go back tomorrow, but I can't justify a five-hour drive on a Sunday night with the workload I have coming up this week. Hope tomorrow's show is as good as today's was!

[RyanS]

For anyone interested, I'll try to do that same 12:30 at the Neptune (the left wing this time since there's a band set up on the other side) meetup. I talked to a few people who knew the site today, but would love to meet more!

[ssims45]

Had a great time at the show today, though the 2 hour break was a little excessive and annoying. The lineup was spectacular and the static ramp was full. The Corsair flight at the end of the show was worth the price of admission on its own. I’ll have photos to post later in the week when I finally get a chance to edit.

Had to pass along this cellphone shot of what happens when the Photo Pit hears Rob Reider announce a synchronized Corsair Engine start and wing unfold but the pit is too far of a walk to/from the hot ramp to risk missing the action.

65EEE6A8-0619-48E2-8307-D0F29A05561E.jpeg (414.44 KiB) Viewed 11289 times

[alexp2805-]

2019 Thunder Over Michigan is a wrap this year!

This year's show was a great show featuring 11 Corsairs from all over North America. I went both days and the lineup was great both in the air and on the ground! The morning show was good because you had a nice mix of warbirds and modern military power too! Plus, those 7 Mustangs were AWESOME! The afternoon show was a little slow during the middle of it on Sunday due to some issues with the C-130 holding things up, but besides that the F-16 Demo and Corsairs were for sure the highlights!

My only few MINOR complains were: 1.) The lack of old warbirds on static display was a bit dry, but I do understand most of the money went to the Corsairs which was worth it! 2.) The intermission. I like a good intermission to walk around, but 2 hours in a tad much. An hour would be ideal but what you gonna do?! And that's about it!

It was my first year bringing a camera and there is just TOO MANY people in my shots haha! Thinking next year we'll spend some money on the early ramp access/photo pit thing one day to get some sweet pics. Anybody know how much per person that is?

I'm just starting to edit my photos from this weekend and I'll post some more later this week! Cheers to 2020!

[RyanS]

Just in case you needed 36 minutes of Corsairs, here's a mash up of Saturday and Sunday footage showing a mass launch, formation and solo flybys, and the shutdown of the aircraft that returned on Sunday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9zPKQilC-s

The pilots did a really good job with arranging the flybys (I would have never guessed they'd all do a dirty pass) and especially working to tighten things up for the "wall of Corsairs" on Sunday. I am really bummed that the only big diamond formation was flown in the evening when almost no one was around. I would have liked more a lot more formation stuff during the show but I understand the difficulties with non-formation pilots and safety in such situations. I do think they could have launched a morning sortie with just the formation Corsairs or something.

I thought the rest of the show was pretty on this year, I personally kind of liked the intermission because I had time to walk the statics and get lunch. On the other hand it kind of wasted the first hour of the day since there wasn't enough time to walk then. I appreciated the effort to get military flybys but the runway being so far away just kills so much of the excitement and the 'military departures' was a single pass by two Texan IIs. I think the effort was definitely in the right place with the Strike Eagle flybys and Hercules demo (nice photo pass!) I just hope they can find a way to adjust the showline. It even seemed like Goulian was flying kind of far away.

[Have Blue]

I would have liked more a lot more formation stuff during the show but I understand the difficulties with non-formation pilots and safety in such situations.

Seems that's an issue with a lot of shows - can we start a GoFundMe to get all the warbird pilots their FAST cards?!?

[kalamazookid]

I agree with Ryan on feeling rushed during the first hour. Either you have to rush through something or sit and wait. I had just enough time to dump my chair to the left of all the tents and take a quick walk through the Corsairs before the flying started. The two hour intermission more than made up for it though. Next year, I'll probably just carry my chair around until the flying starts and hope I can still get a spot on the fence somewhere, or maybe set up on the end closest to the ramp and save myself the walking time.

Here are a few of my favorites from Saturday.

IMG_4905 by , on Flickr

IMG_4961 by , on Flickr

IMG_4966 by , on Flickr

IMG_4969 by , on Flickr

IMG_4991 by , on Flickr

IMG_5045 by , on Flickr

IMG_5086 by , on Flickr

IMG_5101 by , on Flickr

IMG_5127 by , on Flickr

IMG_5140 by , on Flickr

IMG_5164 by , on Flickr

[bradpevans]

2019 Thunder Over Michigan is a wrap this year!

This year's show was a great show featuring 11 Corsairs from all over North America. I went both days and the lineup was great both in the air and on the ground! The morning show was good because you had a nice mix of warbirds and modern military power too! Plus, those 7 Mustangs were AWESOME! The afternoon show was a little slow during the middle of it on Sunday due to some issues with the C-130 holding things up, but besides that the F-16 Demo and Corsairs were for sure the highlights!

My only few MINOR complains were: 1.) The lack of old warbirds on static display was a bit dry, but I do understand most of the money went to the Corsairs which was worth it! 2.) The intermission. I like a good intermission to walk around, but 2 hours in a tad much. An hour would be ideal but what you gonna do?! And that's about it!

It was my first year bringing a camera and there is just TOO MANY people in my shots haha! Thinking next year we'll spend some money on the early ramp access/photo pit thing one day to get some sweet pics. Anybody know how much per person that is?

I'm just starting to edit my photos from this weekend and I'll post some more later this week! Cheers to 2020!

Hi Alex
I’ve done the photo the last few years - there are different options (one day / weekend / night / etc)

If you send me an email [email protected]
I’ll get you all the info for next year (I dont run it but i can connect with the guy who does)

Brad in Ann Arbor