AirshowStuff Forums

GRNDP51 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 8:13 pm

Nick wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 2:57 am I've could've thought of that, but TOM might be able to secure a Military Demo and possibly U.S Air Force Thunderbirds if they could, but since the economy is starting to crash, I think because of this I'm starting to lose hope for seeing the best performers at my personal favorite airshows they may not have the thrills I've been expecting to happen. in that scenario they may be smaller than usual. But still as long as 2021 goes on I'm pretty much ok with that, least they can produce and do.

TOM will not be getting the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels, with the intent of a gathering similar to the Corsairs, but with another type, being the main attraction. 2020 was supposed to have the Blues, F-35A, and Growlers, but with a lackluster warbird lineup. Expect the F-35A, Growlers or TACDEMO, and large warbird gathering to be the stage for 2021. And I don't believe at this time Seattle or Abby would take any of the warbirds that could go to the gathering. As far as I know TOM has Erickson priority, and who knows what FHCAM will be doing next year. They don't send anything to TOM anyway so that's a moot point I guess. I'm one of those that hopes FHCAM goes away and sells their planes to other collectors, but... Regarding military, Seattle will probably have the Blues and a single ship team (F-16 or A-10), Abby will probably get the Raptor like was planned this year, and like I said above TOM would still get the F-35A.

Maybe the Rhino Team, but given the circumstances it is most likely the F-35 Demo will be there and you are correct Abbotsford & Sea Fair don't take any warbirds expect for heritage flights or possibly local air museums. Overall we still have no knowledge if they will either have the F-35 Demo Team, U.S Air Force Thunderbirds, A-10 Demo Team, or F-22 Demo Team. All that depends on what the event organizers have in planned and staged for their 2021 editions.

Erickson has become a regular participant at Abby in recent years with multiple types each year. Could be a conflict there unless there are enough pilots to support both. Let's just hope by next year this is a problem we are actually considering.

Chris

Nick wrote: ↑Wed Jul 22, 2020 3:40 am Maybe the Rhino Team, but given the circumstances it is most likely the F-35 Demo will be there and you are correct Abbotsford & Sea Fair don't take any warbirds expect for heritage flights or possibly local air museums. Overall we still have no knowledge if they will either have the F-35 Demo Team, U.S Air Force Thunderbirds, A-10 Demo Team, or F-22 Demo Team. All that depends on what the event organizers have in planned and staged for their 2021 editions.

Trust me on this one, no Thunderbirds.

Chris Smallenberg wrote: ↑Wed Jul 22, 2020 3:06 pm Erickson has become a regular participant at Abby in recent years with multiple types each year. Could be a conflict there unless there are enough pilots to support both. Let's just hope by next year this is a problem we are actually considering.

Chris

True, although Erickson's airshow landed on the same weekend as TOM this year and they still had the 109/190 pair planned for the midwest tour. If they can send two planes and not have them at their own show, they can definitely send one plane for the "type" gathering for 2021

GRNDP51 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 8:02 pm Trust me on this one, no Thunderbirds.

I'll second this too and confirm there will be no Thunderbirds next year.

Types of years like this at Thunder feature a record breaking headliner independent of a jet team. Jet Team years usually feature a big theme with a wide variety of aircraft (though one aircraft may be the central theme, but doesn't necessitate a record breaker) or a more military-strength lineup. This is a system that has been working recently and the budget is built around "jet team or no jet team".

GRNDP51 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 19, 2020 7:18 pm From what I've heard, some shows are sort of "transferring" what they had planned from the USAF last year. That gets a little tricky with different Blue Angel and Thunderbird schedules, but those that feature a single ship as their main military performer will probably get the same jet in 2021. The F-35A was heavy on the west coast and I can see that shifting a little bit, but a lot of those shows didn't have the F-35A in 2019 so it was their time!

While some shows will get the same as planned this year, quite a few will probably change up. This is all dependent on the Thunderbirds schedule, where ACC may be more hesitant to send a Single Ship Demo, and the Navy may be hesitant to do the same with the Blues. In addition, as mentiond previously, overlapping dates will affect that too. In Late May, there was a discussion of the jet teams possibly pushing back their schedules and having this year be next years scheduled and 2021 become 2022. This, of course, is not happening. A similar discussion happened for 2013 (but, back then, the Thunderbirds weren't on their two-year schedule process yet, so it made it a bit easier for them to hit some of the same shows. The Blues pressed forward with the already released 2014 schedule). The TACDEMO schedule did change quite a bit heading into 2014, the ACC Schedules were never released but shows knew what would've been on the docket and part of that did change heading into 2014 too (granted, back then, we didn't have as many demos as we do nowadays, as this was shortly after all the other teams stood down).

Realistically, I do believe more shows will have the same demos then not, others will have demos but may switch it up. Some (a smaller fraction) will lose their demos due to jet team participation while some will gain because they were expecting a jet team this year but don't have one in 2021. There's a lot that has to be worked out amongst the shows as well as the performers and also with the military (as the deadline for filing for military demos was the beginning of this month, they still have logistics to build with the schedule). With something so unprecedented (well beyond what we experienced in 2013) many organizers and performers are just trying to navigate these waters.

Back on topic for Thunder, being back at the traditional dates in early August, expect some magic!!

TOM will announce the theme for 2021 this weekend!

smalldude333 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 5:01 pm TOM will announce the theme for 2021 this weekend!

I emailed Kevin Walsh personally.

Curious what will they have in staged for next year. I could predict or assume its somewhat similar to gathering of the Corsair Gathering in 2019. (This has been mentioned multiple times in comments).

The theme for Thunder over Michigan will be "Mitchell Madness".

smalldude333 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:52 pm The theme for Thunder over Michigan will be "Mitchell Madness".

To come to think of it its now clear that its a gathering of North American B-25 Mitchell Bombers.

smalldude333 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:52 pm The theme for Thunder over Michigan will be "Mitchell Madness".

I've seen quite a few B-25 gatherings now between a previous TOM, Urbana, NMUSAF and the recent gathering at Oshkosh. Another one will be cool.

With that being said of abbotsford. Clearly TOM will get the F-35, it could probably mean other air shows will have the same lineup, problem is the airshows will be at each other since they overlap one another. This might get interesting if covid dissolves.