TBM Avenger Reunion & Salute to Veterans Airshow 2023

[kalamazookid]

Fun afternoon so far! Seven TBMs here, five flew. P-40, P-51, Skyraider, B-25, two T-33s, L-39 and a few trainers also here. Cool heritage flight with the Skyraider, P-40 and T-33. Not sure if anything else is coming but there's enough here for a fun day tomorrow.

[kalamazookid]

Good couple of days at Peru! I forgot just how much fun this show is when the weather is nice. This is the first full show I've seen there since 2018. I could go to something like this just about any weekend - no dumb gimmicks or excuses about no shows, no tents blocking the view or exclusive seating BS to drive the general public away from the action, just fly what's there and fill three hours. Keep it simple. Glad I went both days and I will definitely do that again!

The night run was the highlight of the weekend for me. Waiting around for it made for a long day, but it was worth it. The P-40 passes were also excellent, and I loved the three-ship "legacy" flights each day. Stephen Jones in the T-33 and the pilot of the SAAF T-6 also deserve recognition for their spirited passes. There were a few no-shows, but I don't think they detracted from the weekend at all. My only gripe is that I would have loved to have seen the Flying Tanker TBM fly or at least with the wings unfolded. It sounds like there may have been a mechanical issue though, which happens.

Looking forward to seeing the photos and videos others got from the night run. I have neither the expertise nor equipment to document that.

On to Elkhart tomorrow to wrap up the weekend.

[kalamazookid]

And one quick photo for now.

[IDF783]

Went there Saturday and the weather was perfect. Really do a nice job coordinating the event for the amount of acts for a free show.

[kalamazookid]

Few more.

[kalamazookid]

Last couple.

[RyanS]

Man what a fun weekend Peru can be when they get some decent weather!

[bigt512]

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[ClickJ]

What a great weekend this was! Aside from Thunder Over Michigan, since I started going to air shows again I've only been to base shows - this was such a nice change from those that I'm probably going to rethink which shows I attend in the future. Glad to have my first night show under my belt now too, that was one of the more difficult things I've photographed but I've got a better idea what to expect next time.

Looking forward to the 2024 show.

[ClickJ]

Few more -