Warbirds and Airshows - 2013 Key West Airshow

2013 Airshows
Titusville (Tico), FL NAS Key West, FL Chino, CA Indy 500 Fly-Over Reading, PA WWII Weekend CWH Show, Hamilton, ONT Dayton, OH Muncie, IN Topeka, KS Purdue University, IN Thunder over Michigan, Belleville, MI Hillsdale, MI Marion, IN Waukegan, IL Glendale Airport, Kokomo, IN Rome, GA Peachtree City, GA Houston, TX Urbana, OH B-25 Gathering B-25 Doolittle Memorial Fly-over at Dayton, OH

Southern Most Air Spectacular 2013 Warbird Airshow Photo Review
Warbirds at NAS Key West, FL - March 23-24, 2013 (Photos taken 3-24)

Postscript: On 4-2-2013 The Blues finally sent out a notification that they would not practice or participate in airshows in April. Because it takes about 3 weeks after the start of practice to get ready for an airshow, this also implies they are cancelling shows for the first part of May. DDJ 4-6-2013

Key West. Hemmingway, Jimmy Buffet, Parrot Heads, Sloppy Joe's and NAS Key West. While there were not many warbirds scheduled to be on hand this was about being at NAS Key West, as it has been on my list to visit and can now be checked off. With it and Tico falling the same weekend it made economic sense to do it. With budget cuts and sequester then coming along it was an even better decision as it may or not be the last NAS show of the year and also the last for the Blues. That is still undetermined as of this writing. DDJ 4-1-2013

Airfield orientation for photographers: Facing south and the sun with an east-west the show line.

A Sampling of Sunday's Action:

This was unexpected as Jim Tobul was supposed to be at the Tico Show 300 miles to the north and many of us at the Tico show had been wondering where he was. In talking with the Key West Ramp Boss I was told that originally the Collings Foundation Corsair was to attend but was not able to due to an extended annual. So the show ended up with the Tobul Corsair. While it worked out for me as I was in both places for those at Tico it was a disappointment. Two scenarios that I see could have brought this about. One, Jim Tobul disregarded his agreement with Tico and instead came here. On the other hand, he may have contacted Tico and the show allowed him to not attend due to cost reasons. I could see this happening as the Tico Show did not finally book the B-17 until two weeks before the event and it does not come cheap and the show was desperate to get one as it was the themed aircraft. So maybe the show had some budgetary issues (Actually they all do!) and were looking for a cost sayings, which is OK but the Jim Tobul Corsair act stayed on the website as being an performing act. As of the week after the show Jim Tobul still shows up on the Tico website as a featured performer. In either event the Tico fans did not get what they were promised.

Dan Serrato was on site with his T-28 doing VIP rides. Here is is taxiing out for the last ride on Sunday morning. Actually as soon as I got out of my vehicle in the parking lot I heard him take off for an earlier ride. I wasn't expecting to see or see this fly so this was a plus.

T-45.

The VFC-111 Sundowners are stationed at NAS Key West and are an air to air combat training unit flying the Northrop F-5.

A little local flavor here. This is the only show I remember that sold Margaritas to go with one's nachos.

This merchandise tent was the only one that sold memorabilia related to this particular show and air station, such as t-shirts, hats, posters and programs. Note that the tables for the most part are bare, as all of the adult t-shirts sold out on Saturday and all that was left at this point are about a dozen child size shirts that can be seen on the front table. I purchased one of the six remaining hats earlier in the morning and when I took this photo they were all gone also. I don't think I have ever seen a PX like this completely sell out.

This SNJ-5 came in for the show from Stuart, FL.

It seems like not matter which show I go to I run into someone I know. In this case I was totally surprised to see Bill "Hammer" Hamerstadt with his Scottish Aviation Bulldog built for the Swedish Royal Air Force and designated SK-61 by the Swedes on display. He hangars this aircraft about 35 miles from my residence in IN.

Just to make sure no one went thirsty there were two margarita stands. Later in the day they would both be busy. This was a typical "Sunday" crowd that didn't really start to populate the ramp until after noon time.

Greg Shelton in his Super Stearman.

VFC-111 on the take-off roll for a flight demo.

Note the main gear doors close first on the F-5. The semi tractor and trailer that is sitting out in the middle of the airfield is actually the Blue Angel airshow center point. There will be two others on each end of the 1,500 foot show line that are used by the Blues to give them their references. These are a usually surveyed location for precise location.

Not very often one can get a photo of four F-5s in formation with each other. Actually a pretty good reason to drive 1,400 miles one way to Key West.

The Red Bull helicopter spent a lot of time upside down.

I am not too sure whether the Budweiser Clydesdales or the Blues were the most popular act at the show. This is based on crowd surge. I was sitting with a new friend from Flint, MI at the fence when all of a sudden the crowd from the rear moved forward and started standing in front of us. Total lack of airshow etiquette! This only happened with the Clydesdales and the Blues.

Sort of hard to get a clear shot when all the heads in the way.

Jim Tobul performing in his Corsair.

Jim setting up for the photo pass. When the show started at 11:30 the front line was pretty sparse but by 1:45 when this photo was taken "The late arriving Sunday Crowd" had shown up.

Greg Shelton returned with Ashley Battles doing the wing walking.

Fat Albert in the photo pass.

After seeing the TBs and Blues the same weekend it became very obvious the Blues are the better of the two. The TBs don't fly this close. The Blues also have the advantage with a little bigger aircraft, two engines for more jet noise, and on certain maneuvers fly closer to the crowd than the TBs. Not that this is new to anyone but when seeing them back to back like I did made it stand out more.