C-47 "That's All, Brother" At National Museum of the USAF  Decatur, IL Airport 75th Anniversary Airshow
2021 Airshows

Thunder over Michigan Warbird Photo Review
Warbirds at the Willow Run, MI Airshow 2021 - August 7-8, 2021 (Photos taken 8-7-2021.)   

One of my criticisms of several of the recent Thunder Over Michigan Airshows is that the Yankee Air Museum, the organization that produces the show, many times did not fly their own B-17 during the event.  This year the show got it right!

This year Thunder Over Michigan had two drive-in shows each day.  The reason given for this format was the large amount of construction going on at the field.  The hangar in the background was one of the construction projects.  There were also new T-hangers being built in the show's normal parking area, along with a new hangar for the Yankee Air Museum's flying collection.  The photos here are from the Saturday afternoon event.

The Yankee Lady and the Mustangs flew later in the show.  However, I wanted to feature the B-17 at the beginning of this report, because at least for this year, the Yankee Air Museum showcased its crown jewel of its flying collection.

The flying actually opened what the event called "Mitchell Madness."  "Rosie's Reply," the Yankee Air Museum's B-25D, was one of fourteen B-25s that did at least four fly-bys each.  That is a lot of fly-bys in a short amount of time.  The show started fast and kept up the pace for the rest of the afternoon.  The show packed a lot of flying into the limited time it had to fly.

The PBJ-1 "Semper Fi" came all the way from southern California for the show.

 The other B-25s were all the later J Model.  Here are a few photos representing some of the B-25J fly-bys.

"Show Me."

"Devil Dog."

"Georgie's Gal."

"Killer B."

"Maid in the Shade."

"Champaign Gal."

I normally don't use photos if I didn't capture the entire aircraft.  However, in this case, this was too good of a shot to omit.  I was located near the left end of the flight line.  In this particular case, the pilot cut it just a little bit short going around the corner.

"Miss Mitchell."

"Wild Cargo."

"Lady Luck."

Early in the show there was cloud cover.  This would clear off as the afternoon progressed.  The good thing is that the 50% chance of thunderstorms never materialized.

The EA-18G Growler from NAS Whidbey Island, WA gave us several high speed passes.  This is the first time I have seen this demonstration.

Jim Tobul in his F4U-4 Corsair formed up with the EA-18G for a legacy flight.

The A400M "Atlas" was a surprise for me.  I had seen this on display in previous years at the show, but never expected it to put on a demonstration.  This was very cool!

As the B-17 was landing, P-51s gave us several fly-bys.

The half-day show format used this year at the 2021 Thunder over Michigan Airshow allowed my son David and oldest grandson Parker to attend.  Because I live a three and a half hour drive from the Willow Run Airport, and my son is another hour farther away, the afternoon show allowed us to leave at a reasonable time in the morning.  The short but intense flying schedule was just right for an eight year old.  If I had not been able to bring these two, I probably would not have made the trip.  It was all about some family time at the show.  My son was not too much older than Parker when I started bringing him to Thunder many years ago. 

Note that Parker is wearing a P-61 T-shirt.  I wonder who purchased that for him?

When "Mad Max" was doing its fly-bys, my grandson was jumping up and down with excitement. 

The last act for us was the A-10 demo.  Due to restrictions on vehicle movement during the Thunderbird demonstration, we needed to leave during the A-10 demo to get back home in a timely manner.  It would have been nice to have seen the Thunderbirds, but we did not need to be stuck in the hour long exit of vehicles after the show.

The 2021 Thunder Over Michigan Airshow was a success.  The show featured only warbirds and modern military in a tightly run show.  In just over two hours of flying, I saw a variety of aircraft.  For the first time in several years, after leaving this event, I went home happy.