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2012 Airshows
Titusville (Tico), FL
Urbana, OH B-25 Gathering
B-25 Fly-Over at
Doolittle Reunion, Dayton, OH
MCAS Cherry
Point, NC
Shaw AFB,
Sumter, SC
Whiteman
AFB, Knob Noster, MO
Boeing Field,
Seattle, WA
Kokomo Air Show,
Kokomo, IN
CWH Airshow,
Hamilton ON
Indianapolis Air Show, Greenfield, IN
Indianapolis Executive B-17
Texas Raiders
Thunder over
Michigan, Belleville, MI
Gratiot
Community Airshow, Alma, MI
Marion Fly-In/Drive-In,
Marion, IN
Fort Wayne Air
Show, Fort Wayne, IN
Waukegan, IL
Glendale Airport, Kokomo,
IN
Indianapolis
Regional Airport, IN
Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport, IN
Hamilton Canadian Warplane Heritage
Airshow Warbird
Photo Review
Warbirds at Hamilton Airport,
Hamilton, ON- June16-17, 2012
(Photos taken Saturday June 16.)
This was the second show in the rebirth of the Hamilton Airshow in
Ontario sponsored by the Canadian Warplane Heritage. The show, if it
continues its focus on featuring warbirds as it has the first two years,
does have the potential of being one of the better warbird shows in North
America. The operative word here is "potential" as the show, while
doing an excellent job of acquiring the product side of the equation, is
still lacking on the presentation side. This year's product included
the B-29 among the other great warbirds shown below. However, from
the presentation viewpoint, many of these great aircraft were not
showcased properly and did not give enough passes. Airshow rule of
thumb is that the number of passes should be a minimum of three and a
maximum of five to include high speed and photo or banana passes.
(Actually, from my standpoint, the maximum can be unlimited but one can
get too much of a good thing!) Many of warbirds did not get the
required amount of passes to the detriment of the airshow spectator.
Once the CWH figures out that presentation is just as important as
product, this will become must see event for the warbird enthusiast.
It is not there yet. The show also needs to re-examine the policy it
introduced this year of making the hot ramp an extra charge. This
was not well received by many of the patrons at the show.
The restoration on the Canadian Warplane
Heritage's DeHavilland CS2F-2 Tracker is coming along in fine shape, with
the Number 2 engine having been replaced since the 2011 airshow. In the
next year the Number 1 engine will also be replaced, setting the stage for
its return to flight.
This Tiger Moth was one of the several great
trainers that did a fly-by or two. All of the trainer photos were
made on take-off.
The Royal Canadian Air Force purchased 300
Boeing Stearman aircraft for its training program. However, they did
not arrive with the required canopies and were traded for Fairchild PT-26s
which had the enclosed cockpits. The cold weather in Canada required
the canopies.
The Fleet Finch. All RCAF training
aircraft were painted yellow, unlike the practice in the US which had no
standard color.
This Fleet Fort is the only one that is
currently flying.
The CWH B-25 on the take off. The next
group of photos up to the flag jumps are again made during take-off as
this was the best time to photograph the aircraft.
The rare Fairey Firefly, one of only two
flying in North America.
Lysander.
The CWH Canso.
What a trooper!! This Dakota owned and operated by the CWH has 82,000
hours on the airframe and has 12million air miles to date.
The Twin Beech is taking up the jumpers.
One thing I have noticed at all of the Canadian shows I have been to is
that they all play not only the Canadian National Anthem, but the Star
Spangled Banner also. A very nice touch!! Several US airshows
along the Canadian border could learn something from this.
.
A loose formation. While the Lancaster and B-25 flew later in the
day and got some time in front of the crowd, the Firefly did not get an
individual passes for the crowd which was a disappointment.
The photo pit was at the east end of the field, while I was at the west
end. Although the photo pit gives an unrestricted view I prefer
photos like this with the crowd in the foreground which allows some
perspective of the aircraft in relation to the ground and the spectators.
The FG-1D is owned and operated by Vintage
Wings of Canada.
This Curtiss P-40N Kittyhawk is also owned by Vintage Wings.
As is this Mustang IV.
Along with the Canadair built Sabre.
Nice formation of Vintage Wings of Canada Warbirds.
The Sabre did a nice aerobatic routine while the Corsair went into a hold
pattern and the remaining three aircraft landed.
The FG-1D from Vintage Wings of Canada then did fine aerobatic routine.
One of the unexpected surprises and highpoints of the show was the demo by
the Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora.
The pilot did a wing wag on final approach to his landing. Great
Demo!!!
We did get several fly-bys by the CAF SB2C and the TBM from the Military
Aviation Museum.
Interestingly enough, it turns out that 18% of the total Helldivers built
in WWII were built in Canada, with 13% (832) being built by Canadian Car
and Foundry as the SBW in what was at the time Fort William (Now Thunder
Bay) Ontario, and 5% (300) by Fairchild in Montreal, Quebec as the SBF.
Many of these Canadian built aircraft did get into service with the US
Navy during the war, including the sinking of the Japanese battleship
Yamato.
The Canadian Harvard Formation Team put on its normal great aerobatic
routine.
.
This was Matt Younkin's first appearance in
Canada, and as usual, he burned up the skies in the Twin Beech.
While considered a civilian aerobatic act, in essence it is also a warbird
act, due to the fact the twin Beeches were used by several Allied military
services. All Matt has to do to make it into a warbird routine is
repaint the aircraft into WWII colors.
If I only had funding for one aerobatic
routine at an airshow, this would be it. Matt keeps the aircraft low
and fast with lots of smoke while the twin radials make plenty of good
round engine sounds. Most of the time it sounds like Matt is at full
throttle and when turning around in the "end zones", he can still be seen
quite easily, due the size of the aircraft.
Matt coming full bore down the show line!!
A very loose formation of four bombers and a fighter. Bomber pilots
are not usually formation qualified so they are really not in formation.
B-29, Lancaster, B-25, B-17 and P-51.
The air boss finally put some aircraft in a
race track pattern behind the crowd giving us some opportunity to see this
group of aircraft up close.
B-29 Fifi.
Lancaster.
B-25 Hot Gen.
B-17 Chuckie.
P-51.
A loose two ship formation of the Lancaster
and B-29.
The sun was starting to reappear as the Lancaster made one of its
signature low passes.
It is always amusing to hear the Canadian airshow narrators say that the
Lancaster is the most famous bomber of WWII. Well, this really
depends on which side of the US-Canadian border one is standing, as it is
all based on one's frame of reference. In Canada and Great Britain,
the Lancaster is the most famous bomber of WWII, while in the US, it is
probably the B-17. But this is what I like about Canadian air shows,
as diversity is good, and learning about Canadian history and aircraft is
always great.
Titusville (Tico), FL
Urbana, OH B-25 Gathering
B-25 Fly-Over at
Doolittle Reunion, Dayton, OH
MCAS Cherry
Point, NC
Shaw AFB,
Sumter, SC
Whiteman
AFB, Knob Noster, MO
Boeing Field,
Seattle, WA
Kokomo Air Show,
Kokomo, IN
CWH Airshow,
Hamilton ON
Indianapolis Air Show, Greenfield, IN
Indianapolis Executive B-17
Texas Raiders
Thunder over
Michigan, Belleville, MI
Gratiot
Community Airshow, Alma, MI
Marion Fly-In/Drive-In,
Marion, IN
Fort Wayne Air
Show, Fort Wayne, IN
Waukegan, IL
Glendale Airport, Kokomo,
IN
Indianapolis
Regional Airport, IN
Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport, IN
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