2024 Airshows

 Purdue University Aviation Day Photo Review
  Purdue University Airport, West Lafayette, IN - April 13, 2024 - Photos taken 4-13-2024.

Now this is the way to start out the 2024 warbird airshow season! 

Having this front row seat was a classic case of "being at the right place at the right time."  My oldest grandson and I had arrived inside the event grounds later than I planned.  Once inside the gates, we immediately ran into several long-time warbird friends of mine.  After talking with them, my grandson and I worked our way to the other end of the ramp to where the A-10 demo and P-51 were located.  As late in the morning as it was and with the very large number of spectators at the event, I did not hold out much hope that we were going to get up to the crowd line.  Surprisingly, there was a small opening next to a trash can that was just large enough for my eleven grandson to fit into. I had my grandson stand up against the fence and I took position behind him.  From this location we had an excellent view of not only the P-51 starting up and taxiing out, but also the A-10 demo doing the same.

This was the first year since 1998 that the Purdue Aviation Days has done a flying event.  Since the return of the event in 2012, it has only been a static event which I have attended the past two years.  I have found this to be a great way to start out the airshow season after the winter months.  This year the Purdue Aviation Days featured the A-10 Demo Team with a Heritage Flight, along with fly-bys by a KC-135 and an F-16. 

The event really lucked out on the weather.  Since Wednesday proceeding the event Indiana had three days of constant rain.  My rain gauge recorded 4.3 inches of rain for this period.  However, by the end of the day on Friday, the rain had left the state and Saturday was a clear day with pleasant temperatures. 

Our location afforded me the opportunity to obtain some photos of the A-10 Demo Team before and after the actual flying.  Over the past several years, I have been able to set up at several airshows to get photos of the several Air Force Demo Team members as they prepared for the event.  My location at the Purdue Aviation Day was perfect for this type of photo and is the best location I have had to-date for photographing Air Force Demo team members.

A-10 Demo Team Leader Major Lindsay Johnson is putting on her flight gloves before the flight. 

Something I have noticed about all of the Air Force Demo Teams is that the maintainers wear sunglasses.  I have seen them wear them during a demo even on the cloudiest of days.  The sun glasses apparently are part of the official demo team uniforms.  They may also be safety glass, as the team members move around the aircraft once it is started.  Here, one of the maintainers is making sure his sunglasses are on properly. 

This is the traditional military hand salute.

The Demo Teams also do a fist bump.

Maybe I haven't previously paid enough attention during A-10 startups, as I do not remember ever seeing the smoke at engine start.

After many years of watching Heritage Flights, this was a first.  The Heritage Flight was at the beginning of the demo and not at the end.  Apparently, the P-51 pilot needed to leave as he left at the end of the demo. 

The P-51 is pulling up after making his last pass down the runway and then proceeded to go home.

It turns out this family had a unique location to see the event.  Major Johnson is setting up for her slow and dirty pass.

Things got busy at this time.  Major Johnson was taxiing back in and the KC-135 and F-16 were overhead.

The KC-135 was from Grissom Air Reserve Base and the F-16 from the South Carolina Air National Guard.

After the demo, once again there was the military hand salute.  Note that Major Johnson has her sunglasses on. 

And the fist bumps.

 I have never seen THIS before and may never see again!  This was very cool and shows the closeness of the team.

They took a bow for the crowd which was totally unexpected on my part.

To Major Johnson's left is Senior Airman Cameron Bowers and on her right is Senior Airman Ben Everse.

The A-10 has now been in service for 47 years.  It does not fly by itself.  It takes all sorts of skilled persons, like the three we see standing here, to keep not only the A-10s flying but all of the other aircraft in the U.S. Air Force inventory.  These are just three of thousands in the USAF who keep our country safe.

With this I will end this report.  My location and what I saw were unique and I will probably never have a chance to see something like this again.  Little did I know when I picked up my grandson that he and I were going to visit a very special Purdue Aviation Day.  I have been to more airshows than I can ever remember.  However, this one will be one of the few that I will remember as a standout event.