Either I’m the only one here who went to the Cleveland show, or everyone else was as disappointed as I was.
In previous years, Cleveland has been a great show, with lots of ground displays, war birds, areobatic acts and cross country and pylon racing. The Blue Angels and Thunderbirds alternated years. Those days seem to be coming to an end. Last year the Blues skiped, and racing seems to be a thing of the past. The ground display this year I thought was pretty poor. Lots of Bugs and Wart Hogs and little else. A lot of these were roped off so you couldn’t get too close to them. The Golden Knights were there, but they only sent six jumpers. I thought war birds were poorly represented compared to previous years.
The most disappointing was the Thunderbirds. I know there have been several accidents this year, and they had that mid-air in Chicago, but for the first time in my memory, they didn’t fly out of the show site. There was no “show” takeoff or landing. They just suddenly appeared over the show and went into their routine. The flying was precise, but the formation looked loose and the routine tame. And then the show was over and they flew off. Their announcer said “they’ve landed at Hopkins.”, and that was it. No conversation, no autographs.
I only shot two rolls of film, and most of it was the Thunderbird routine. Here is a link to them.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v300/waynebaker/2005%20Cleveland%20Air%20Show/