Dayton Airshow Update

[Mike Dennis]

Hi All,

I just got back from the 2003 Dayton Air Show. Totally awesome! I don't
know what was most impressive, so I'll just list what I saw today and you
can decide...

1. Snowbirds, Blue Angels, and Thunderbirds all 2 hours apart.
2. F-18F, F-15C, AV-8B, S-3 demos
3. B-2, F-117A Flybys
4. F-86, P-51, P-47, F4U, F6F Demos
5. B-17, B-25, P-3 Demos
6. Spirit of St. Louis, Ford Tri-Motor, several DC-3 demos
7. Wright B Flyer, Bleriot demo
8. Many Great Civilian Performances
9. Ground Displays: B-1B, A-10, F-16, F-18, F-14, DC-10, C-17, B-52, Super
Guppy, F-117A, Predator, Global Hawk, Luftwaffe Tornado GR1, NASA F-18 (Wing
Warping), T-38, AH-1, UH-1, OH-6, C-141, C-130, P38, Connie and more!
10. An indoor pavilion with full scale replicas (many flyable) of all the
Wright brother's planes/gliders--even bikes & toys they made!

And, last but not least, a Long-EZ with Pulse Detonation Engine!! That's
right: a working pulse detonation engine just like the elusive (mythical?)
Aurora. It was part of a display by AFRL (Air Force Research Lab). It had
the strangest design I have ever seen. This "contraption" was literally
hanging off the bottom of the fuselage. It was made up of (no kidding!) a
Hirth F30 2-stroke engine, the cylinder head off a GM Quad4 engine, some
bicycle chains/sprockets, 4 straight steel exhaust tubes, and ran on Avgas.
An engineer there told me that "The exhaust velocity is Mach 5 and Rutan is
going to fly the other one just like it out in California soon." As for the
technical side of it, I'm an engineer, but this guy was talking way over my
head...didn't seem like he got out the lab much!

BTW, NASA also had a fuel cell plane there, but I'm not sure if it had flown
yet.

All in all, it was the best air show I've ever seen--and I've been to a lot
all over the world. This was the best depiction I've ever seen of just how
far we've come in 100 years.

Today was a good day!

[John Keeney]

Mike Dennis > wrote in message
...
> Hi All,
>
> I just got back from the 2003 Dayton Air Show. Totally awesome! I don't
> know what was most impressive, so I'll just list what I saw today and you
> can decide...
>
> 1. Snowbirds, Blue Angels, and Thunderbirds all 2 hours apart.
> 2. F-18F, F-15C, AV-8B, S-3 demos

Not seen a S-3 in a LONG time, and never a flight demo.

> 3. B-2, F-117A Flybys
> 4. F-86, P-51, P-47, F4U, F6F Demos

Same goes for the F6F.

> 5. B-17, B-25, P-3 Demos

Or P-3. Seems to be a trend shaping up here.

> 6. Spirit of St. Louis, Ford Tri-Motor, several DC-3 demos
> 7. Wright B Flyer, Bleriot demo

How far does the Wright B Flyer fly?
Hmm, was that the model sold to the Signal Corp, not the
"we flew first" plane?

> 8. Many Great Civilian Performances
> 9. Ground Displays: B-1B, A-10, F-16, F-18, F-14, DC-10, C-17, B-52,
Super
> Guppy, F-117A, Predator, Global Hawk, Luftwaffe Tornado GR1, NASA F-18
(Wing
> Warping), T-38, AH-1, UH-1, OH-6, C-141, C-130, P38, Connie and more!

Is the P-38 Glacier Girl?
I've never seen any of the Guppies.

> 10. An indoor pavilion with full scale replicas (many flyable) of all the
> Wright brother's planes/gliders--even bikes & toys they made!
>
> And, last but not least, a Long-EZ with Pulse Detonation Engine!! That's
> right: a working pulse detonation engine just like the elusive (mythical?)
> Aurora. It was part of a display by AFRL (Air Force Research Lab). It
had
> the strangest design I have ever seen. This "contraption" was literally
> hanging off the bottom of the fuselage. It was made up of (no kidding!) a
> Hirth F30 2-stroke engine, the cylinder head off a GM Quad4 engine, some
> bicycle chains/sprockets, 4 straight steel exhaust tubes, and ran on
Avgas.
> An engineer there told me that "The exhaust velocity is Mach 5 and Rutan
is
> going to fly the other one just like it out in California soon." As for
the
> technical side of it, I'm an engineer, but this guy was talking way over
my
> head...didn't seem like he got out the lab much!

That would/will be interesting.

> BTW, NASA also had a fuel cell plane there, but I'm not sure if it had
flown
> yet.
>
> All in all, it was the best air show I've ever seen--and I've been to a
lot
> all over the world. This was the best depiction I've ever seen of just
how
> far we've come in 100 years.
>
> Today was a good day!

Wa, wa, boo-hoo, <sniff>, no Dayton for me: six straight days
on the urban range is what I get.

[Mike Dennis]

I was so busy I forgot to look to see if the P-38 was Glacier Girl. Either
way it was painted green. IIRC, Glacier Girl was silver, so it most likely
was another one.

Another cool thing about the Pulse Detonation project: its name is Project
Borealis, a tongue-in-cheek reference to Aurora.

About the guppy: they opeen and closed it during the show: fascinating to
watch a plane crack open like an egg!


"John Keeney" > wrote in message
...
>
> Mike Dennis > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I just got back from the 2003 Dayton Air Show. Totally awesome! I
don't
> > know what was most impressive, so I'll just list what I saw today and
you
> > can decide...
> >
> > 1. Snowbirds, Blue Angels, and Thunderbirds all 2 hours apart.
> > 2. F-18F, F-15C, AV-8B, S-3 demos
>
> Not seen a S-3 in a LONG time, and never a flight demo.
>
> > 3. B-2, F-117A Flybys
> > 4. F-86, P-51, P-47, F4U, F6F Demos
>
> Same goes for the F6F.
>
> > 5. B-17, B-25, P-3 Demos
>
> Or P-3. Seems to be a trend shaping up here.
>
> > 6. Spirit of St. Louis, Ford Tri-Motor, several DC-3 demos
> > 7. Wright B Flyer, Bleriot demo
>
> How far does the Wright B Flyer fly?
> Hmm, was that the model sold to the Signal Corp, not the
> "we flew first" plane?
>
> > 8. Many Great Civilian Performances
> > 9. Ground Displays: B-1B, A-10, F-16, F-18, F-14, DC-10, C-17, B-52,
> Super
> > Guppy, F-117A, Predator, Global Hawk, Luftwaffe Tornado GR1, NASA F-18
> (Wing
> > Warping), T-38, AH-1, UH-1, OH-6, C-141, C-130, P38, Connie and more!
>
> Is the P-38 Glacier Girl?
> I've never seen any of the Guppies.
>
> > 10. An indoor pavilion with full scale replicas (many flyable) of all
the
> > Wright brother's planes/gliders--even bikes & toys they made!
> >
> > And, last but not least, a Long-EZ with Pulse Detonation Engine!!
That's
> > right: a working pulse detonation engine just like the elusive
(mythical?)
> > Aurora. It was part of a display by AFRL (Air Force Research Lab). It
> had
> > the strangest design I have ever seen. This "contraption" was literally
> > hanging off the bottom of the fuselage. It was made up of (no kidding!)
a
> > Hirth F30 2-stroke engine, the cylinder head off a GM Quad4 engine, some
> > bicycle chains/sprockets, 4 straight steel exhaust tubes, and ran on
> Avgas.
> > An engineer there told me that "The exhaust velocity is Mach 5 and Rutan
> is
> > going to fly the other one just like it out in California soon." As for
> the
> > technical side of it, I'm an engineer, but this guy was talking way over
> my
> > head...didn't seem like he got out the lab much!
>
> That would/will be interesting.
>
> > BTW, NASA also had a fuel cell plane there, but I'm not sure if it had
> flown
> > yet.
> >
> > All in all, it was the best air show I've ever seen--and I've been to a
> lot
> > all over the world. This was the best depiction I've ever seen of just
> how
> > far we've come in 100 years.
> >
> > Today was a good day!
>
> Wa, wa, boo-hoo, <sniff>, no Dayton for me: six straight days
> on the urban range is what I get.
>
>

[John]

Mike Dennis wrote:

> I was so busy I forgot to look to see if the P-38 was Glacier Girl. Either
> way it was painted green. IIRC, Glacier Girl was silver, so it most likely
> was another one.

Glacier Girl IS painted green, just as she was when she went down..
tail number is 17630
She was scheduled to be flying at Dayton as part of the Heritage flight.

[Smartace11]

>
>I stand corrected. It may have been that one. However, it did not fly.
>The heritage flight was an F-15 and 3 P-51's completed with invasion
>stripes.

Glacier girl was there. I spoke to the project manager and pilot - a 80th TFS
Headhunter a couple of years after me.

There were two P-38s there, one flew on Fri when I was there in a mock WWII
attack. I think it was the other one - name Popeye IIRC, Both were supposed
to fly, not sure what happened.

[Michael Kube-McDowell]

On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 21:21:29 GMT, "Mike Dennis" >
wrote:

>I stand corrected. It may have been that one. However, it did not fly.
>The heritage flight was an F-15 and 3 P-51's completed with invasion
>stripes.
>

Glacier Girl flew with the Heritage Flight on Sunday, at least (per
photos in the Dayton Daily News).

I was there with my family on Saturday (150 feet to the show line side
of the B-1B). First time I've ever been to an air show that was 'sold
out'--they closed the gates because they completely ran out of
parking. We heard estimates of 70,000 people. Sold out of programs
Friday (damn). Food and drink was running short at many booths by
mid-afternoon.

It was a great event, but there was just too much--you'd really have
to go at least two days, one for the static displays and the exhibits,
one to watch the air show from a comfy folding chair. And one day
might not be enough for the displays.

Miracle of the day: it took less than ten minutes from turning the key
in the car to being northbound on I-75.

Michael


--
Michael P. Kube-McDowell
Warbirding and other bad habits: http://www.sff.net/people/K-Mac/warbird.htm
Warbird sighting album: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/K-mac/

[Mike Dennis]

The latest attendance figures suggest the final numbers will be between
150,000 and 200,000. That's as impressive as the show itself!


"Michael Kube-McDowell" > wrote in message
news:4ETSa.101014$OZ2.20736@rwcrnsc54...
> On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 21:21:29 GMT, "Mike Dennis" >
> wrote:
>
> >I stand corrected. It may have been that one. However, it did not fly.
> >The heritage flight was an F-15 and 3 P-51's completed with invasion
> >stripes.
> >
>
> Glacier Girl flew with the Heritage Flight on Sunday, at least (per
> photos in the Dayton Daily News).
>
> I was there with my family on Saturday (150 feet to the show line side
> of the B-1B). First time I've ever been to an air show that was 'sold
> out'--they closed the gates because they completely ran out of
> parking. We heard estimates of 70,000 people. Sold out of programs
> Friday (damn). Food and drink was running short at many booths by
> mid-afternoon.
>
> It was a great event, but there was just too much--you'd really have
> to go at least two days, one for the static displays and the exhibits,
> one to watch the air show from a comfy folding chair. And one day
> might not be enough for the displays.
>
> Miracle of the day: it took less than ten minutes from turning the key
> in the car to being northbound on I-75.
>
> Michael
>
>
> --
> Michael P. Kube-McDowell
> Warbirding and other bad habits:
http://www.sff.net/people/K-Mac/warbird.htm
> Warbird sighting album: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/K-mac/

[MLenoch]

Only other bad part was that Cripes did not wil the Rolls trophy.
VL

[Dr Bach]

> There were two P-38s there, one flew on Fri when I was there in a mock WWII
> attack. I think it was the other one - name Popeye IIRC, Both were supposed
> to fly, not sure what happened.

Yes There were two P-38's there. One was Glacier Girl, and it was on
'static' Display, only flew in and out .. the other was Porky II From
Chino California's 'Planes of Fame' And I believe, it flew every day,
and was in formation with the F-15 and P-51.
I work at The FBO 'Aviation Sales' at the Airport and Porky II stayed
a few days with us. I snapped it's picture for Our new Advetising
Slogan :

http://home.woh.rr.com/directoryww/VisitP38.jpg


Here's the engine Start-up (to taxi to the airshow) on Porky II It
was a real media event! ..

http://home.woh.rr.com/directoryww/P38Start512x384.jpg



We also had this plane:

http://home.woh.rr.com/directoryww/WarbirdASISmall.jpg

... I'm not sure what it is .. an F-7f maybe ? can anyone Identify?

Woody

[Michael Kube-McDowell]

On 22 Jul 2003 08:25:17 -0700, (Dr Bach) wrote:

>Yes There were two P-38's there. One was Glacier Girl, and it was on
>'static' Display, only flew in and out .. the other was Porky II From
>Chino California's 'Planes of Fame' And I believe, it flew every day,
>and was in formation with the F-15 and P-51.

Ah, I never saw a second P-38 on Saturday, and I'm 99% sure no P-38
flew that day. The Heritage Flight on Saturday was F-15 and three
P-51s.


--
Michael Kube-McDowell - author of VECTORS, THE QUIET POOLS, and EMPRISE

[John A. Weeks III]

In article >, Dr Bach
> wrote:

> We also had this plane:
> http://home.woh.rr.com/directoryww/WarbirdASISmall.jpg
> .. I'm not sure what it is .. an F-7f maybe ? can anyone Identify?

That is a Grumman F6F Hellcat, designation F6F. The Navy didn't
have dashes in their designations until Fighting Bob added them
in 1962. The distinctive feature to identify the aircraft is
the oval shape to the cowling. While the Hellcat was produced
in large numbers for WWII, only a handful remain in flying
condition.

-john-

--
================================================== ==================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ==================

[Mike Dennis]

Correct, no P-38 flew Saturday. I was there prior to gates open and after
gates closed.

"Michael Kube-McDowell" > wrote in message
news:SXcTa.108913$GL4.28518@rwcrnsc53...
> On 22 Jul 2003 08:25:17 -0700, (Dr Bach) wrote:
>
> >Yes There were two P-38's there. One was Glacier Girl, and it was on
> >'static' Display, only flew in and out .. the other was Porky II From
> >Chino California's 'Planes of Fame' And I believe, it flew every day,
> >and was in formation with the F-15 and P-51.
>
> Ah, I never saw a second P-38 on Saturday, and I'm 99% sure no P-38
> flew that day. The Heritage Flight on Saturday was F-15 and three
> P-51s.
>
>
> --
> Michael Kube-McDowell - author of VECTORS, THE QUIET POOLS, and EMPRISE