Airshow pics - F-35, F-16, F/A-18, Blue Angels and much more.

Gomig-21 · Jun 13, 2018

I was at the Quonset, Rhode Island, National Guard air show this past weekend and took a lot of pics. I've been going to this show with some very good friends of mine for the past 18 years straight. The F-22 has been there several times but this year was the first time the F-35A was there and we got a pretty good look at it.

I took a lot of pics so I can't post them all in one shot but rather in several posts over several days. But feel free to comment or post your own pics from other airshows or even use my pics if you like, you have my permission to do so.

I'll start with the star of the show which was not the first act, but was mostly involved in a heritage flight with an F-16 block 50 and an all-metallic P-51 mustang that was just sparkling. There were 2 F-35s, one for Saturday's flight and the other for Sunday's flight. Couldn't get very close to those, obviously, but they were parked behind the 6 Blue Angles F-18s that were the very last act. @The SC @Hamartia Antidote @Vergennes @Frogman @randomradio and all others I know.

Click on the pics for full resolution.

Good timing as the Avenger and an F4U-4 Corsair were flying their demo right at the same time I was taking these pics.

The pilot flying the F-35 was Captain Andrew Olson who was deployed to Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE back in 2015 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. Flew 61 combat missions over Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan employing 69 precision guided munitions against ISIS target. 1,500 military flying hours including 481 combat hours in the F-15E Strike Eagle.

The F-16 took off right after the F-35 and did a similar, low altitude take-off and sudden pitch up but in this case, this guy took a sharp left instead. Almost every time I've seen the F-16 fly at these shows, they've always had a very aggressive pilot who almost flew the aircraft as if he was really angry or something. Really interesting dynamic. This guy didn't disappoint, either.

Gomig-21 · Jun 13, 2018

2nd time we've seen the P-80 Shooting Star, a very cool fighter from a very interesting time.

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Gomig-21 · Jun 13, 2018

Getting up close to the static display F-18A. Too bad I didn't have a Philips screw driver, was really tempted to unscrew that tip on the radome. C-130J was very impressive, taking off and landing and backing up after a very short landing.

Hamartia Antidote · Jun 13, 2018

Gomig-21 said:
I was at the Quonset, Rhode Island, National Guard air show this past weekend and took a lot of pics. I've been going to this show with some very good friends of mine for the past 18 years straight. The F-22 has been there several times but this year was the first time the F-35A was there and we got a pretty good look at it.

I took a lot of pics so I can't post them all in one shot but rather in several posts over several days. But feel free to comment or post your own pics from other airshows or even use my pics if you like, you have my permission to do so.

I'll start with the star of the show which was not the first act, but was mostly involved in a heritage flight with an F-16 block 50 and an all-metallic P-51 mustang that was just sparkling. There were 2 F-35s, one for Saturday's flight and the other for Sunday's flight. Couldn't get very close to those, obviously, but they were parked behind the 6 Blue Angles F-18s that were the very last act. @The SC @Hamartia Antidote @Vergennes @Frogman @randomradio and all others I know.

Click on the pics for full resolution.

View attachment 480164

Good timing as the Avenger and an F4U-4 Corsair were flying their demo right at the same time I was taking these pics.

View attachment 480165

The pilot flying the F-35 was Captain Andrew Olson who was deployed to Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE back in 2015 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. Flew 61 combat missions over Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan employing 69 precision guided munitions against ISIS target. 1,500 military flying hours including 481 combat hours in the F-15E Strike Eagle.

View attachment 480167 View attachment 480168
View attachment 480168 View attachment 480169 View attachment 480170 View attachment 480171 View attachment 480172 View attachment 480173 View attachment 480174

The F-16 took off right after the F-35 and did a similar, low altitude take-off and sudden pitch up but in this case, this guy took a sharp left instead. Almost every time I've seen the F-16 fly at these shows, they've always had a very aggressive pilot who almost flew the aircraft as if he was really angry or something. Really interesting dynamic. This guy didn't disappoint, either.

View attachment 480176 View attachment 480177 View attachment 480178 View attachment 480179 View attachment 480180 View attachment 480181 View attachment 480182

Guy at work said he went and when I asked him about the F35 and he was clueless. He just mentioned the F-18 show. Geez!

Frogman · Jun 13, 2018

Pure filth!

loving it ya Gomes

cloud4000 · Jun 13, 2018

I went to see the Blue Angels last year in Brunswick, Maine. Unfortunately, no F-35 or F-22 were on display. I'm jealous you had a chance to see one up close. Some day...

The SC · Jun 13, 2018

Excellent pics.. @Gomig-21
Lucky you..

Asian.Century · Jun 13, 2018

Beautiful Pics indeed! Great shots!

Safriz · Jun 13, 2018

I am thinking of going to RIAT in UK...B1B lancer will be there and F-35.

Gomig-21 · Jun 16, 2018

cloud4000 said:
I went to see the Blue Angels last year in Brunswick, Maine. Unfortunately, no F-35 or F-22 were on display. I'm jealous you had a chance to see one up close. Some day...

We're pretty fortunate, guys like yourself, Antidote and myself that we live up in this area as it's rich in military and US history that we get to see a lot of events take place up this way, especially this time of year.

The flyover for the 4rth of July on the Esplanade almost always comes through this area where I live. They circle for about 10 minutes to get ready to join into tight formation and plan the flyover perfectly with the national anthem and it's like we get a private airshow.

The SC said:
Excellent pics.. @Gomig-21
Lucky you..

I must say, though, despite it really not doing a full demonstration so we really didn't get to see it's full routine, I still wasn't taken by it or even by its presence as much as this jet below. This one had an impact like nothing else has ever had. The awesomeness, the level of noise generated by those P&W engines, the sheer power of this aircraft and everything about it was like nothing I've seen in 35+ years of going to these types of shows and basically seeing it all. This was at the same place in 2015 IIRC. This one always puts on the best show.

This gif was put together courtesy of @VCheng from a series of pics I had taken of the F-22 doing a most impressive minimum radius turn.

شاھین میزایل said:
I am thinking of going to RIAT in UK...B1B lancer will be there and F-35.

Haven't seen the B1B Lancer fly, but got under it and it was pretty impressive. The thing was leaking like a siv under the engines from I guess all the panels expanding and contracting with all the high temperatures experienced from flying supersonic. It basically looks like it has 4 F-15 engines. But getting a close look at the bomb bay is quite the experience.

Hamartia Antidote · Jun 16, 2018

Gomig-21 said:
We're pretty fortunate, guys like yourself, Antidote and myself that we live up in this area as it's rich in military and US history that we get to see a lot of events take place up this way, especially this time of year.

The flyover for the 4rth of July on the Esplanade almost always comes through this area where I live. They circle for about 10 minutes to get ready to join into tight formation and plan the flyover perfectly with the national anthem and it's like we get a private airshow.

Haven't seen the B1B Lancer fly, but got under it and it was pretty impressive. The thing was leaking like a siv under the engines from I guess all the panels expanding and contracting with all the high temperatures experienced from flying supersonic. It basically looks like it has 4 F-15 engines. But getting a close look at the bomb bay is quite the experience.

Well they stopped the air show at Otis. I saw a B1B flying there once. Had an F16 fly so low over me at Hanscom doing turns I almost could have hit him with my waterbottle. It really could float effortlessly.

Gomig-21 · Jun 16, 2018

Hamartia Antidote said:
Well they stopped the air show at Otis. I saw a B1B flying there once. Had an F16 fly so low over me at Hanscom doing turns I almost could have hit him with my waterbottle. It really could float effortlessly.

lol, that's crazy. I can imagine that happening at Hanscom. Place is so awesome and so accessible off of 2A and 95, so anything going on there can be easily seen. Too bad they shut it down for these types of events. The last one they had there was 2002. The traffic as a result for the weekend was unbearable in that area.
BTW, New England Air Show at Westover in Chicopee on July 14-15 should be a great one. Been to that one several times and it's much bigger than Quonset. A lot more aircraft on display and doing demos there.

https://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/05/westover_great_new_england_air.html

Frogman · Jun 16, 2018

Pictures don't do the F-22 justice. That thing is massive!

Gomig-21 · Jun 16, 2018

Frogman said:
Pictures don't do the F-22 justice. That thing is massive!

Indeed. The only way you can judge that through pics is looking at the size of the pilot in relation to the aircraft and the same in others, since pilot size is somewhat a constant. The one thing I noticed about the F-35 is the girth of that thing. It's body size, particularly the height of the fuselage from the belly to the spine, is pretty bulky. It is a rather pudgy aircraft. I suppose it needs to be in order to accommodate all 8000+ kilos/liters of fuel that give it its incredible range. You can clearly see that size difference in the pics of it next to the F-16.

The same with the F-22 here. Like you said, it is a pretty large aircraft and you can clearly see that when you compare its size with the F-16 flying next to it.

Gomig-21 · Jun 17, 2018

KC-135 and a close look at the actual boom itself. Was surprised they had it lowered and just sitting there for anyone to take a super close look. I even tried pushing in what appeared to be that catch valve, or the one-way valve on the inside of the tip there, but it didn't budge. I'm sure it's electrically, mechanically and hydraulically actuated.