Due to prior experiences with this event, I decided that we’d take public transportation instead of driving. UTA was having a special summer event price - $10 for FrontRunner to the Clearfield stop, then a shuttle to the base, shuttle back to the Clearfield stop, and FrontRunner home. I decided it was SO worth it not to have to fight the traffic and park 2 miles away!
The open house had over 50 planes and helicopters as part of the “static display.” We were able to go through a couple and peek in to several. Ryan had fun checking out the cockpits and other areas of some pretty cool planes, including the KC-135 refueling stratotanker. (In the second picture below, he had been lying down on the cot (?) where technicians watch the boom during the refueling. A dad jumped down in front of me as I was going to take Ryan’s picture, so I asked the dad to take a quick picture of Ryan. He rudely grabbed my camera and pointed it in Ryan’s general direction and clicked. He took a lovely picture of the padded area above the cot. So, after they left, I had Ryan quickly climb back down so I could take another picture. By that time, someone else had already climbed onto the cot. Oh well.)
We thoroughly enjoyed the air show. The last time we attended, Ryan was a year old, so he doesn’t remember anything, just the pictures. We were able to meet up with some friends who had been there early to get great seats. There was a really neat “Heritage Flight,” a 3-plane tribute (F-4 Phantom, P-51 Mustang, and F-16) to veterans…
A very large (and very slow compared to the F-16s) C-17…
MiGs, gliders, hang-gliders, parachuters, and biplanes…
But our favorite part of the show (everyone’s, I’m sure) were the Thunderbirds…
Four…
Five…
Six…
Even after the show was over and most of the millions were mass-exiting the base, Ryan wanted to stick around and watch them come in on the tarmac (and take pictures)…
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