Mach 3 with Your Hair on Fire
Everything from vintage WW-II war birds to the latest F-35 Joint Strike fighter were on display this past weekend at Andrews Air Force Base for the annual Joint Service Open House and Air Show.
There was a great exhibit on the Berlin Airlift inside a vintage C-54 with a few volunteers, including one woman who was in the British Sector during the airlift and had a few great stories about the living conditions. She was able to emigrate to the U.S. and you could here how proud she was to be an American..
Here are a few photos of the many aircraft and equipment on display at the show.
I enjoyed the opportunity to climb into many of the aircraft on display and speak with the pilots who owned, restored and flew the vintage pieces of aviation history. And the military personal were great ambassadors to their branches of service, answering the public’s questions and conducting informative tours.
It looked like the kids loved it too, as when else might they get a change to sit in the pilot’s seat of a helicopter or man a machine gun? Their smiles said it all.
Images - from personal collection © 2008 - Jon Rochetti
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6 Comments
Kids should definitely get more opportunities to man machine guns!
As well as anyone driving on the Beltway.
Very cool! My oldest son used to like to go to the air shows out at Carswell, near us…He always wanted to be a pilot for F-16s…now he is a crew chief for them in the Air Force.
He has gotten to fly them and in them numerous times.
He still loves those planes!
Great pictures! We went to an air show last year and it is a blast for kids, so to speak
Thanks, I remember my Dad, a private pilot, taking me as a kid to air shows and they were a blast. What little boy doesn’t enjoy loud screaming jets, smoke, parachutists, and military hardware?
At the show, the longest lines were for kids waiting to get into the helicopters, either into the pilot’s seats or to play with the machine guns.
Marye: As they say… men and their toys…at $14 - $19 million each, it’s hard not to like them.