planes, planes, planes

I had the opportunity to attend the Hillsboro Air Show this year. Was a blast. Wandered through the antique planes, and passed a very familiar silhouette that I know I'd seen before. Sure enough, a MIG 21 that used to take up residence in Fife, Washington at Jet Chevrolet, was sitting on the runway amongst a few other early era jets. Like this bright yellow F-86 Saber. Beautiful plane. It's cool to wander around these planes that you've always seen on TV and in movies, up close and personal.

Behind these older jets were a few "antique" type planes. One of which was this very cool biplane. I've always had a special place in my heart for biplanes, because they're just so cool! And they seem to be a very nostalgic part of America's history (crop dusters/etc) and to see one of these totally restored guys in person is awesome.

Of course, in addition to all the planes on display, our Armed Forces had all sorts of displays for recruiting and explanation. They had three of these huge helicopters and were giving tours, plus they had a few "rides" for kids. I walked by one tent where there was a completely blacked out mini-bike. Which after talking to the Special Forces Army Ranger sitting behind the table, he explained that the troops drop in the minibikes more often now because they're lighter and smaller and can get the boys to where they need to be faster. Pretty cool, actually.

Tucked over to the side was a very cool little plane, a Hawker Sea Fury. This plane has foldable wings, which allowed them to be easily "stored' on aircraft carriers during WWII. This plane was developed in 1944, and didn't really fly until 1947 by the Royal Navy. The handful that remain intact are now in the hands of collectors and those on the air show circuit.

Along with the F-15s out of PDX, and the F-16 that took a few high speed passes, the F-22 – likely the last of the manned war-time aircraft, awed us all with the amazing speed that plane has! One of the coolest points of the day for me was when the amazing cool and historic P51 Mustang took to the sky with the F-22. It was as kind of like the changing of the guard. The two planes flew a few patterns side by side. Very cool. History and present flying together. While the roar of the P51 was impressive, it was sort of sad when the F-22 kicked on the afterburner and when vertical, leaving the P51 "in the dust". Two very amazing planes and certainly the top of the line in both their eras. Wish I had a pic of the P51 to show you. But that is an amazingly hot looking plane. And seeing the two of them together was very cool.