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WOH 2019 Airshow

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Topic: WOH 2019 Airshow
Posted By: RifleDude
Subject: WOH 2019 Airshow
Date Posted: October/21/2019 at 18:14
I went to the annual Wings Over Houston airshow at Ellington Field on Saturday, and had a great time geeking out on vintage and modern military and civilian aircraft.  I have a special interest in tactical military aircraft, so I was especially excited to see the variety of WWII and modern fighter aircraft flown at the show. Headlining this years show was the USAF Thunderbirds and the F-35 Demo Team. Also there was the US Navy Legacy Flight Team, featuring WWII navy fighters (F4U Corsairs, F6F Hellcats, etc) along with an EF-18G "Growler" (Electronic Warfare version of the F/A-18F Super Hornet). Both the Navy and Air Force did "Heritage" flight demos, flying WWII fighters in formation alongside current frontline fighters (Navy EF-18G Growler with F4U Corsair and Air Force F-35 Lightning II with P47 Thunderbolt). The Commemorative Air Force was there presenting "Tora, Tora, Tora," a reenactment of the Pearl Harbor attack with pyrotechnics and restored Japanese A6M "Zero" fighters.

Along with the military aircraft, there were several civilian aerobatic team demos.

It was a beautiful day with lots of action in the air! Below are photos I took of some of the highlights.

Enjoy!














































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Ted


Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.



Replies:
Posted By: RifleDude
Date Posted: October/21/2019 at 18:25
































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Ted


Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.


Posted By: RifleDude
Date Posted: October/21/2019 at 18:34
Something I found interesting...
Notice in the Thunderbirds photos that the Slot pilot (T-Bird #4) was flying an F-16D (2 seater version), rather than the F-16C (single seat) model they normally fly. They typically use the D model only for "media flights," pilot training, etc. They must have had a maintenance problem with the normal #4 bird before this show. Notice also that #4 was carrying a centerline drop tank. Wonder why?


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Ted


Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.


Posted By: sucker76
Date Posted: October/21/2019 at 19:38
Great shots! 

I got interested in the details of jet engines and found this YouTube site AgentJayZ.  Check him out.  His explanation of exhaust nozzles alone was world class.  The outer turkey feathers aren't the primary flame/thrust shapers.  The inner ones are.  You showed them in the great F-16 upskirt shot. 

It looks like all planes landed in one piece so great day. 


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Stamp collecting since 2015


Posted By: Kickboxer
Date Posted: October/21/2019 at 20:05
Originally posted by RifleDude RifleDude wrote:

Something I found interesting...
Notice in the Thunderbirds photos that the Slot pilot (T-Bird #4) was flying an F-16D (2 seater version), rather than the F-16C (single seat) model they normally fly. They typically use the D model only for "media flights," pilot training, etc. They must have had a maintenance problem with the normal #4 bird before this show. Notice also that #4 was carrying a centerline drop tank. Wonder why?
Ted, they probably did have a maintenance issue with the "normal" aircraft.  In order to construct the F-16 dual-cockpitted aircraft, they had to reduce the size of the internal forward fuel cell of the aircraft, reducing its range.  Due to airshow length and high-g, high speed maneuvers at low altitudes' fuel burn rates, they probably had to carry the centerline tank in order to meet onboard fuel safety requirements.  

Great pictures.  


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Opinion,untempered by fact,is ignorance.

There are some who do not fear death... for they are more afraid of not really living


Posted By: Sgt. D
Date Posted: October/21/2019 at 20:29
WOW! Most of those I had models I built as a kid. Good memories.
 
Salute!


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Take care of Soldiers, Show em how its done and do it with em, Run to the Fight & and hold your ground! I die my men go home! If you're a NCO and this ain't you. GET OUT! GOD BLESS AMERICA!


Posted By: RifleDude
Date Posted: October/21/2019 at 20:48
Ah, yes, I bet you’re right, Dan. Makes sense. The 2-seat birds definitely have to sacrifice some fuel capacity. 

The funny thing is, everything was moving fast and the centerline tank was painted the same dark blue as the “bird” on the bottom of the plane (so it blended in well) that I didn’t notice the tank until I got home and downloaded the photos.


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Ted


Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.


Posted By: RifleDude
Date Posted: October/21/2019 at 21:13
Originally posted by sucker76 sucker76 wrote:

The outer turkey feathers aren't the primary flame/thrust shapers.  The inner ones are.  You showed them in the great F-16 upskirt shot.  


Yeah, the outer turkey feathers support and move the inners. Depending on the engine, the inner turkey feathers are either ceramic plates or have a ceramic coating.


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Ted


Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.


Posted By: koshkin
Date Posted: October/21/2019 at 22:33
Awesome photography, Ted.  I am far from an airplane enthusiast, but even I am impressed.

ILya



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http://www.darklordofoptics.com - www.darklordofoptics.com
https://rumble.com/c/DLO - Rumble Video Channel


Posted By: coyote95
Date Posted: October/22/2019 at 02:20
Great photos, Ted !  Thanks for sharing. 

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"Life is like riding a bicycle . To keep balance you must keep moving" Albert Einstein


Posted By: BeltFed
Date Posted: October/22/2019 at 06:43
Great pictures Ted!
I never realized it before, Tarheel Hal is a P47N and not a D.


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Life's concerns should be about the 120lb pack your trying to get to the top of the mountain, and not the rock in your boot.


Posted By: magshooter1
Date Posted: October/22/2019 at 07:18
Awesome pics.  Thanks for posting.

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Some people are educated BEYOND their intelligence.


Posted By: mike650
Date Posted: October/22/2019 at 07:21
WoW!!!

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“A hunt based only on trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be.” – Fred Bear


Posted By: budperm
Date Posted: October/23/2019 at 06:40
Great pix!!!  Reminds me of growing up in Jacksonville Beach Florida (Circa 1960s).  The Blue Angels were still based in Mayport Naval Base and were always flying around.  Back then they hadn't yet outlawed Sonic Booms and the pilots loved nothing more than rattling your windows with fly-overs...

Somewhere during that time the Blue Angels were relocated.  I'm not sure how many times but they seemed to have ended up in Pensacola, Florida...


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"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
--Thomas Jefferson





Posted By: BeltFed
Date Posted: October/23/2019 at 06:58
Originally posted by budperm budperm wrote:

Great pix!!!  Reminds me of growing up in Jacksonville Beach Florida (Circa 1960s).  The Blue Angels were still based in Mayport Naval Base and were always flying around.  Back then they hadn't yet outlawed Sonic Booms and the pilots loved nothing more than rattling your windows with fly-overs...

Somewhere during that time the Blue Angels were relocated.  I'm not sure how many times but they seemed to have ended up in Pensacola, Florida...

That's correct Bud, and the Thunder Birds (my favorite) are based out of Nellis AFB just out side of Lost Wages, NV.


Ted, are those all the pictures you have of the air show?


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Life's concerns should be about the 120lb pack your trying to get to the top of the mountain, and not the rock in your boot.


Posted By: tahqua
Date Posted: October/23/2019 at 07:21
Love the pictures. I like the Mitchell, especially, as one flies over my home every weekend from the Yankee Air Museum.

Thanks Ted


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Doug


Posted By: SEMO Shooter
Date Posted: October/23/2019 at 14:41
Great photos.  Thanks for posting them.


Posted By: RifleDude
Date Posted: October/23/2019 at 19:15
Originally posted by BeltFed BeltFed wrote:

Ted, are those all the pictures you have of the air show?

No, I took several hundred photos, then pared them down to about 130 "keepers."

One thing I forgot to mention... I was shooting in burst mode with a super fast shutter (between 1/1600 - 1/2500 sec), with the intent of ensuring that the jets were sharp without motion blur. Turns out, I should have slowed down my shutter quite a bit for at least the prop planes because shutter speed was so fast, it "froze" the props on the piston engine planes, making them look like models just "hanging" in the sky. 

If I had it to do over again, I would've shot the prop planes in shutter priority mode rather than aperture priority, with a shutter speed of something like 1/125 to blur out the props, then, speed up my shutter again for the jets. Or, I could have used a neutral density filter to reduce light to slow down my shutter. As it was, it was a bright sunny day and I was pointing into the bright sky, keeping my aperture at between f/5.6 - f/8, with base ISO, and still, the shutter speed had to be super fast to prevent over-exposure. I didn't want to close down aperture too much more than f/8 out of concern it would reduce image quality... which again means I could use a ND filter, but I didn't bring one with me. I used center-weighted metering so that the camera would meter on and near the planes rather than matrix metering where it had to average out the whole sky.


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Ted


Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.


Posted By: RifleDude
Date Posted: October/23/2019 at 19:26
One other thing... during the EF-18G "Growler"/ Super Hornet high speed pass, the rear of the plane erupted in a huge vapor "shock cone," and I missed getting a shot of it because I was having too hard a time following it within the narrow FOV of my telephoto lens at the speed it was traveling. This happened seconds after I got the shot of it above with the vapor coming off the wings. It's pretty hard to keep a jet flying at just under Mach 1 at low altitude inside the viewfinder with the FOV offered by a 300mm (600mm equivalent on the camera I was using) focal length lens!

That really ticked me off, as it would've been an epic shot!

Same thing with the F-35 during its high speed passes. Lots of vapor!


-------------
Ted


Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.


Posted By: BeltFed
Date Posted: October/24/2019 at 10:14
Quit it Ted.
I was part of an air show in southern Ind.. We were part of a big WWII tank battle between the Gemans and Allies. It was a 2 day show and before our battle we would station off to the side and end of the runway. We got a great view of the planes taking off.
On the second day, there was a freelance photographer that showed us some of the pictures he had taken the day before. He had a fast shudder speed too, because the props were frozen on his planes as well. some you could even read the Hartzel stickers on the blades. It took a minute for me to like it, but when you consider the detail he picked up, I thought it was cool.
Oh, and Ted, he was using film.


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Life's concerns should be about the 120lb pack your trying to get to the top of the mountain, and not the rock in your boot.


Posted By: RifleDude
Date Posted: October/24/2019 at 11:56
I mentioned that only to explain why the props were stationary, in case anyone was wondering why Lynn. I had a couple friends ask me why the props weren’t moving.

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Ted


Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.


Posted By: Skylar McMahon
Date Posted: October/27/2019 at 23:13
Dude, you never cease to stop impressing me. 


Posted By: budperm
Date Posted: October/28/2019 at 08:27
Oh stop your pillow talk, Sky!!!

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"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
--Thomas Jefferson





Posted By: 1911GUY
Date Posted: November/07/2019 at 11:14
ExcellentLOL


Posted By: Raido
Date Posted: August/29/2020 at 02:05
great quality! 



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