I spent the morning at the Wings Over Pittsburgh air show.  The show is hosted by the 911th Airlift Wing, located at the Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station.   I got there early so I was able to park close to the entrance and avoided the crowds.   I?m generally not an air show kind of guy but this is show with almost all military aircraft.  This is (usually) an annual event so every year I tell myself I going to try to make it out.  Last year when they couldn't get enough sponsorship the show was canceled so when they announced it was going to happen this year I was determined to go.  

I had plans for the afternoon so I couldn't stay for the main performances, that's just as well since the event draws a good crowd and traffic can be a pain out there.  Also my main interest was the static displays (the aircraft parked on the ground).   You could walk right up to and touch all of the aircraft, that was really cool.  About a third of the aircraft had the pilots/aircrew there to chat with.


Apache


Nose of B-52 bomber


B-52


Navy T-45 Goshawk


Ramp of a C-17


F-18


One of my favorites, E-2 Hawkeye


F-16


Another fav of mine, EA-6 Prowler


C-130


Two F-15


B-52 again


I did get to see several performances, a modified  Pitts Special doing things you wouldn't believe a plane can do, a C 130 drop some parachutists and my favorite, the F-15.  Interestingly, during the F-15 performance a police officer brought out his dog and I couldn't believe all of the "wows", "hey, check out the dog" and "awwww, look at the dog."  I don't know how many of you have seen a fighter plane maneuvering at close range but it's pretty awesome, how an ugly police dog  can even compare I don't know...    

All in all, it was a good time.  If you're ever in Pittsburgh in early September it's worth the time to check it out.  

Brice,

Thanks for the photos!  I haven't seen any up close in over ten years.

Peter

My old office had a stick and rudder pedals.  Great to see some of our military AC on display.  We had a B1B at an airshow here years ago that did a slow, "dirty" flyby and then poured the coals on, sucked up the gear and went straight up!  That was impressive for such a large aircraft.  It sounded like a Saturn 5 when it was vertical.

Thanks for the pics, Brice!  What a great way to remember 9/11.  My son and I were at a little air show at a small civilian airport.  Several vintage military aircraft were there, and my son spent about an hour in an old Bell Huey 'copter.

I grew up one mile from a naval air base, and one of the flight paths went right over my house.  My elementary school was right across the street from one of the runways.  For a boy, it was heaven.  The Blue Angels came every year, and we got to see them practice for three or four days before the actual show.  But of all the airplanes that we saw, my very favorite was and always will be the C130 Hercules.  Not a flashy plane, but an amazingly versatile mule.

Regards,

John

A bunch of years ago I went to the Jefferson County (CO) Fourth of July air show, and there were all sorts of great military aircraft spanning many generations.  The public could walk among the static displays and gawk at the great hardware.  The one part that just almost brought tears to my eyes was a flyby of a current F-16 in formation with a perfectly restored P-51D Mustang.  There's just nothing that thrills me like the sound of those supercharged Merlin engines with a good dose of throttle applied.  The second bonus was living close to the flight path for JeffCo Airport, and watching the Mustang practice for a couple of days before the air show. 

Brice,

I hadn't logged in for a while and saw your "Wings over Pittsburgh" post and thought you were conceding the Stanley Cup already.