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Thuderbirds are Go!


Bennygman

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Well, somebody had to say it (make mine a cheese feast pizza with extra cheese).

If you're lucky this will be my last set from RIAT...

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Steve.

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I think that but I'd bet we are in the minority here!

peebeep

Yeah I agree, for what it's worth I think it was a great show and a lot of fun. Saturday I watched from the crowd-line as the light was better for the display, Sunday I camped out by the T-Birds pan and watched the whole thing from start-up to shut down (also got the B-1 doing (presumably) a botched approach and knife-edge pass directly over my head. Sadly the camera was in the bag as I watched him streaming vapour in what would have been the shot of the weekend :shithappens: ).

Sadly I also had to listen to a couple of 'experts' yelling at the ground crew to "stop F'ing about and get them in the air", as well a commenting on the female pilots' lack of flying skills. Needless to say this from two guys who could lose ten stone each and still not fit into an F-16. I was so tempted to ask how many fast jet formation hours their opinions were based on...but why spoil a great day out? The worst I could say about the ground routine is that it was quite funny in places, like when they march towards the planes with boarding ladders held in outstretched arms.

I've heard a lot of crap talked about them leading up to the weekend, "they won't fly in less than perfect conditions", "they take over the airfield and make everything else wait while they do the ground show", etc. All man-vegetables, frankly. They couldn't have been visual with the field at all times on Sunday, and most of the USAF displays took place during their ground run and taxi. That said, they were one of the few acts to do a rolling display on Sat', though Sun was understandable. Sunday's display may also have been shorter by a couple of passes, that was my impression but I could be wrong. At the end of the day they are a 'precision flight demonstration team', not an 'Aerobatic team'. What they did, they did very well I thought.

Oh, and the team photographer is a real babe :wub: , but that has no bearing on my comments above (honest).

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Steve.

Love the pics steve :speak_cool: damn these boys are close, awesome display of flying prowess :thumbsup:

Number Six is a girl, Steve :)

Edited by Bennygman
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Oh, and the team photographer is a real babe, but that has no bearing on my comments above (honest).

Steve.

Number Six is a girl, Steve :)

Being an equal opportunities guy, I stand corrected :tapedshut: I bet she still can't parallel park that puppy :evil_laugh:

Yes you are correct the team photographer is very ease on the eyes :kissing2:

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Steve.

Number Six is a girl, Steve :)

So is #4 lady driver too. But I agree with all that you said Steve. The amount of rubbish that was talked about prior to the show, was exactly that, total rubbish. For one thing whats not to like about s team that puts 6 F-16's in the air at once. The start up routine didn't seem affect anything else as far as I could see. I only saw the show from inside on Sunday and the weather wasn't exactly a help to their routine, but for what it was it was great. As you say they are not an Aerobatic team, we had the 2 best in the world there for that anyway. Great pics all of them, gotta get me a new lens :nerd:

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Some immense pictures there Steve! Unfortunately alot of my T'birds pics had the aircraft quite overexposed :(

also got the B-1 doing (presumably) a botched approach and knife-edge pass directly over my head. Sadly the camera was in the bag as I watched him streaming vapour in what would have been the shot of the weekend

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;)

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Some immense pictures there Steve! Unfortunately alot of my T'birds pics had the aircraft quite overexposed :(

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;)

Bloody Hell Dean - that is a thing of beauty! You get a huge :clap2: and :worthy: for that one. Has to be just about the best shot I've seen from the weekend.

Steve.

PS yep, I checked the histogram on some of my early ones and started underexposing slightly to cope with all that white. A lot of these are just luck of the draw though.

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I think we've cheered enough over the Thunderbirds-pics to make it legal to say WOW over that Bone-picture. WOW!

I think the phrase rhymes with Clucking Bell.

:wow:

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