The Rhode Island Air Show was held June June 28th and 29th. This year the weather was not a complete loss but made photography extremely difficult. As you can see we experienced hazy, cloudy, and blue skies.
Sean Tucker made a return appearance at the Rhode Island Air Show this year. More than half of Sean's maneuvers are original and have never been duplicated by another aerobatic pilot.
Les Shockley brought his Super Shockwave Chevy Jet Truck. This truck is valued at $500,000 and has 2 Pratt & Whitney J-34-48 jet engines.
Michael Mancuso and Mike Goulian flew twice during the day. Once as a friendly competition and once to fly their solo act.
Capt. Dale "Snort" Snodgrass flew the beautifully restored Excalibur P-51. Unfortunately he was unable to get it started in time to fly the Heritage Flight with the F-16 East Coast Demo Team.
The F-16 East Coast Demo Team out of Shaw AFB, SC. Last
year, the team performed for over 9.5 million spectators in the U.S., Canada and
Europe. Team members include the pilot, three safety officers, narrators and
eight maintenance personnel. The eight maintainers are responsible for ensuring
the three aircraft are expertly maintained and repaired if necessary.
This beautiful L-39 is owned and flown by Dan McCue.
Reese Dill and Hank Moretti flew their T-6 and SNJ trainer.
Frank Ryder A Native of New Orleans, Frank has been in love with airplanes most of his life. He learned to fly in 1968 and has since accumulated thousands of hours of flight time in over 100 different types of aircraft ranging from hang gliders to helicopters.
The Combined Arms Airfield Assault is a major highlight of the Rhode Island Air Show. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate for the Saturday show and it made it very difficult to get great shots.
The A-10's clear the field of all enemy artillery.
Then the UH-1 Huey and UH-60 Blackhawk bring in the troops.
Once the airstrip is secured on the ground the C-130's bring in the hardware.
The Rhode Island National Guard is one of the few units to operate the C-130-J. The C-130J is the latest addition to the C-130 fleet and will replace aging C-130E's. The C-130J incorporates state-of-the-art technology to reduce manpower requirements, lower operating and support costs, and provide life cycle cost savings over earlier C-130 models. Compared to older C-130s, the J model climbs faster and higher, flies farther at a higher cruise speed, and takes off and lands in a shorter distance. The C-130J-30 is a stretch version, adding 15 feet to fuselage, increasing usable space in the cargo compartment.
The C-23 Sherpa is the Army National Guard’s answer to missions requiring an aircraft that is capable of faster, higher-altitude and longer-distance coverage than helicopters. The Sherpa comes with a low operating cost due to its simple, robust construction, compared to that of other cargo aircraft.
The F-18 East Coast Demo Team was on hand to show off the Navy's Fighter/Bomber.
The featured act of this years show was the United States Navy Blue Angels. After waiting all day the sun made it's appearance just in time for the 6 F/A-18's to take to the air.
