The Great New England Air Show

Westover Air Reserve Base is home to the 439th Airlift Wing. The 439th maintains and flies the C-5 Galaxy.   It is the largest reserve base in the Unites States.  The weather this year started out poor.  However, Sunday was spectacular.

This show had a large amount of Warbirds present.  Unfortunately. the poor weather caused some to aircraft to cancel.

Flying airshows professionally since 2002, making him one of the youngest professional airshow pilots on the circuit today, Rob Holland takes high performance aerobatics to a whole new level.

Ed Hamil has been flying on the airshow circuit for six years.  However he has been flying F-16's since the early 90's.  Ed flies the Dream Machine.  A Curtis Pitts biplane.

Westover Air Reserve flies and maintains 16 C-5 Galaxy's.  The C-5 is the largest aircraft in the United States Air Force.  It can be used to move not only equipment, but troops as well.

The United States Army Golden Knights is comprised of two teams the Gold and Black teams.  Both teams not only perform at airshows, but they also compete world wide in sky diving competitions as well as serve as a recruitment tool for the US Army.

The C-17 Globemaster III is the newest heavy lifter in the US Air Force Arsenal.  It can't carry as much as the C-5 Galaxy, but it is quite nimble and can not only stop on a dime, but it can back up as well.

The Iron Eagle Aerobatic Team has been together for over 18 years.  The lead pilot is  Bill Gordon and Billy Segalla is the wing pilot.

The East Coast Super Hornet Demo Team, a.k.a. VFA-106 Gladiators currently fly the F/A-18 F Super Hornet.  The unit is based out of NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach, VA.  At the end of their demo the hornet teamed up with the F-4 U corsair for the Legacy Flight.  This flight matches today's front line fighter with their predecessor to showcase the history of the United States Navy.

The McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II is a family of second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing or V/STOL jet multirole aircraft of the late 20th century. The Harrier is a very small but fast jet that sure can make your ears bleed if you don't have ear plugs.

Many misc. aircraft flew throughout the weekend.

Third Strike Wing Walking consists of Carol Pilon as the Wing Walker and Rob Holland at the controls.

Flight Line Shots.

Unfortunately, this years show did have an accident.  First off Kent Shockley is fine.   During Sunday morning's performance Kent's truck, The Shockwave, skidded off the runway and rolled over in the grass. Initial thoughts are that only one of the two parachutes used to slow down the truck failed to open.  We hope that Kent and all of his staff are able to recover quickly and get the Shockwave back on the Air Show circuit soon.

The main act for this year's show was the United States Air Force Thunderbirds.

For additional photographs please visit Aero-Pix by David Hayward.

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