I’m sitting on our deck this morning, enjoying a nice Sunday morning cup of coffee, listening to the jets from Detroit Metro far overhead. And it dawned on me I have not talked about the 2024 Thunder Over Michigan airshow from several weeks ago. Possibly because I’ve been busy with other distractions, but also because it was somewhat disappointing this year. Before I get into my thoughts, let’s look at some of my images from the show.
When I was on active duty our mainstay cargo mover was the C141 Starlifter. It was a great plane that I thoroughly enjoyed flying in. I was fortunate to catch several flights from McGuire AFB, NJ to support a small base in the Azore Islands off Portugal. The C17 Globemaster III replaced the C141 as the USAF workhorse in 1995.
The F15 Eagle and the F16 Fighting Falcon have been the primary USAF air combat team since the late 1970s.
The P40 Warhawk first saw combat in 1941 with the British North Africa campaign and by 1944 it had expanded combat roles throughout the south Pacific and China. It was the third most produced US fighter aircraft in WW II, behind the P51 Mustang and the P47 Thunderbolt.
The F16 Fighting Falcon made its first official flight in 1974; making this the 50th anniversary of this highly successful fighter. It began transitioning to active service in the USAF in 1978, a year after I went on active duty, and while the USAF has now moved on to purchasing the F35 Lightning II and F22 Raptor as replacements the Falcon is still serving the US and many allied nations. I still remember when the first F16s started to show up on base.
I have attended numerous airshows over the years at both military bases and civilian airfields; seeing a wide variety of the latest and greatest military technology as well as vintage planes. At one Minot AFB show a group of us with our own private aircraft were even allowed to fly in and be a part of the ground displays – it was quite a thrill landing on the same runway I watched the mighty B52 Stratofortress operating every day. Here are a few highlights I dug out of my archives.
One of the best airshows in memory was in 1984 when Kathleen and I drove from Minot AFB, North Dakota north to the Canadian base in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan; home base for the RCAF Snowbirds. It was two full days of incredible flying including pylon air races with WW II fighters. We tent camped at Buffalo Pound Provincial Park; aptly named as we watched in awe as the buffalo herd came into the park at sunset. And we feasted on all the lobster we could eat at the local high school gymnasium along with a great bunch of Canadians at the Mac Lobster Fest. Definitely a weekend for the memory book!
This brings me to the disappointment factor of this year’s Thunder Over Michigan airshow at Willow Run Airport; normally an excellent mix of current and vintage military aircraft. Of the four shows I have attended the 2022 airshow was by far the best; headlined by the USN Blue Angels in the morning and the USAF Thunderbirds in the afternoon. And there were enough ground display aircraft to add a ton of interest throughout the day.
The 2023 airshow was still pretty good with some new aircraft flying that I had never seen before including the F22 Raptor and the Soviet Mig23 Fitter. But there were no headliners for the show and ground displays were down in number. You can read my Journal entry for pictures and information on the airshow.
Unfortunately the 2024 airshow not only lacked a headliner, but there was a big drop in both quality and quantity of ground and flying aircraft. If you notice what’s missing from my ground shots above it’s the people. We had the best weather of any of the Willow Run shows I have been to, with moderate temperatures and clear skies, but the crowd size was down.
Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy seeing the aircraft and flying immensely but I think, unless you happened to be a WW II B17 bomber pilot, watching the same Mustang and Corsair aerial maneuvers year after year can get somewhat boring. For someone with no airshow experience it can be a lot of fun to see, but unless there is something special coming next year, I probably won’t be there.
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Terrance Alexander