I am a contractor for Lockheed and spend a lot of time at plant 4 (JRB) so I see the 35s take off and land all of the time. Today was my first real demo of any variant. I was impressed by its performance. Seeing a B version would have been cool.I was there today. Typical great performance by the Blue Angels. Biggest disappointment was the F-35. It was the ‘C’ model; I was hoping it’d be the ‘B’ model and do a hover take off or landing. Static displays (numbers & varieties) were outstanding. Overall, great show!
Sex with wings .. very cool, thanks!P-51 pic
What is that in your first image? A twin Yak? What's strung between them? I have never seen that aircraft before and I have done a lot of air shows over the years...Taken with Nikon D3200 and Nikkor 18-300mm lens. The other pics are too large to upload, so I'll have to edit them down
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Yeah, it is two Russian aerobic YAKs put together. That’s a jet engine on the mid wing. Obviously custom built and the singular example of that plane in the world. Built to perform aerobics at airshows like this one. The announcer mentioned several times, it was just “a dream, made reality” by the builder; “if you can dream it.... you can build it”... yada, yada, yada....What is that in your first image? A twin Yak? What's strung between them? I have never seen that aircraft before and I have done a lot of air shows over the years...
Interesting. Thanks for filling in the blanks. The Yak can do an amazingly fast snap roll, so it would be interesting to see how the "twin" does. The extra thrust of a jet engine is a nice touch. Must take off pretty briskly, too?Yeah, it is two Russian aerobic YAKs put together. That’s a jet engine on the mid wing. Obviously custom built and the singular example of that plane in the world. Built to perform aerobics at airshows like this one. The announcer mentioned several times, it was just “a dream, made reality” by the builder; “if you can dream it.... you can build it”... yada, yada, yada....
But he did put on a decent aerobic show. You could definitely hear when he kicked in the jet engine, especially on vertical climbs.
Seen a Harrier hover at the Ellington show many years ago along with VTOL&L.I did see a Harrier do a VTOL at Love Field after Desert Storm, it was the loudest thing I have ever heard.
Probably did; can’t say for sure - I was watching a different kind of split tail when he did his takeoff roll.Must take off pretty briskly, too?
I have been attending those shows since 2007, and one year there was a Harrier demo. Very loud, but super impressiveGreat pics as usual!
I saw a F-35B do a STOL at Oceana a few years back, it was really weird. It was unable to do a VTOL as the tarmac was not hard enough and would have broken it up they said.
I did see a Harrier do a VTOL at Love Field after Desert Storm, it was the loudest thing I have ever heard.