The next installment of my 2017 air show season took me and a friend to Wendover, Utah/Wendover Nevada (the town sits on state lines!) for the Historic Wendover Air Show held at the equally Historic Wendover Airfield. I've always wanted to visit this location and when I found out that an air show is hosted there on an annual basis, I just knew I had to attend! What's so significant about the Wendover Airfield (formerly Wendover Air Force Base) is that it served a training base for B-17 and B-24 bomber crews during World War II. It was also the training site of the 509th Composite Group, the B-29 unit that carried out the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The field is one of the most intact World War II training airfields, and also one of the most historic. It also served as a filming location for some well-known films such as
Con Air and
Independence Day. In fact, an aircraft used for
Con Air is prominently displayed at the airport! A group known as the
Historic Wendover Airfield is dedicated to the preservation of the many World War II-era hangars and buildings that still stand today. This same group is also the host for the air show we were able to enjoy today. I would like to wish the Historic Wendover Airfield group the best in their endeavors in preserving history at Wendover!
Highlights from this year's air show includes:
- The United States Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet TAC Demo as the main headliner.
- The United States Air Force F-35A Lightning II of the 34th Fighter Squadron, 388th Fighter Wing out Hill Air Force Base; a flight of four came to do a fly-by with one jet breaking formation, making a couple of passes before landing to be put on static display for a couple hours while the show took place. This was significant because it was probably one of only a few occasions so far that an F-35 was brought in for static display.
- The Salt Lake-based GoPro 'Bomb Squad' Jump Team as this year's show parachute team, participating in the traditional air show opening ceremony as well as a jump demo.
- Numerous warbirds on static display and in the air performing. Warbird performers included Kay Eckhardt and Greg "Wired" Colyer, flying in their respective Lockheed T-33s ("Big Blue" and "Ace Maker II"), David "Cujo" Macaluso flying in the Teton Warbird Museum's MiG-17 along with Dr. Richard "Doc" Sugden in an F-86 Sabre as part of the MiG Fury Fighters demo, as well as Barry Hancock from Pilot Maker Air Shows/Utah Warbird Adventures in his North American T-6G Texan.
Here are the links:
Photo Preview & Highlights:
Static Displays - Pre-show
There were a few notable things on static display at the show which included both warbirds and some unique general aviation aircraft.
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| Fairchild C-123K Provider (N709RR) on permanent display at the airfield. This airframe was used as a film prop for all the on-ground scenes for "Jailbird," featured in the motion picture Con Air. |
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| United States Navy Raytheon T-6B Texan II (166043) from Training Air Wing Four (TAW-4) out of NAS Corpus Christi on display. |
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| United States Navy Raytheon T-6B Texan II (166134) from Training Air Wing Four (TAW-4) out of NAS Corpus Christi on display. |
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| United States Air Force Hawker Beechcraft T-6A Texan II (08-3926) from the 33rd Flying Training Wing "Dragons" out of Vance Air Force Base on display. |
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| United States Navy Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet (166420) of Strike Fighter Squadron 122 (VFA-122) "Flying Eagles" out of NAS Lemoore on static display. |
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| North American F-86L Sabre (53-1045) on display. This is the very first aircraft acquired by the Historic Wendover Airfield for the aircraft collection portion of museum, still currently under restoration. The group is seeking donations to help fund the restoration process. Over time, the group hopes to acquire various aircraft to be housed in the historic complex for display at the sight. |
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| British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) Jet Provost 3A (N374XM) on display. The 3A model of the Provost was manufactured under license by Hunting Aircraft. |
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| Team Mini-MAX 1500R Sport (N337US) on static display. The Mini-MAX series is a family of kit aircraft for amateur construction. |
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| WACO Classic Aircraft YMF-F5C (N9RG) on display. |
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| Rutan 61 Long-EZ (N7999H) on display. |
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| Douglas C-54E Skymaster (N8502R) on static display. This former military DC-4 has been converted for aerial firefighting, but looks as if it hasn't flown in couple of years. |
Demonstration by Steve Guenard
Steve "The Great" Guenard of
Utah Warbird Adventures out of Heber City, Utah started the pre-air show performances with the Stearman (which I've seen at least three or four times already this year alone!).
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| Boeing 75N1 Stearman (N7995) with Steve "The Great" Guenard at the controls. |
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| Steve Guenard taxiing the Stearman by the crowd line at the conclusion of his performance. |
United States Air Force F-35 Arrival & Fly-By
We were treated with that glorious sound of freedom, courtesy of the 34th Fighter Wing, the "Rude Rams" out of Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah! Four F-35As did a fly-by in formation before one of the jets broke off to stick around while the rest returned to base. Following the few fly-by passes, the fourth jet came in for a landing and taxied to the ramp before being put on static display for a few hours. It must have taken weeks of planning and coordination with the Air Force for an F-35 to be put on static display and the crowd was pretty pleased to see one of our military's newest aircraft up-close (while under armed guard!)!
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| Four Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning IIs from the 34th Fighter Wing "Rude Rams" out of Hill AFB in Ogden, Utah arriving at Wendover in formation. |
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| The trailing F-35, with Lt. Colonel Matthew Johnston at the controls beginning to break off from the formation. |
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| Lt. Colonel Johnston making a solo pass with contrails forming at the wingtips. |
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| The F-35 after landing. The Air Force sent out a ground crew to carefully care for the multi-trillion dollar aircraft in order to make this display possible. |
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| The F-35 being towed to the static display area. Again, it took a lot of logistics and coordination to make this aircraft appearance possible! |
Demo by Kay Eckhardt
Following the arrival of the F-35, we were treated to another demo with Lockheed Martin heritage, courtesy of Kay Eckhardt in a T-33. Kay Eckhardt holds the distinction of having more hours in the T-33 than any other civilian warbird pilot.
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| Canadair CL-30 CT-133 Silver Star 3 (NX333MJ) "Big Blue" with Kay Eckhardt at the controls. |
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| Eckhardt making another photo-pass in the T-33, which is in a Blue Angels livery; the Blue Angels actually used a T-33 as a support/media aircraft back in the day. |
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| Eckhardt influenced Greg Colyer of Ace Maker Air Shows (performing later in the day) to acquire a T-33 for himself for the air show circuit after getting a ride in one. |
Aerobatics by David Macaluso
Following Eckhardt's brief demonstration, David "Cujo" Macaluso from the MiG Fury Fighters group out of Driggs, Idaho continued the jet noise by performing a teaser demo in the MiG-17.
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| PZL-Mielec Lim-5 (NX717MG) with David "Cujo" Macaluso at the controls making a high-speed photo pass. |
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| "Cujo" showing the underside of the MiG-17 and that steep wing-sweep angle. |
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| "Cujo" taking the MiG into the vertical. |
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| Slow-speed photo pass with speed brakes deployed. |
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| Side-view of the MiG-17 with an afterburner plume. Truly a once-feared sight of the Cold War for many Western military pilots. |
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| Aerodynamically dirty, "Cujo" brings the MiG in for a dirty pass. |
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| "Cujo" taxiing the MiG-17 by the crowd. |
Static Display - F-35A Lightning II
Following the MiG-17 demo, air show announcers announced that there would be a short break before the opening ceremony and the main bulk of the air show. This allowed us to grab a bite to eat and check out the F-35 up-close (or as close as we were gonna get!) while it was on display.
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| Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II (13-5071) from the 34th Fighter Squadron, the "Rude Rams" on display. |
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| Face-to-face with the Lightning II! |
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| Before seeing the F-35 in person, I thought the plane was just pure ugly, and it still is! But after seeing it in-person, I can see some of the technical innovations that went into it. Many of it still probably classified and kept under armed guard! |
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| Business end of the F-35! Seriously! How many twin-tail fighters do you know of that has one engine?! |
Opening Ceremony
It was time to get the main part of the air show underway, starting with the traditional air show opener, the presentation of the American flag via a parachute team. The American flag was brought in by the Salt Lake City-based
GoPro 'Bomb Squad' civilian jump team.
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| A jumper bringing in the American flag! |
Aerobatics by Greg Colyer
Following the opening ceremony, the air show aerial demonstrations continued. It was time for another T-33 performance, this time by Greg "Wired" Colyer and the "Ace Maker II" of
Ace Maker Air Shows!
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| Canadair CL-30 CT-133 Silver Star 3 (N133HH) "Ace Maker II" with Greg "Wired" Colyer at the controls. |
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| High-speed pass. |
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| Going up into the vertical. |
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| Dirty pass. |
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| Photo pass. |
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| One final high-speed pass. I never get tired of this performance and that Korean War-era paint scheme! |
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| Greg Colyer taxiing by the crowd line. It's always a pleasure seeing this jet warbird demonstration! |
MiG Fury Sabre Fighters Demo
The jet warbird noises continues! Following Ace Maker Air Shows, it was time for the
Mig Fury Fighters demo, depicting a Cold War-era dogfight that never happened! Except this time, instead of the rare FJ-4B Fury, we got to see an F-86 Sabre clash swords with the MiG instead; it was previously announced that there was supposed to be the Fury, but for some reason got switched to the Sabre instead. So for accuracy, it should actually be called the MiG Sabre Fighters Demo! David "Cujo" Macaluso flew the MiG-17 once again and Dr. Richard "Doc" Sugden flew in the F-86 Sabre to depict an air battle that never happened!
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| "Doc" Sugden bringing the Sabre overhead for "bombing run." |
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| "Cujo" in the MiG-17 giving chase to the Sabre. The dogfight is on! |
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| That is... until the table is turned on the MiG! Check your six MiG driver! |
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| "Cujo" in a photo pass of the MiG-17 while in afterburner! |
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| First formation pass of two former Cold War adversaries! |
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| Second formation pass. Once former adversaries, now a legendary duo of jet warbirds in the air show circuit! |
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| Third and final formation pass overhead. |
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| The formation splitting up. |
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| Photo pass by the MiG-17 with David Macaluso at the controls. |
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| Photo pass by the F-86 Sabre with Richard Sugden at the controls. |
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| Afterburner pass in the MiG-17! |
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| High speed pass by the F-86! |
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| The duo splitting up for the second time to break into landing sequence. |
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| Taxiing by the crowd line together! |
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| Canadair CL-13B Sabre 6 (N80FS), a Canadian license-built version of the North American F-86F Sabre with Dr. Richard "Doc" Sugden at the controls. Aircraft was first delivered to the Luftwaffe in the late 1950s. It was then operated by Flight Systems International in the 1990s before being restored to a warbird livery. |
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| PZL-Mielec Lim-5 (NX717MG), a Polish license-build of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F "Fresco" with David "Cujo" Macaluso at the controls. |
Aerobatics by Barry Hancock
Following the MiG Sabre demo, the warbird performances concluded with Barry Hancock of
Pilot Maker Air Shows. The performance consisted of basic aerobatics in a North American T-6 Texan (the plane that made pilots during World War II!). On a personal note, I've seen T-6 Texans fly and race numerous times, but this was actually my first time seeing a T-6 perform an air show routine.
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| North American T-6G Texan (N49388) with Barry Hancock at the controls. |
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| In the middle of a barrel roll. |
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| Photo pass. |
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| Taxiing by the crowd line. |
GoPro 'Bomb Squad' Jump Team
After they presented the American flag during the show's opening ceremony, the GoPro 'Bomb Squad' took to the air once more and they gave a brief parachute jump demonstration.
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| Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV (N206SG) used by the team as their jump platform. |
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| The first jumper with the sponsor's name on the parachute. |
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| The second jumper in a black canopy parachute. |
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| The third jumper. |
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| The fourth jumper with the American flag. |
United States Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet TAC Demo
And finally, it was time for the headliner performance of the 2017 Historic Wendover Air Show, the United States Navy TAC Demo and their Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, also known as the "Rhino."
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| Executing the dirty roll. |
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| Coming in for a high-speed pass! |
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| Going up into the vertical. |
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| Carrier landing configuration! |
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| Inverted pass. |
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| Bolter pass. |
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| Photo pass. |
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| Carrier break to land! |
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| Gotta love that afterburning engine! |
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| Taxiing by the crowd. |
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| Today's headliner performance was by a United States Navy Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet (168928) of Strike Fighter Squadron 122 (VFA-122) "Flying Eagles" out of NAS Lemoore. |
And that's a wrap! I never expected to find myself in Wendover for an air show, but I'm glad I found out about it when I did! While it had a more "regional" feel to it, the air show was still far from a disappointment as we got an opportunity to see a few things you just don't see anywhere else so it was worth attending. And finally, I was glad I had this unique opportunity to visit such a historic airfield in the United States!
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