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Lets start with Rob.

nice pics Keith...thanks for sharing...weather looks good also

Thanks Don I'm going back Sunday to shoot video. Today was very windy.

Keith -

Thanks for posting the pic.

It's Saturday at 7:20 and I'm in my hotel room waiting to go out to dinner with some friends.

I want everyone who is a member of AirShowBuzz to know how honored I am to be part of this amazing industry. I have three families - my own family, my church family and my air show family. All are incredibly close to my heart.

That being said, I want to thank the Thunderbirds for their dedication of today's Diamond roll to me and my family. As Tony Mulhare made the announcement, they played one of the songs from my daughter's last CD, "I Never Saw Blue Like That Before." It was a project that Katie asked me to co-produce. Having it accompany the Thunderbirds as they flew through the pristine, blue California sky was something I had ever thought of. Oh, my.

I am blessed to call the Thunderbirds my friends. The same goes for the Blues and everyone I know in this wonderful business, including many of the people who post here on ASB.

Now, for a bit of a review. Today was an historic day for the Travis Air Museum. The last flight EVER of a Douglas C-133 Cargomaster took place today as it landed and taxied back to the crowd line. It's going to join the other aircraft of the museum. It was a great fini flight with the fire trucks shooting water in an arc over the aircraft. It was a fitting "hosing down" of the airplane. Only 50 were made and I believe that this one came from a private owner in Alaska.

Lots of great flying. Eddie Andreini flew the Yak-9 and his Stearman. Yak is gorgeous and fast. The Stearman routine was amazing! He flew some lines that blew me away. He flies it very aggressively!

Kent & Warren Pietsch flew together and solo routines. I haven't worked with them in a number of years and it was wonderful to get to announce their acts this weekend. Amazing stuff in the 1942 Interstate Cadet and the clipped wing Taylorcraft.

Melissa Andrzejewski flew her Edge 540 - great stuff! Paul Lopez was there in his MX-2. What an airplane and a great routine as well. Tim Decker had his stock Pitts S-2B and did an excellent routine. It was a great contrast to the Edge and MX-2 routines. There were 2 B-25s, a P-51, a T-28, and BT-13 for the warbird segment.

We had Paul "Harb" Brown flying the A-10 West demo with Steve Hinton doing the Heritage Flight in an F-86. Wonderful stuff. NAS Lemoor sent the Legacy Hornet (I got it right this week !) Lt. Jeff Shamblee was the demo pilot. The Legacy Flight was flown with an FG-1 Corsair.

High winds prevented the Golden Knights from jumping and kept Dan Buchanan on the ground. That was a bummer but we played it safe. There are enough risks in aviation - we don't have to add high and squirrelly winds to the mix.

Air Boss George Cline worked like crazy to juggle the schedule and it worked out great. Congratulations, George! Ya done good!
The Thunderbirds did an enlistment ceremony as they often do but this was the largest I've EVER seen! Well over 100 young men and women "crossed over into the blue" today. It was inspiring. The Thunderbirds' routine today was excellent with a great sneak pass, terrific cross on the line abreast loop cross, and the BB cross. Everyone looked great.

Thanks to "Team Travis" for making things so nice for us. Rich Parrotte, Jim Crum, and base commander Col. Mark Dillon and ALL the rest of the folks for great hospitality and a great show site.

I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures that everyone got today. The sky was SO clear!

Tomorrow should be great, too.

Rob

Man I wish we had some of these exceptionally clear blue skies out this way all the time...

Hi Rob, welcome to Sunny, Hot and Windy Travis. [It is ALWAYS windy at Travis] Have a good show tomorrow.
Later,
Fred Z.

Thanks for the reports on the show. I wish I could have seen the LAST flight ever of a C-133 (Actually I think they only built a total of 50, Rob). Haven't seen one of those in flight since the late 60s/early 70s).

WHERE are the pictures of the C-133??

Jim -

I just reread my post - BEFORE I saw yours - and realized my mistake. I corrected it in the post. Thanks! You're exactly right - there were only 50 made.

Rob

I am still reviewing my photos, but I will start with a few.
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It was a very windy air show, but I wasn't surprised. The last time I attended an air show at Travis was 1989 and it was just as windy. The lack of garbage cans at the flight line sent into action the Thunderbird officers and crew to assist in cleaning the tarmac before the jets landed.
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It was a minor disappointment not to see the Golden Knights, but safety first. They did walk around the static display area later.
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Plenty of space to sit at the flight line to view the flying. Lots of space to walk around.
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Toni

I started a thread for C-133 pictures and I posted a video of it landing at McChord here on ASB.

C-133A

Where is that thread? I'd love to take a look at what you got.

Rob

I was there yesterday and I had a great time with the family. Even though one of the T-Bird solo's had some technical difficulties during take off but that still didn't stop the show. Overall it was great!

Great to take a photo with Paul Lopez

Thanks Paul!

Paul Lopez

Maj Kirby Ensser

Pass in Review

Single File

Crowd at Thunderbirds taxi in

Thunderbirds Taxi in on Sunday