HYI airshow 2005

We went to the Commemorative Air Force Airshow in San Marcos this weekend. HYI AWOS was reporting 97 degrees, add 10 to that to compensate for the reflection off the concrete and it was HOT. But there were several nice planes out. There was a B-17 Flying Fortress (Thunderbird) from the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston. Can you imagine hundreds of them covering the sky in Europe? Amazing! Also a B-25 PBJ (Devil Dog) from Georgetown. And of course the B-25 Mitchell (Yellow Rose), that I am lucky enough to have shared the pattern with on several occasions. I loved the bombers, but the fighters were pretty cool too. There were several there: King Cobra, Warhawk, Aerocobra, Spitfire, and Zeros (from the Tora Squardron, which was in the movie “Tora, Tora, Tora”; I also get to fly with these in the pattern from time to time). My favorites were the TBM Avenger and the Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver. It is the only Helldiver still flying in the world. And of course they had the trainers, including the Texans. Hunter enjoyed the recreations. This year they recreated the attack on Pearl Harbor, fight of Midway, bombing raids on Europe, and the Doolittle Raid. Lots of explosions and authentic aircraft, really allows you to see and hear history.