Air show & Home

We arrived home on Sunday after spending some time in Massachusetts visiting our son Al and his wife Christie. While there we learned that a big air show was scheduled to take place at the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, and since it was free, we decided to go.

There were all sorts of neat flying machines at the show including this supersonic B-1 bomber. There was supposed to be a flyover of a B-2 stealth bomber as well, but we didn’t see it. Apparently the stealth technology works really well.

A couple of Ospreys were demonstrated as well. These are the planes that can transition from horizontal flight to vertical flight while flying, and are supposed to eventually replace certain attack helicopters in the nation’s arsenal, as soon as the Pentagon figures out why Osprey pilots have been passing out from a lack of oxygen. There apparently has been some sort of fix made, but the last I heard (on 60 Minutes), several senior pilots have resigned over the issue.

There were some exciting aerobatic demonstrations, and all-in-all it was a great show. The only problem was the weather. 95 degrees, 90% humidity, and no shade  encouraged us to leave a bit earlier than we would have liked, but it was better than the alternative, which may have meant contact with EMTs and an ambulance.

‘Til next time…