The Severed Cortex

I haven't been to an air show since somewhere around the Carter administration. We lived near Eaker Air Force base as a kid and they flew C-130 cargo planes and B-52 bombers out of it. We'd always see them flying training missions over our houses when we were kids, but every year they'd actually have an air show where you could look inside the planes. I know my parents never took me to any shows, but I do remember going with someone. Somewhere after high school they shut the base down and of course the entire town of Gosnell, Arkansas went with it.

Someone at work, most likely Barb Brown whose husband Paul is stationed at Scott Air Force Base, left a flyer in the break room about the upcoming air show. I always thought they were pretty cool and I knew an eleven year old boy would like it so I set the thing up. I picked up Robert late in the morning and we headed to Shiloh in the misty rain. The forecast called for the rain to stop, but I was starting to wonder if it might not be true. We stopped at Ruby Tuesdays in Fairview Heights to load up on food and to hope that the rain would stop. Robert, as usual, got chicken fingers. I, as usual, asked from which part of the chicken the finger actually came from. Robert had no answer. I had the mini burgers. I don't know who invented mini burgers, but that dude is a genius. He's not as much of a genius as the guy who invented Cheetos, or the guy who invented the tight white shirt for women, but he is genius nonetheless. There's something about tiny burgers that makes one feel like a giant eating them, and it doesn't hurt that Ruby Tuesdays has some pretty tasty ones. I scarfed them down, then tried to make Robert pay. He gave me the whole "I don't have money" routine again.
We had three choices to get to the air base. Choice one involved the Metrolink to Scott station, followed by a bus ride to the airstrip. Choice two involved driving near Scott, followed closely by trying to find a place to park. Choice two was not recommended. Choice three was to park at the pinnacle of pork barrel spending, Mid America airport, and take a bus to the airstrip. We chose the latter. It wasn't the fastest way in the gate but it certainly was easy. By the time we parked the rain had pretty much quit.
Once we arrived at the airstrip gate, we were wanded with metal detectors and had our gear searched through. Wouldn't want any terrorists I suppose. There were all kinds of planes available to tour, but we only went through a couple. Shortly after we arrived, Nancy and her little sister Celeste and her niece Katy called to say they were on a bus out to the airstrip. We waited for them to show up. Once they did, we headed out to the flight line to watch the planes. We caught a glimpse of a B-52 flying around while we were coming in on the bus. A F-15 did some maneuvers for the crowd as we were coming in the gate, and as we were heading to find a nice spot to watch, a FA-18 Hornet was pulling some sweet tricks. One of the coolest was to get the water vapor rolling over the wings creating a cloud that sort of surrounded the aircraft. Basically it happens when the plane breaks the sound barrier. That's Mach I for those of you playing at home. After that, the Lucas Oil stunt plane came out and did a ton of really cool tricks, followed by an old barnstorming bi-plane that tried to do the same. It couldn't muster the same kind of awesome tricks the tiny Lucas Oil plane could. The barnstormer sported a 110-HP Continental engine and the prop on it was almost as loud as the jet engines. Almost.

Finally, around 2:30, the main attraction started gearing up. I'd seen the Blue Angels practicing one day over San Francisco Bay a couple of years ago but I'd never seen the Air Force Thunderbirds before. Basically they are the same, but I guess Navy pilots and Air Force pilots would beg to differ. The Thunderbirds put on a great show flying back and forth across the flight line. The did the normal tricks like flying towards each other and turning at the last minute, the standard eight point rotations, and the totally cool trick of flying at the lowest speed possible while still remaining aloft. But, to me, the most amazing thing is watching them fly in formation. Correction. Flying in formation, executing a turn and still remaining inches from each other at 800+ mph was the most amazing. It's unbelievable how those guys can do that and there must be an extra big compartment in the cockpit to house the cojones one must have to even try something like that. Robert watched in amazement and so did I.

Once the show was over, we headed back home. Nancy and I had a dinner to go to in St. Louis so Robert played Guitar Hero while we got ready. I don't think he minded.

Some pics
Thunderbird Formations: 1 2 3
Thunderbird in slow motion
Robert sees something cool
Our friends