2011 Memphis Airshow, September
17-18.
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Location: Millington
Regional Jetport, Memphis, TN
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Admission: $20
at Gate, Children 5-12 are $15
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Parking: Free |
Value: Excellent |
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Memphis
is well known as the "music city" - every American should
know where Elvis Presley grew up, or where Graceland is.
But aviation? Naval Aviation and Memphis? |
There are several ways to answer these questions.
First, Millington Regional Jetport, located about twenty miles
north of Memphis and adjacent to Naval Support Activity Mid-South,
used to be a part of Naval Air Station Memphis. And everyone knows
about company called FedEx. Where is the location of FedEx corporate
headquarters? Memphis, Tennessee. As you can see, there are rich
and long historical ties with naval aviation in Memphis, and that
is the reason why 2011 Memphis Airshow was designated as the one
of Tier-1 Centennial of Naval Aviation (CoNA) events throughout
the US.
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The Memphis air show was a hidden gem, when
it came to air shows in the USA. It had an unbelievable static
display, as well as top tier performers in the air that were presented
to the audience.
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The top notch flight demonstration included
the Heavy Metal Jet Team, newly formed in year 2011, performed
with five L-39s and MiG-17. All pilots in Heavy Metal Jet Team
are extremely experienced pilots, including legendary naval aviator
Captain Dale "Snort" Snodgrass, and Major John "Slick" Baum,
former USAF Thunderbirds No.2 in 2009-2010 season.
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The Canadian CF-18 demonstration team also performed
their well known tough manoeuvre routines, but with Music from Memphis
- they flew along with Elvis's song. Then USAF F-16 Viper West Team
and VFA-106 legacy hornet demo team followed, and spreading jet noise
around the sky over Millington. QF-4 performed USAF heritage flight
with Viper West team. And we had US Navy's flight demonstration team,
Blue Angels. Yes, four military jet demonstrations and two Jet teams
in one place are not something we can easily find in the United States.
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The
many civilian performers, included:
Mike Wiskus, Michael Goulian, Gene Soucy, Matt Chapman, Skip Stewart, Viper Airshows,
Jan Collmar, Red Bull BO105 / Chuck Aaron and Red Eagle Air Sports. |
| Flight
display never stopped once started at 10:30 AM, until Blue Angels
completed salute to audiences. For the people who love aviation,
this was heaven.
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For a good seating spot, the organizer chose
very clever way to resolve two different issues - provide enough
room on front line for general public, and provide "VIP" values
on VIP seating. Six F/A-18 Hornets of the Blue Angels parked far
end of the runway, and VIP sections were placed right in front of
Blue Angels. So the VIP seating would not occupy the entire frontline
like other air shows. This layout offered very good environments
for any aviation photographer, since the photographer could choose
good spot as long as he/she arrived to the field early enough. Sunlight
was always behind the back, so the lighting was also excellent. Only
issue we found, and it is something that nothing could be done about,
was the heat haze on the runway, which prevent accurate autofocus
during take-offs and landings.
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Over
all it was an excellent show, however we spotted too many people
lighting up a cigarette in the show area. The air show security
people and staff should have warned those people more often, and
enforce the no smoking restrictions. A source of potential fire
hazard, something we would not like to see in airshow. |
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Some of the participants
were:
- Blue Angels
- USAF F-16 Viper West Demo Team
-
United States Navy Legacy Flight
- Heavy Meta Jet Team
- F-4 Phantom
II
- CF-18 Demonstration Team
- B-2 Fly-over
Aircrafts participating in CoNA heritage paint
program (aka CoNA birds)
* T-34C (x2)
* TC-12B
* T-39N
* T-6
* TH-57C
* P-3C
* F/A-18A+ (VFA-204 "River Rattlers", 01/162866)
NSAWC (Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center, aka "Top
Gun"), NAS Fallon
* F-16A
* F-5 (x2)
* F/A-18F (VFA-211 "Fighting Checkmates" CAG
bird)
* T-45A (x2), T-45C (x2)
* E-6
* MH-60S
* A-10 (x2)
* T-38
* C-17
* KC-135 (TNANG)
* C-5
* MC-130
* HH-65
* OH-58
* Airbus A300 (FedEx)
* B727 (FedEx)
* Cessna 208 (FedEx)
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Rating:
9.25 out of 10 |
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Photography and report by
Atsu Tayake for AIRSHOWSREVIEW LLC
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© 2011
AIRSHOWSREVIEW LLC All Rights Reserved. |
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