Air Fest - MacDill Air Force Base - Tampa Bay, FL

March 23rd - Sunday 82 degrees - Partly Cloudy

Yesterday was the first day of the Air Fest at the Base and Lou and I had made plans to attend.  It promised to be a warm and humid day, but teemed with excitement we were ready for the day.  We met the shuttle bus at the marina here at the RV park and arrived at Hanger 5 about 9:45 am.  The work that went into getting the base ready for the event was certainly evident at first sight.

There were events set up for the little folks, medics for anyone that might need them, water, food and drink available wherever there might be people.  Airplane of all kinds available for people to view, walk through, kids were encouraged to ask questions, get aboard, dress the part and just enjoy the day.

Those of you that know Lou know that he enjoyed every minute of it, we talked to many of the service men, and found one helicopter pilot from Patrick Air Force Base, that knew all about the C-124 (Ole Shakey's) that Lou flew, as his father had also flown them, so they had a nice chat, what a nice fellow he was, we talked many things, heard about his family and his plans for his life, his children and his faith in God.  One of the highlights of the day.

The Air Fest opened with jumpers jumping with the American flag and the National Anthem, always giving me goose bumps with the Military present.

Just before he landed on the tarmac.

I am going to post some of the pictures we took of the various planes and try to identify them for you.  I know Matthew will enjoy looking at the pictures.

KC-135

C-130 J

F-22

C5A and Lou

KC-10

L-38?

F4U

B25-J

C-17  Globemaster 3

B-1

Of course, as we toured the planes, the air show was also going on and we watched it as it appealed to us.

Planes flying in formation

Then there were the stunts pilots that captured your attention.

Sometimes you held your breath!

The event of the day was the Thunderbirds, which are the F-16 that the Air Force flies throughout the United States for the air shows.  One of the Majors that flies is from Downingtown, PA.  They travel at 1000 miles per hour and before they could fly the run way had to be swept and hand walked to make sure there were no small stone, screws or metal pieces that could be sucked up into their engines.

The Thunderbirds

The Thunderbirds

It was a long, hot day enjoyable day, we got back to the RV about 5:00 pm, both of us were ready for a shower and ready to sit and relax.  I fixed us a grilled chicken salad for dinner last evening and that tasted really good.  We had company last evening, one of the men Lou to fly with out of Pittsburgh, he and his wife have been spending some time here at the RV camp.

We have been having an electrical problem in the RV and want to call Winnebago tomorrow, we called a tech on Friday and he told us several things to do, and have done all he suggested with no help.  We have decided to stay here longer to try and get this problem taken care of and we may try to get our taxes  done here and delay going home, as the weather up north doesn't look very encouraging.