My Day Off

I did take the day off almost completely. The only business I took care of was to buy some sod for the lawn.

After that I packed a lunch and headed out to Eglin AFB to watch the dress rehearsal for this weekend’s big air show celebrating Eglin’s 75th anniversary.

I couldn’t ask for better weather. Clear blue skies and comfortable temperatures. I settled in near Base Ops on a small patch of grass. It had posts around a fire hydrant that were just right to make a seat once I put a towel on it for a cushion.

This year’s show is the biggest I’ve seen here. Lots of old aircraft and old men to go with them, skillful flying demonstrations and of course all the latest military aircraft—all wrapped up with a show by the Thunderbirds.

I enjoyed seeing the F-22 demonstration. This is our 5th generation fighter and it has incredible capability to fly fast and slow.

You may remember the movie, Tora Tora Tora. After the movie was done a company bought all the aircraft used in the movie and put on demonstrations at air shows. 5 Japaneses zeros were parked where I was sitting.

Did you ever see a helicopter fly upside down? The Red Bull copter did so many times

There was a little kid next to me in that stage of yelling “airplane” whenever he saw one. He was in a target-rich environment and just kept saying “airplane! airplane!”

The Thunderbirds do a good show but it isn’t as exciting as what the blue angels do. They do make flying in formation easy to do.