Before the show, there's the pre-game warm-up.
Here, newly enlisted Air Force recruits shake hands with the Thunderbird pilots.
Here, the Thunderbird pilots put on their G-Suit chaps and stand ready beside their rides.
After a bit, the pilots are in their planes, and the canopies close in sequence.
Not as crowded as last year, but it's all relative...still a LOT of people out there!
The Boss gets to go first! Good thing I wasn't too close to a loudspeaker, that looping music gets to me!
The Thunderbirds taxi out in pairs.
Lt. Col. Greg Thomas is the Thunderbird Leader.
Tbirds 3 & 4 pass next.
Flying right wing is Maj. Scott Poteet
Air Force's first female lead-solo demonstration pilot, Maj. Samantha Weeks!
The Thunderbirds transitioned to the F-16s in 1983. Before that, they flew the T-38, and the F-4 Phantom before that. Man, it must have been something else to see them in the F-4s!
Thunderbirds are GO!
Notice that the #4 plane's tail is a bit sooty. The slot position puts the tail in the exhaust of the Boss. I read that they left it dirty for the show as a tribute to the F-4 days when the tail had to be painted black because of it being in the path of the dirty exhaust.
A pleasing view of the 4 planes with their landing gear coming up.
All 4 had their afterburners on for the take off.
The Solos take off on the further runway. The C-17 and B-52 which had flown earlier can be seen in the back.
The afterburner shock diamonds are nicely highlighted by the dark mountain background.
Here's the lead solo pulling up smartly at take off.
The Thunderbirds start off by flying overhead from behind.
The sound always catches a bunch of people off guard!
Kind of a cool shot with the smoke and clouds.
The solos do a series of opposing passes.
The 4 planes shifting formations from line to a diamond.
The diamond with a moon! What a bonus!!
Some interesting clouds for a change!
Another great moon shot!
Yes, yes. A little moon crazy here. But you gotta understand, they usually don't line up this nice!
Another solo pass. Having terrible luck with catching the merge this show. Memory card problems didn't help...
More lunar-cy! Promise, last one. :-)
Passing almost directly overhead.
The two solos break and cross.
Followed by the 4 ships in-line from behind.
Looks like they're pretty close!
I wonder what they do if they have to sneeze...
SNEAK PASS!!
Back end of the plane shot (again)! Too close, too fast, too much zoom! :-)
There she goes... I want a re-match!
Great crowd reaction to the sneak pass. Love it!
Plenty of time to frame the slow pass.
Wheels down view of the 4.
The twist is having the solo plane zip through the middle going much faster than the 4.
The 5 do a loop.
Back in the diamond.
Starting the minimum radius turn with afterburner.
Interesting to watch the distortions visible through the jet exhaust.
The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds.
When it came out, we got some nice light.
The 2 solos going to join the main formation.
Here they are all six in formation
The Calypso pass.
The final break of the show.
Opposing solo Maj. Tyrone Douglas lands Thunderbird No. 6.
The show concludes with all the Thunderbirds back on the ground. Another awesome show goes into the books. Can't wait till next time!!
Nellis '08 Gallery Index