[MilCom] ShawFest 2005 report

Mike Riffle kc8mzm at yahoo.com
Sun May 1 16:18:25 EDT 2005


Location: Shaw AFB (KSSC) Sumter SC
Date: 23 April 2005

[FREQUENCIES]
118.850  Air Boss victor
123.150  discrete common (Red Eagles/Ed Hamill)
123.475  Golden Knights discrete
125.400  Shaw approach/departure
136.575  F-16 East Coast Demo discrete
          Heritage Flight
          Air Power Demo
141.850  Thunderbirds Channel 2
          #8 check-in following his media flight
          Diamond after the Solos had landed (Friday practice)
143.850  Thunderbirds Channel 1
          Thunderbird Ops/Thunderbird Control
          Diamond
225.400  Thunderbird Control to Shaw tower
235.250  Thunderbird Solos
254.250  Shaw tower
254.350  Thunderbirds media flight
270.100  Shaw ATIS
275.800  Shaw ground
372.800  Air Boss uniform (Shaw GCA freq)
384.550  F-15 West Coast Demo discrete
          F-15 and QF-4 air-air during their rtb to Tyndall
385.600  Shaw approach/departure

[STATIC]
A-10A      (#79-0206)  74th FS
B-1B       (#86-0139A) 34th BS "Dakota Queen" named after the B-24 flown
                        by Sen. George McGovern during WWII
                        the J Baugher site reports this aircraft skidded
                        off the runway while landing at Diego Garcia on
                        Feb 26, 2004 and damaged the engines and landing gear
B-17G      (N3707G)    painted as #41-24485 "Memphis Belle"
B-52H      (#61-0009)  2nd BW "Damage Inc. II"
Bell 230   (N911RC)    Palmetto Health Alliance CareForce
C-17A      (#96-0005)  437th AW "The Spirit of SGT John L. Levitow"
C-45F      (#44-47696) N7381C
C-54E      (N500EJ)    Berlin Airlift "Spirit of Freedom"
F-15C      (#83-0010)  94th FS
            (#83-0027)  94th FS
F-15E      (#89-0481)  334th FS
F-16CJ     (#00-0225)  79th FS
            (#92-3902)  157th FS
            (#93-0554)  55th FS
            (#94-0049)  55th FS
            (#92-3920)  20th FW "Sumter The Gamecock City"
                        Commander 20th FW aircraft
            (#91-0353)  55th FS
                        shot down a MiG-29 with AIM-120B during Operation
                        Allied Force in Kosovo on 4 May 1999
F-35       (?)         tail stripe had flags from USA, United Kingdom,
                        Ireland, Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Denmark,
                        Norway, Australia
F7F        (?)         late arrival, did not get a chance to check it out
HH-65B     (#6594)     CGAS Savannah "Low Country Life Savers"
KC-135R    (#58-0124)  22nd ARW
MH-60S     (#166322)   HSC-26
P-51B      (N51BM)     2/3 scale Mustang, serial #43-24824 on fuselage
PT-17      (N4698N)    serial #41-38319 on fuselage
Tango II   (N99GE)     homebuilt
T-1A       (#95-0058)  48th FTS
T-37B      (#60-0096)  14th FTW
T-38C      (#64-13298) 49th/435th FTS
T-6A       (#00-3591)  3rd FTS
YAK-7B     (N7YK)      "Night Witch"

[AERIAL]
A-10A      (#79-0135)  74th FS, Air Power demo, callsign SANDY 11
            (#81-0990)  74th FS, Air Power demo, callsign SANDY 12
B-2A       (#93-1088)  393rd BS "Spirit of Louisiana", flyby
                        callsign CZAR 12
B-52H      (#61-0002)  2nd BW, flyby, callsign TUFF 11
C-17A      (#96-0007)  437th AW "The Spirit of America's Veterans"
                        tactical demo, callsign GRITS 37
C-31A      (#85-1608)  Golden Knights, callsign GOLDEN KNIGHT 608
CF-104D    (#104632)   Starfighters
Eagle      (N106BD)    Red Eagle Air Sports
Eagle      (N181DM)    Red Eagle Air Sports
F-15C      (#80-0051)  60th FS, West Coast Demo, Heritage Flight
F-16CJ     (?)         Thunderbirds
            (#91-0348)  55th FS, Shaw 4-ship flyby, callsign VEGAS
            (#91-0368)  79th FS, Air Power demo, callsign TIGER
            (#91-0372)  79th FS, Air Power demo, callsign TIGER
            (#91-0376)  20th FW, Shaw 4-ship flyby, callsign VEGAS
            (#92-3910)  79th FS, Air Power demo, callsign TIGER
            (#94-0040)  55th FS, Shaw 4-ship flyby, callsign VEGAS
            (#94-0041)  20th FW, East Coast demo, Heritage Flight
                        callsign TIGER
            (#94-0044)  55th FS, Shaw 4-ship flyby, callsign VEGAS
            (#94-0047)  79th FS, Air Power demo, callsign TIGER
                        was on static display at Team Moody Airfest 2005
            (#00-0224)  79th FS, Air Power demo, callsign TIGER
                        fuselage did not have any paint on it - note that its
                        sister ship #0223 was a static at Team Moody Airfest
                        2005 and it also did not have any paint
            (#01-7053)  Air Power demo
                        no squadron markings or SW on the tail, this was just
                        delivered last month and is the final F-16 purchased
                        by the USAF
F-86F      (#52-4959)  Dale Snodgrass aerobatics, Heritage Flight
Giles G202 (N202GP)    Gary Ward aerobatics
Aviat S2C  (N89PS)     Ed Hamill's Air Force Reserve aerobatics
QF-4E      (#72-0135)  82nd ATRS, Heritage Flight, callsign RHINO 28
S300D      (N540DH)    John Klatt's Air National Guard aerobatics
T-33A      (#58-665)   NX556RH

[COMMENTS]
Despite a crummy forecast all week the weather was not that bad, the skies
were overcast in the morning but soon gave way to partly cloudy skies and
temps in the lower 70's.

Due to high winds in the afternoon the Golden Knights were only able to
perform their morning show.

The Shaw 4-ship flight had a loadout of 2x 370 gal fuel tanks, a
AN/ASQ-213 targeting pod, and a pod or ejector rack on station 7 that I
cannot identify. Can anyone ID it from these photos?
http://www.geocities.com/kc8mzm/photo/rack.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/kc8mzm/photo/rack1.jpg

The C-17 demo was most impressive, almost makes me want to spend a day at
North Aux Field watching them practice!

The Air Power Demo consisted of two A-10's and six F-16's attacking a
simulated target. The A-10's each carried 2x AGM-65 and a centerline travel
pod. The F-16's carried 2x AIM-120, 1x AIM-9, 1x TACTS pod (except for
aircraft #368 & 047), and a centerline 300 gal fuel tank. Aircraft #910 was
a little different, in addition to the loadout mentioned above he carried
2x 370 gallon fuel tanks instead of the centerline tank, a 1x AGM-65, a
centerline AN/ALQ-184 ECM pod, and a AN/ASQ-213 targeting pod.

There was some confusion on the bomber flyby's. Air boss was expecting
multiple passes from the B-52 but instead he only got one after which the
Buff proceeded to Vidalia for a flyby. When the B-2 came by I guess the air
boss was expecting the same thing as he was already clearing John Klatt to
begin his show when the B-2 said he still had two more passes.

Preceding the Thunderbirds performance Lieutenant Colonel Michael Chandler
(Boss) helped 48 civilians "Cross Into The Blue" by swearing them in.

I did not hear comms on any of the published Thunderbird ground frequencies.
A quick search thru the 400 MHz band found nothing new. On a related note
all of the Shaw ground frequencies in the 160 MHz band were either digital
or encrypted.

FOD was a major concern after the Thunderbirds landed. Due to the high
winds there was a lot of trash blowing around the flight line. The
Thunderbirds ground crew formed wall and stopped anything blowing toward
the taxing F-16's.

Photos are available at http://www.pbase.com/mriffle/shaw

Mike Riffle
Cataula, GA
http://www.geocities.com/kc8mzm


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