[MilCom] ShawFest 2005 report

Matt Cawby mattcawby at gmail.com
Sun May 1 17:30:44 EDT 2005


Great pictures, thanks

-- 
Matt Cawby
Seattle, WA




On 5/1/05, Mike Riffle <kc8mzm at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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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