[MilCom] River Region Air Show @ Maxwell AFB, AL

[Keith Coleman]

Today was the River Region Air Show at Maxwell AFB, AL. The gates opened at
8:30am; however, I was not operating at full throttle that soon on a
Saturday. The bad weather that blew through early this morning threatened my
thoughts of going at all. With my eye on the weather and a quick call to
Public Affairs, they assured me the show was still on.

My oldest son came along and with my digital camera, Pro-97, and rain coat
(just in case); I was ready to Air Show! We arrived just after 11am. Weather
was starting to break a bit and looking a little more promising that we
might have a descent afternoon. We arrived in time to admire the static
displays and immediately the scanner came to life with the Air Boss talking
to DARK-61, a B-1 that was holding in the area to do a fly-by, which was
very impressive.

Before we made it to the flight line viewing area an F-86 & Mig-17 were
doing a dogfight demo. The F-86 developed a landing gear problem, this
cancelled an air drop that was schedule for one of Maxwell's own C-130H's.
The F-86 pilot did a marvelous job of softly landing the plane, the right
gear was not extended as it should have been and the wing did drag the
runway. This delayed the flying for a little while. But, give the Air Boss
and the crash crew credit. Once they cleared the runway things kicked off
again with the Thunderbirds leading the way. 

Tora! Tora! Tora! Historical reenactment had to be the highlight of the air
show for me! In the air shows I've been to over the years, this was a first
for me and I would recommend you see these guys if you have the chance. We
stuck it out for the balance of the afternoon, and I might add here that by
the time the Thunderbirds took the stage, the weather was 100% better from
the early morning outlook. 

We wrapped up the afternoon with the Army's Golden Knights, an A-10 demo and
an F-15 Eagle Demo. This was the first air show I had been to since I
retired from the Air Force in 1999. I'm glad I went!     

Air Show Frequencies Heard:

118.150 KMXF Tower
122.850 Air Boss
123.150 Air Show Common/Discrete
123.475 Golden Knights
127.150 KMXF Ground
136.575 (Heard activity, not sure if it was show related)
143.850 Thunderbirds
235.250 Thunderbirds
376.025 F-15 DEMO Flight
396.900 908 AW Command Post


Static Display:

F-16C	#87-0336 AL ANG 160 FS "City of Enterprise"
C-21A	#84-0093 311th AF  "AMC"
T-37B	#56-3536 37 FTS/41st	 Columbus AFB, MS "CB"
C-12	#23-541
T-1A	#95-0058 48th FTS Columbus AFB, MS "CB"
T-38A	#68-8136 560th FTS "RA"
A-10A	#79-0153 917th Wing "Marryin Sam"  "BD"
T-38A	#68-8150 7th CTS Holloman AFB, NM "HO"
F-16C	#01-7050 79th FS Shaw AFB, SC "SW"
F-16C	#00-6035 79th FS Shaw AFB, SC "SW"
F/A-18A #163161 DR-202 VMFA-312 Beaufort, SC
F/A-18A #163153 DR-213 VMFA-312 Beaufort, SC
AT-6C #42-48884 Tuskegee Airman Display
GA-8	#N606CP Civil Air Patrol Maxwell AFB, AL
HH-65B #6592 Coast Guard Humboldt Bay "New Orleans"
UH-1V	  #70-16393 "Flat Iron"
UH-1H  #74-22326 1-212th AVN Ft. Rucker, AL
AH-64D #35406
OH-58D #10548
C-130H  #85-0035 908 AW Maxwell AFB, AL "City of Montgomery"
C-17A	#96-0004 437th AW Charleston AFB, NC
Douglas C54-R5D Berlin Airlift "Spirit of Freedom
F-117 #81798 49 FW Holloman AFB, NM
F-22A #01-4018 43rd FS Tyndall AFB, FL

Cheers,

===============================
Keith
Monitoring Central Alabama
PRO-2052/2055 w/Scantenna @ 25'
PRO-93/95/97 w/Diamond RH77CA
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