Thunderbirds

Sue had to work today, but the kids and I met up with Eric and his kids at Hickam Air Force Base for the Thunderbirds airshow. It only took us an hour to get in and parked, so we were on the tarmac an hour before the Thunderbirds 3:00 show. This gave the kids plenty of time to climb around on the static displays and parked aircraft. They probably climbed through the cockpits and holds of 3 or 4 cargo craft, a couple of helicopters, and even a large Coast Guard plane.

We brought ear protection and camped just left and behind "air show center". It was amazing watching planes fly in elaborate formations just feet apart. The soloist also made several runs at each other breaking away at the last instant. The energy was intense and the kids really got into it. Sometimes Nate would shriek when the planes looked like they were going to collide. Ben liked the inverted passes, and was impressed (unusual for Ben) when the announcer said that they were flying at speeds of over 500mph. We had an awesome time.

I sample and stitched some video from my iPhone. The grainier spots are were I tried to zoom in later during the edits.