northcoast42 Loc: Puget Sound, Washington

The Joint Base Lewis McChord airshow was this last weekend. I decided to brave the traffic and check it out. Traffic getting to the show was so bad I missed one of the events I specifically wanted to photograph (a flying P-38) but I was still able to catch some good displays by the Thunderbirds, an FA-18 SuperHornet and a couple of C-17s. All in all, a good day.
Be sure to check the downloads. Item of interest... check out the shot of Thunderbird 5 (7th picture down). Notice that the number "5" just aft of the intake is upside down. Now go to the next picture and you'll see why :) Also, look closely at that two-ship fly-by with #5 inverted over #6. The pilot in #5 is lead in this two ship. You can tell #6 is flying off of him by the position of the #6 pilot's head. Makes sense I think. Much harder to maintain formation on the wing (or above in this case) while inverted and hanging in the straps. Precision flying!

Thunderbird 4-ship Diamond

(Download)

F/A-18 Super Hornet Steep Departure

(Download)

C-17 Globmaster III take-off with Mt. Rainier overseeing things

(Download)

C-17 Airdrop

(Download)

F/A-18 Super Hornet High G pull up

(Download)

F/A-18 Super Hornet high g turn

(Download)

Thunderbird 5 climbing out. Note the upside down "5"

(Download)

Upside down pass. The "5" is now right side up!

(Download)

The USAF Thunderbirds overhead

(Download)

Dick Z. Loc: Downers Grove IL

Those are some of the best a Arial pictures I have ever seen. Great work.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Any F-35's?

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

Echo that!! No. 3 is not just beautifull, it's almost surreal!

northcoast42 Loc: Puget Sound, Washington

Thank you Dick. I very much appreciate the high compliment! Glad you enjoyed the set!

northcoast42 Loc: Puget Sound, Washington

Thanks for looking in Bsprague. Unfortunately no F-35' or F-22s or even F-15s were flying. I was glad the Navy showed up with their Super Hornet though.

northcoast42 Loc: Puget Sound, Washington

Thanks Bruce. I appreciate your kind remarks very much. The mountain provided a nice backdrop when the timing was right. I also got a couple of shots of all six Thunderbirds with the mountain behind but it was a very long way off as they were on the backside, coming around for another pass in front of the airshow crowd. Looks cool from a distance but you can't zoom in too much with it.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Wow! The shot of the 2 ship inverted pass is amazing.

tbell7D Loc: Houston

Outstanding series of images John. Good shooting on all of these.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

F-35 or not, your photos are wonderful!

Leicaflex Loc: Cymru

An excellent series of photographs on the subject and very captured on your camera.
I particularly like the "C-17 Globmaster III take-off with Mt. Rainier overseeing things" what a backdrop for a photograph.

WessoJPEG Loc: Cincinnati, Ohio

Great Pictures, I love them.

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

Fantastic job! All excellent images but I especially like the C-17 with Mt Rainer covered with lenticular cloud!

machia Loc: NJ

Nice photos ! FLY NAVY

ssscomp

So understanding full well that it is 90% the photographer and 10% the equipment I am still wondering what you used to shoot those fantastic air show photos