Thanks for sharing the demo with us over the past two years and congratulations to the new commander and pilot Maj. Sean “RAMBO” Loughlin.
The previous F-35A Lightning II Demonstration Team commander and pilot Major Melanie “MACH” Kluesner just shared yesterday that she flew her final demo. Here is an image from her flying at SUN ‘n FUN last year.
When I’m at an airshow, I try to look for opportunities to get a unique image that isn’t the same as everyone else has captured many times before. That was the case with this shot with B-29 Doc passing behind the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. This was at the 2024 Terre Haute Air Show.
Turmoil in the Sky: Sometimes I like to put a little more artistic spin on the processing of images. I decided to really emphasize the heat distortion for this one, which also brought out the layers of clouds. This was Major Melanie “Mach” Kluesner heating up the skies at SUN ‘n FUN last year.
Today is Tower Tuesday, so here are a few Lakeland Tower shots from Sunday at SUN ‘n FUN last year.
#towertuesday
The Air Force Thunderbirds kick off their airshow season in about five weeks. I can’t wait to see them again in April at the Wings Over North Georgia Airshow. Here’s a video from the last time I saw them in 2024.
It will be great to see her as well as the entire Thunderbirds team at the Wings Over North Georgia Airshow in April.
The first image is Laney Schol followed by several other images of the team from the 2024 season.
I didn’t get to see the Air Force Thunderbirds last year at all. The last time I saw them was at the Atlanta Air Show in 2024. I met the upcoming solo pilot, currently #5 lead solo, Laney Schol when she was learning the ropes at the end of the 2024 season.
#thunderbirds
I’m very much looking forward to SUN ‘n FUN again in a couple of months. Here are a few images from the evening activities last year.
Here is B-25 Panchito from SUN ‘n FUN last year. Those chrome finishes on Warbirds like Panchito and QuickSilver really do pop in certain light.
In just about two months, I’ll be back at SUN ‘n FUN again. I’m looking forward to seeing the great lineup and several consecutive days of airshow and aviation bliss! This was the Blue Angels their final pass of the week over the crowd with the Delta Breakout.
It’s Warthog Wednesday, so here’s a clip with one of my favorite sounds!
#warthogwednesday
This is U.S. Navy Blue Angels Lead Solo Navy CDR Ben "Baxter" Walborn screaming past us at just under the speed of sound. I was really hoping for a vape cone, but it did not materialize that day. I did get some nice rainbow colors though.
This is one of my most challenging images to capture. I am still waiting for that full vape cone shot which has eluded me so far. This is a slight tweak of an image from the 2021 Wings Over North Georgia Airshow.
The Navy’s “Charlie” variant is my favorite of the three. It has beefed up landing gear to handle carrier deployment and the ends of wings fold up for taking up less space on a carrier.
One of my favorite images from SUN ‘n FUN last year was this image of the U.S. Navy F-35C variant of the F-35 making a pass with the weapons bay open on the final day of the show.
This is from the Augusta Air Show last year.
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels Diamond Dirty Loop is one of their maneuvers that demonstrates how skilled they. It's amazing watching them stay in a tight diamond formation while doing a loop. To top it off they are doing this while flying “dirty” (with the gear down).
To me, watching the crew is an important part of the show as you get to see the hard work and dedication of the maintainers that are behind the scenes keeping the show going week after week.
Normally when they are at the Rome show they have to stage at Dobbins because the runway is not long enough. Fortunately, the Rome airport expanded the runway in recent years so they will be able to land and stage right in front of the crowd this year.
I’m looking forward to seeing the Air Force Thunderbirds in only two months at the Wings Over North Georgia Airshow in Rome. Unfortunately, schedules did not work out where I could see them last year.
Aviation photographer legend Ricardo von Puttkammer and the Aviation Photojournal team hosted an unbelievable photographer’s experience. This is one of my favorite images from the weekend with Thom Richard in his T-6 Texan making a low pass.
A few years ago, I decided I was going to make a goal of attending one new airshow a year that I had not attended before. One of the new shows I added to my list last year was the Warbirds Over Monroe Air Show.
Blue Angels Opposing Solo #6 LT Connor “Buddy” O'Donnell heating up #5 CDR Thomas “Franz” Zimmerman at the Augusta Airshow. Do you know which maneuver this is from?
Music: Dolphins by Sergey Suokas, Licensed from Melodie Music
Precision and Beauty: Watching the precision flying of the Blue Angels is always impressive and beautiful. Here’s a slow-motion view of the Delta Aileron Roll from the August Airshow last April illustrating this. The Delta Aileron Roll is a new maneuver that the Blues added in 2025.
There is often a drone show and then it wraps up with a fireworks show.
The shot with Kyle Fowler Aerosports and the shot with Redline Airshows is a composite in case that isn’t obvious to some.
The Wings Over North Georgia Airshow will be back with another night show the first weekend in April.
You can see the sunset reflecting off QuickSilver P-51 here as an example. If there are jets, the after burners glow a lot more at dusk.
After sunset there are planes with pyro shooting from the wings. Jet cars or trucks which have nice flames from the afterburners look even better at night.
I’ve had a few people ask what a night airshow show is, so I thought I’d share some images from the night show at last year’s Wings Over North Georgia Airshow.
A night show typically starts just before sunset. You get some nice golden hour color on the planes that are flying.
If you are in the north Georgia area, Air Force Thunderbirds will be in Rome at the Wings Over North Georgia Airshow the first weekend in April (Fri & Sat, no Sun show).
