On Saturday morning we headed west!!! West - all the way to Litchfield, AZ....which is only about 40 mins from our house...but seems like a drive! Brent, Alisa and the kids met us there early in the morning to wait in line to get in. Last time we went, we went a little later in the day and wished we would have gotten there when the gates opened.....so we did! Got there very early, and waited. So glad we did because there were already a lot of people, but the parking situation was MUCH better than our last experience...and they opened the gates early!! We REALLY wanted to get there early to see the new F-35 that had just arrived at Luke that week before all the crowds swarmed it. It was literally the highlight of the whole show. I think possibly the first time they would be seen at a show too. They only got 2 of them I believe so far...but it was pretty exciting to see it on display!! Vince got to talk to one of the pilots for a while....and I was eavesdropping on some others talking too. So fascinating to me...sometimes wished I would have joined the Air Force (only as intel or a pilot though!!) Sooo, they don't actually get to do any training in these planes yet. The pilots were mostly old A-10 pilots, which is kinda cool. Vince talked to a few of those too...
The kids all had such a great time!! It had been maybe 2-3 years since we had been before so they didn't remember as much as they would from this trip. They absolutely LOVED walking through the planes this year. Avery especially. She wanted to fly them all!! Or drive, I should say!!
After we walked through most of the planes (well, the ones we wanted to), we went and found a spot on the "grass" to sit and watch the actual air show part of the show. One of the F-35 pilots told Vince that they were going to fly one during the show...but it wasn't scheduled. We weren't planning to stay all afternoon, so were hoping it would be earlier rather than later. Lucky for us, it was, for the most part. We got to see some of the old planes fly...tons of F16 maneuvers, and the F-35 took to the skies. It was AMAZING. Compared to the 18, it was super quiet. However, its takeoffs & landings are supposed to be much louder than the 16's (or so the local residents complain! - Seriously, if you don't like the sound of jets, don't move next door to an AIR FORCE BASE!!! Hello!?) Anyways, it was pretty exciting. Took a ton of video of it also...
Long day though...it was hot already and we were ready to go by the early afternoon! We convinced Brent & Alisa to let the kids come home with us. Soooo excited!! They didn't bring and "stuff" with them, but that was ok...we would figure it out!! :)
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| F-35 |
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| F-22 |
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| Sunscreen up!! It was a hot one! |
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| Creepy gunner at the back of the plane. So weird.."feeky". The kids were slightly scared of this one!! |
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| Took EVERYTHING to get her to touch one! |
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| Ahhh the lovely & extinct A-10s |
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| Sitting in the "grass" |
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| Planes "drawing pictures in the sky" as Avery liked to explain it |
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| F-35 & his Baby Brother 16 |
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| Ospry - amazing flying machine! Avery thought this one was going "to shoot us" because it kept staring right at us with its guns |
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| Yes, that is Drake carrying beer....he got a lot of looks on the walk! Military base - they don't care though! |
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