THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN - Willow Run Airport / Ypsilanti
Update: 2020/08/24 by Shawn Clish / CHK6







Today, Friday August 28, 2020, I am supposed to be at the Thunder Over Michigan Air Show enjoying the arrivals and practice day ahead of the two-day weekend event. Very little had been announced about this year ahead of the March shut down, but the theme was to focus on “Legends of the Luftwaffe” and the star warbird attractions were to be the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and Messerschmitt Bf 109 from the Erickson Aircraft Collection out of Madras, Oregon. Modern military participation was to include the F-35A Lightning II Demonstration Team from the United States Air Force and the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Team, the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels performance was to be an interesting blend of old with new, as it would have been one of their last displays in their McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C/D Hornets before they transition to the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet next year, while it was scheduled to be the first performance of their new Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules support aircraft, Fat Albert. Unfortunately, on Monday July 6th, seven weeks before the show, Executive Director Kevin Walsh announced the cancellation of this year’s event due to the challenges created by the global pandemic. He went on to say: “We built a reputation of being one of the top shows in the world and we look forward to keeping that place in the aviation community in 2021”. So while we look forward to next year’s show, now is a great time to look back at some of the highlights of an event that has become one of the feature attractions on the North American air show calendar.
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