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Wet and disappointed


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OK, it was raining this morning but the weather the previous two days had been great so, methinks, lots of good statics arrived at NAS Brunswick for this weekend's show, maybe NAS Brunswick's last(they are getting BRAC'd). Drove 2 1/2 hours for 16 airplanes. :thumbsup:

I have never seen a military static this small in ~40 years of shows. Plus, when I tried to fire up my digital, the freshly charged batteries I put in last night were dead! :doh: So it's all on slides...yes, I still do that.

Of significance...only one P-3 on the static plus one way down on the flying ramp. All others were in the barn, locked up tight. Of further significance...a ME ANG KC-135E was on the static! That's the first time in 10 years I've been chasing shows in New England. It's usually a New Hampshire bird. Not even one of ME ANG's newer Rs.

Two whole fighters: FA-18F and F-15E. Nice. E-2C with 8-bladed props off the Ike. Nice. A whole bunch of stuff in the T designation range and a honkin' big CH-53E. Gotta get that kit!

Oh well, Sunday is supposed to be sunny for those that go tomorrow. The Blues may get to do their high show! Along with that stoopid (IMHO) jet powered truck. -_-

It's now time top start hunkering down for the long winter and lots of modeling.

Thanks for reading my spouting!

Rick in Maine

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Rick,

Sorry to hear about the disappointing show today. I went last night to the "Afterburner Blast" party with the Golden Knight jump-in and the jet truck did a small test run in the dark which looked pretty sweet in the pitch black with tongues of flame coming out the back. Hopefully tomorrow will be better...

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There's another F-15E in a hangar. It sucked a goose or turkey vulture FODing the engine and tearing sheet metal. Story and Pix are on Airshowbuzz.com in the Brunswick Thread. I hope you scan your slides and post the shots. Gonna be a cold one tomorrow. We are expecting a frost/freeze here in the mountains of PA.

Edited by Sig Saur & Son
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Yeah they mentioned that FOD on the Strike Eagle on Friday night during the introductions, forgot to mention that before. Happened during the Friday afternoon Strike Eagle demo for the military dependents, apparently they had to cut their demo short because of it (not surprising!).

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There's another F-15E in a hangar. It sucked a goose or turkey vulture FODing the engine and tearing sheet metal. Story anf Pix are on Airshowbuzz.com in the Brunswick Thread. I hope you scan your slides and post the shots. Gonna be a cold one tomorrow. We are expecting a frost/freeze here in the mountains of PA.

I saw the pics of the damage to the structure on the forward fuselage, it appears to have damaged at least one of the frames in addition to some fuselage skin damage............that Strike Eagle will be there for a bit before while they repair it.

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Frost/freeze :banana: Its too early to even think that.

Not a fan of Winter

Steven L

Steve,

It's sad but true and not surprising. The PA Farmer's Almanac states that year's ending in the number 8 traditionally have brutal winters. The wood thrush stopped singing in the middle of July instead of the middle of August. I've been seeing and hearing Canadian Geese heading south for a month now, monarch butterflies have been passing through in the hundreds each day, the wooly caterpillars are really furry and all black and it has been raining acorns for a week now. I predict my first use of the snow blower will take place before November. It's 2300 hours here and already 45 (f) degrees.

Now back to seeing some air show pix from the great State Of Maine.

Edited by Sig Saur & Son
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I was going to go up today but was deterred by the rain. I'll probably hit it tomorrow. I'm sorry to hear that there aren't a lot of A/C on static display, but having the CH-53E there will make it worthwhile. Hopefully the Blues will be able to do their "high" show. At least the price is right.

Mark

BTW we had a ME ANG KC-135 at the PWM open house last year. Wonder if they'll be back for this years open house

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Awesome show today, I'm sorry it was so crappy yesterday...

Blues did the high show, saw Team Chaos in action, Strike Eagle demo was ********, Major John Klatt is nutso (in a good way!).

Got a sunburned face but it was SO worth it!!

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I figured you'd get a good show today.

Ref. the Strike Eagle demo...is "********" good?

I was sitting in a sailboat near Little Dear Isle this afternoon. Almost as good as airplanes!

Still, it was a sad static on Sat. I can see the Blues often, but not the other stuff. The good news about the static a/c is that they were all new serials for me but two.

I actually helped deliver the CT-39G to the Navy back ~1977. It had a prettier scheme then but it was still nice to see the airframe again.

Well, it'll be a long time before we see another military show in Maine again.

Cheers

Rick

PM me

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My family and I went Sunday. We had to wait for our one year old to wake up from his morning nap. So we got a late start. We were almost to the gate at 1:00 PM when they closed the base. Too many people they said. Ended up watching the show from a farmers hay field with about 300 other folks who couldn't get in. Highlight of that was when the diamond formation fly over us at about 1500 AGL. You don't get to see that at the flight line. My two oldest boys had grins that went from ear to ear. My five year old exclaimed it was the coolest thing he ever saw. I wouldn't have called it their high show though. We tried to get on base after the show to see the static displays, but they weren't letting anyone through the gate.

Sunday night news broadcast said the base is going to request the team appear next year for one last time. I guess We'll know in November if the Blues will fly over Maine again when they announce to 2008 schedule.

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Ken, thanks for knowing. I was indeed counting on a good static. Military shows are rare up here now.

OKthree, you told your story pretty calmly! I woulda be pi**ed. That's the first time I've heard of the base being closed because of the crowds. Sounds like you made the best of a bad situation, though. I once had the privilege of being right under the Thunderbirds during a show. Thrilling!

In looking back, there were several things that seemed different about this NAS Brunswick show: 1) The lack of P-3s on display. Only two were outside on Saturday...one static and one flying, 2) the small turnout of static display aircraft, 3) the strong presence of security with more armed folks than I've seen for a while.

In the past, I thought there were some incredible turnouts of visiting aircraft for the shows. Maybe they were lured here with the promise of lobsters to take home!

It's time to let go of this one, I suppose, and make plans to travel farther and wider next year. AND, hope there is a Navy Brunswick open day in 2008 that will probably be the last ever before being BRAC'd. Maybe Bath Iron Works could bring a destroyer and put it on the static! ;-)

Rick in Maine

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OKthree, you told your story pretty calmly! I woulda be pi**ed. That's the first time I've heard of the base being closed because of the crowds. Sounds like you made the best of a bad situation, though. I once had the privilege of being right under the Thunderbirds during a show. Thrilling!

Rick,

I was more disappointed than angry. My disappointment lingered into Monday especially when I saw how nice the weather has been early this week. I kept saying to my wife "why couldn't we have had such nice weather on the weekend". I guess everyone who didn't make it Sat decided to come Sun. And I think that it was so publicized that this may be the last show at Brunswick, the crowds really turned out. Although we really came to see the Blue Angels fly, I was bummed I couldn't see what was on static display. I wasn't expecting much, but since it was possibly the last show I thought there might be a huge turn out for static displays. After your post Satuurday I really only wanted to see the CH-53E. I've never seen one up close and I have the Academy kit in my stash that is in the short pile of "to do" kits, so that was a high priority. I also wanted to see the Super Hornet. By the way, what Super Hornet squadron came in for the show?

In all my kids had a good time, which to me is the most important thing. Here's hoping that there may be one more next year.

Mark

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