2016 Thunder & Lightening Over Arizona

Last week was the biannual "Thunder and Lightening Over Arizona" airshow at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson.  Justin and I took Joshua, Jared, and Jesse to Tucson for the day.  Jaylon, Hannah, and Kyle brought Joylin and Joanna in their car too!  We got to meet up with Juliana and her dad there as well, so we had a fun crowd to spend the day with!  

There were lots of static displays.  (Lots of people too!)

This C-5 plane was huge!

While the national anthem was being sung, the flag was flown down by a member of the Wings of Blue U.S. Air Force Skydiving team!  It was a unique way of starting the air show! :)

These 4 planes, known as the "Desert Rats", performed some pretty cool aerobatics!  They are flown by retired Air Force pilots.

They were all flying along in a stacked line...

...then they all started turn off to the left...

...and back into a line, this time they were spaced out enough to land!

It was pretty neat to watch! 

There were lots of different demonstrations throughout the show.  In this demonstration, a C-130 shows how aerial refueling of combat rescue helicopters is done.

This plane is known as "The Jelly Belly".

The pilot landed the plane on top of a truck as it was going 55 mph down the runway!

He did a little drive by and then took off from the top of the truck!

The highlight of the show for me was getting to watch the Thunderbirds perform!!

Here they are doing a maneuver called the Bomb Burst

The planes separated and made a heart in the sky, dedicating that maneuver to all the members of the Air Force and their families.

Pretty cool!!

As we were walking out to our car, (trying to beat the rush of people) we watched the tail end of the Thunderbirds show.

We were all starving so a stop at Panda Express was a must on the way home!!

Here's a little video I put together from the day.  I videoed a lot!! :)

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I found this page on the "Harrier Jet" to be very interesting.