Joint Service Open House 2011 (lots of pics)

May 21st, 2011 - Andrews Air Force Base, MD

Among the things I look forward to each year: vacations, Eagle Dynamics release announcements... are also the airshows. This year was my second consecutive year attending the Joint Service Open House at Andrews Air Force Base located minutes away from Washington D.C. Learning from past experience, a lot of sun tan lotion was pre-packed in advance. Unfortunately, I didn't devote a lot of attention to my camera and lenses and as such some artifacts may be found on some of the pictures... I did try to touch up most of them in Photoshop to keep them clean.

So, please kick back and enjoy your scrolling session as I try to take you through the JSOH 2011 event:

Greeting the crowd this time was the C-17A Globemaster, if I am not mistaken one of the most expensive aircraft in service.

Drawing my attention right off the bat was the F-16.

This time I arrived to the airshow early at around 8AM, I had the luxury to come up rather close to the aircraft without any lines

Wingtip of the F-16

Nice cockpit, but rather small inside.

A sign of things to come, perhaps? ;)

This year it was the Thunderbirds who were set to perform, last year it was the Blue Angels.

I love how precise they are lined up, us virtual guys know how difficult it is to do after a flight... but I guess they do have outside help (crew)... oops getting off topic.

An EA-6 looking mean, wait till you see what is on it's tail.

Darth himself! Now that is what I call ECM... the DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE!

I want one. Yak-9

P-51D Quick Silver, a very sharp looking airplane.

The only flying B-29 left in the WORLD! "FiFi""

AN-124 eating up the crowd!!!

Had a chat with the crew, they came up from Cape Canaveral - were doing some contract work for NASA I guess.

Meanwhile, the aerobatic guys hit the sky.

A view on some of the static displays.

For all the logo fans, right before entering the KC-10 Extender.

Cockpit of the KC-10 Extender.

The cargo deck of the KC-10.

The hose and drogue system of the KC-10.

The hose recovery system.

While inside, I had a great chat with the boom operator, he told some great stories of how at one point they had 23 aircraft in line for fuel over Afghanistan, was a pleasure to speak with him.

The Geico Skytypers.

A brand new EA-18G Growler!!! Didn't expect to see it on static display.

Beefy pods.

From the top, see what I mean... it is shiny new!

The paint scheme was rather cool as well, I was joking with the pilot asking him whether he was a Tampa Bay Lightning fan :) (Hockey team for those who don't follow hockey).

My favorite pic of the 18G, except gotta chop that hand out! :)

A surprise visit!!! From the F-35! Accompanied by the F-18C

It was unexpected, so I wasn't quite ready... The announcer just started saying "And now look to the right" I started scrambling for a good position.

F-18 solo was up next.

Some cool shots of the F-18, added it into my wallpaper collection.

Another wallpaper type shot.

I absolutely love these... the Navy Heritage flight - Corsair and F-18 in formation.

Overhead pass - love the sky in this.

Air National Guard jet powered truck.

Off it went... leaving behind some "environmentally friendly" exhaust.

While being on the land based subject... the Stryker.

Another one.

Bradley.

More crazies in the sky.

Inside the Globemaster grabbing some shade. (there is actually a HUGE crowd infront of me... so the only thing I could take a picture of worth looking at was the ceiling)

C-5M Supergalaxy.

L-39, I really like how it looks. It was painted in the NAVY scheme.

Warrior Aviation P-51 and L-39.

NASA F-18 Chase aircraft.

Geico Skytypers

Continued...

Overhead.

Shackle :)

In trail.

All the DCS A-10C fans, next few shots are for you.

I actually enjoyed the A-10 flying around, it was very quite and agile so could catch a lot of cool moments.

More... cowbell...

Every time it went into the dive, they played the gatling gun sound... to me it sounded right out of DCS to be honest.

The Strike Eagle.

Compared to the A-10... this thing was LOUD.

Fly by.

Air force heritage flight, last year if you saw my thread there was a P-51, F-16 and F-22... this year they switched it up.

Wallpaper type shots.

From what I understood the F-22 didn't fly because of the whole Oxygen System thing that is going on with them.

Can't take enough of these pictures, really cool.

In the break!

Mustang overhead.

F-15E.

A-10C.

P-51D.

Look! A bird made it into this shot!!! In the background... Sean Tucker of the Oracle Team was doing some INSANE stuff. Talk about super maneuverability.

Sean passing by.

Getting ready for the main event.

Taxi.

Ground crew, their routine was very well rehearsed.

The Thunderbirds in the air!

Ready... Now!

The diamond.

Another angle.

Up close.

Loop and Roll.

Mirror.

One of my favorites.

Rejoined and getting ready to wrap up.

Thank you for taking this virtual photo-review journey and hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I do sharing them. Also, this is only a fraction of the pictures I took, and as always High Resolution ones are available upon request. Until next year!

S!

Much appreciated. Air shows are great entertainment even when there is nothing flying.

Nice shots! Thx for posting them.

Great shots Soviet! :thumbup:

@Sov13t, we must have been not too far away from each other on Saturday.

Some of my shots:

Awesome pics! :thumbup:

What lens?

Just a question:

When are the thunderbirds coming to GA? I been living here for 5 years and never heard of them visiting GA.

Thanks for the porn.

Best tail art ever

What lens?

Tamron 75-300mm

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Another of that tail but from a different angle. "Capital Guardians" tail-flash.:)

Nice shots. I was there myself (right on about the sunscreen by the way) and took a good 230 pictures or so, but only with my little point and shoot so most just don't compare. Actually, based on your angles it seems like we were standing in the same area for the later portion of the show. Maybe I'll post some highlights once I get them online if you don't mind the thread hijack.