Thunder Over Michigan, August 5-6

When was the last time seven Spitfires, three Hurricanes, a Lancaster, and an Me-109 were all in the same place? We don't know, but we can tell you about an UPCOMING time to see all those machines -- and maybe 40 more -- this summer. Interested?

Maybe not. Maybe you're looking for the US bombers that skipped Sun n Fun this year? They've got you covered with two B-17s and two B-25s signed up so far. Four P-51s are on the sign-in sheet, including a rare B model, and two ultra-rare P-47D Thunderbolts (calling Vern Raburn... it's just a little detour on your way home from Oshkosh. Of course last year they had three).

Right now, some significant types are only signed up in the onesies, including that Bf109 (an early, Battle of Britain E model, not a license-built Spanish "G"), the Lancaster from Canadian Warplane Heritage (eh), a Curtiss P-40E, Grumman/GM TBM Avenger, Grumman F8F Bearcat.

So where's the action after Oshkosh this year? It's the Willow Run airport (KYIP) in Belleville, near Ypsilanti, Michigan, where Thunder Over Michigan is looking like it will live up to its name August 5th and 6th, on the site where the Ford Motor Company built thousands and thousands of B-24s.

(That job was so important that the government essentially threw Henry Ford II out of the navy, so that he could take charge from his incapacitated grandfather. Young Ford frantically hired industrial experts for a crash course in the family business, and got the B-24 line and other industrial efforts going to the government's satisfaction).

The event is the main annual effort of the indefatigable Yankee Air Museum, domiciled at that same base, which is fighting its way back from a fire which destroyed several aircraft and many irreplaceable relics.

Even though "Warbirds" signifies World War II to most aviation and lay people -- and (as recounted above) Thunder over Michigan will thunder to the sounds of many-many big V-12s and bigger radials -- the postwar and Cold War birds will also be out there in force. Seven Douglas A-1 (AD) Skyraiders, the workhorse of the Korean and Vietnam wars, are on the list; they say it's the largest gathering of Skyraiders ever since the type went out of service over 40 years ago. Real rarities like a C-123 Provider, a MiG-17 F, an HU-16 Albatross, and an OV-10 Bronco will be on hand.

The planes will also fly, weather permitting (which it should). They don't call it Thunder Sitting In Michigan, after all.

One thing that Thunder has that many airshows don't is a dedicated photo tour and photo site, for the hardcore warbird photog. The tour takes photographers around the airplanes and gives them a chance to shoot them, on the ground, in a decluttered situation. The Photo Tent is right alongside an active taxiway and has an unobstructed view of that, and of course of the runways and the airshow beyond. Yes, it costs extra, but you don't get pictures of Uncle Jack's bald crown when you thought you were shooting Jack Roush's P-51B.

There will also be a combined-arms battle on site... featuring WWII re-enactors who are fussy to the nth degree about the accuracy of their living-history portrayal. Of course, the units are smaller than they would have been, and they're compressed into a smaller space. And no infantryman in his right mind would stand up in the middle of an airfield -- the event has to be a little "Hollywood" to allow the spectators to, you know, spectate. Still, the Allied side has Sherman and Stuart tanks, armored cars and half-tracks, and the Germans (with apologies to their grandsons fighting alongside us in Afghanistan, the designated Bad Guys) have half-tracks, anti-tank artillery, and Hetzer tank destroyers.

It's not all entertainment. Every year, there's a major symposium with speakers on WWII history, but this year's speakers haven't been revealed yet. (And the educational aspect of the "entertainment" can't be dismissed -- two byproducts of this writer's youthful interest in the machines and methods of war led to an undergraduate degree in history, and a career in the military).

Now, the list of warbirds is subject to change (indeed, we've been allowed a peek at some tentative new participation, and it's even better, with extremely significant and rare types penciled in). And of course, in the actual event, airplanes can no-show because of mechanical problems or weather (anything in its sixties gets a little creaky in wet weather, doesn't it?) so nothing's guaranteed -- except a good time.

If it sounds like someplace you want to be, block out August 5th and 6th this year. And get to the website in the FMI link to snap up one of those photo passes -- there's a limited number, and when they're gone, they're gone.

FMI: www.yankeeairmuseum.org/airshow/index.htm