2013 Airshows
Titusville (Tico), FL   NAS Key West, FL   Chino, CA   Indy 500 Fly-Over   Reading, PA WWII Weekend   CWH Show, Hamilton, ONT   Dayton, OH   Muncie, IN   Topeka, KS   Purdue University, IN   Thunder over Michigan, Belleville, MI   Hillsdale, MI   Marion, IN   Waukegan, IL   Glendale Airport, Kokomo, IN   Rome, GA   Peachtree City, GA   Houston, TX   Urbana, OH B-25 Gathering   B-25 Doolittle Memorial Fly-over at Dayton, OH

Tico 2013 Warbird Airshow Photo Review
Warbirds at Space Coast Regional Airport, Titusville, FL - March 22-24, 2013 (Photos taken 3-22 and 3-23)  

Postscript:  It is our understanding that the show had record crowds on both Friday and Saturday and even more important made money, which hopefully means it will return for another addition in 2014.  DDJ 4-6-2013

Tico.  This is always a great way to start the season, especially after all the grey winter skies and leaving the day before the event in a small snow storm.  The first warbird show of the year after winter without the sights, sounds and smells of warbirds performing all got rectified in warm, sunny weather in Titusville, FL.  This year the show was all about the first time in 36 years the US Thunderbirds participated at the event and due to the sequester, was both both the first and the last time the unit participates at an airshow as the rest of the 2013 season has been canceled.  Also attending in remembrance of B-17F "Memphis Belle" completing 25 combat missions was B-17G "Chuckie" from the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, VA and was the first time in a long time a Flying Fortress has attended the show.  However, we can not say "The Memphis Belle"  was the first 8th Air Force B-17 to reach 25 combat missions as that honor falls to B-17F "Hell's Angels" six days earlier than when "Memphis Belle" accomplished that milestone.  Unfortunately the airshow narrator perpetuated the falsehood at the show.

The Tico show is all about flying warbirds with a very small (thankfully) sprinkling of civilian aerobatics.  (But actually we need a couple of civilian aerobatic acts as that gives us time to go to the Porta-John. One does not want to be inside a Porta-John when the warbirds are flying!)  So the Tico air show committee gets it right with lots of warbirds and lots of fly-bys.  Not like many shows that have lots of civilian aerobatics with a warbird or two, or maybe none at all.  Supporting the B-17G fly-bys with pyro was a cast of trainer fly-bys and formations, a P-51 aerobatic demonstration, F-104 demo, A-4 and the one and only Matt Younkin burning up the airport with his twin Beech aerobatic routine.  What a way to start out the 2013 air show season!  DDJ 4-1-2013

Airfield orientation for photographers: Facing north with 9-27 being the show line.  I set up at the west end of the crowd line as this puts me next to the hot ramp.

A Sampling of Friday's Action:

First Flag Jump of the Year!!

The Valiant Air Command's C-47 "Tico Belle" taxiing out with the jumpers for the previously shown flag jump.

"Tico Belle" served at Normandy.

In all of the years I have been coming down here for the airshow this is the first time I have ever seen her fly.

The Starfighter's F-104 used the longer 0-18 runway and this was at the extreme range of my lens.  This photo is included to show that even during the day the afterburner flame is visible.

Normally if everything works out the F-104 will be at Tico each year.  Few shows can claim that.  Last year it missed the event when the pilot broke his arm the week of the show.

For the most part the Starfighter has one speed in front of the crowd.  Fast!!!

The person in back was General Steve Richie.

Doug Mathews giving a photo pass in his P-51.

A large part of the Tico show are the T-34, T-6 and T-28 formation fly-bys. Here the three T-6's that flew break to land.

 
The Military Aviation Museum's B-17G "Chuckie" in her first appearance at Tico.  While I am have been attending off and on the past ten years or so this is the first B-17 that I know of attending.  Let's hope she or other B-17s return soon.

Another great jet warbird, Skyhawk Ventures A-4C makes her second straight appearance.  Here her exhaust is making a dust storm behind the aircraft.

Five T-28s participated on Friday, six on Saturday.


Matt Younkin in the Twin Beech as he hugs the runway to build airspeed.


So he can go into his signature roll on take-off.

Photo Pass!


Tico will be the only performance for the Thunderbirds this year unless budge allows them to return in the next fiscal year starting in October.  This was also the only time they have been at Tico and it was their only appearance this year.

Hello!


I was tracking the one on the left or going west.

Also now becoming another regular at the event are the "Skysoldiers" with their Cobra and Huey giving rides.  Here the Cobra lifts off after the show with another passenger.  As they operate most of the day there is always helicopters coming and going during the day.

A Sampling of Saturday's Action:

Frame 1844.  I don't think anyone has ever accused Tom Reilly of not being able to be to fly a B-25 or not fly it low enough.  No one will be able to after Saturday at Tico.  Here "Killer B" can be seen behind the trees to the northeast as he sets up for a low level run in the Doolittle Reenactment.  The hangar on the left is the Warbird Museum's maintenance and restoration hangar.

Frame 1849.  The hangar with the F-104 in front of it is the main exhibit hangar.  To the right or south of this is the new Vietnam Era Exhibit hangar (Not visible in this photo.) that opened about two years ago.  If you are visiting the Space Coast during the year make sure to visit the VAC Museum.

Frame 1852.  "Killer B" disappears again for the most part behind the trees.  This was not done on Friday, which is one of the reasons to spend multiple days at the event as the show evolves during the weekend.

Frame 1858. 

Frame 1863.

Frame 1872.  Note the pyro shooter and burned grass.  I was unaware the shooter was in this and the following photo until editing.  The pyro show on Friday had been hindered by fires that were started in the dry grass.  When this photo was taken on Saturday the grass had all been pretty much burned off.  At the Indianapolis Airshow we always tried to burn the grass off the day before any shooting to prevent fires during the event.  Sometimes we were successful and sometimes not.

Frame 1872.

This C-45 did not fly on Friday but did on Saturday.

Just one great looking warbird!

"Wall of Fire" at Tico on Saturday, March 23, 2013.  I had the camera fixed on the pyro blast location and was not expecting the A-4 to fly so low.  Also the shutter speed was still set at a longer exposure time to get the prop blur on the T-28s that had just flown through, so the A-4 is just a bit fuzzy.  If I had planned to try and capture the Skyhawk in front of the pyro I probably would have missed it.  This was an unplanned, lucky shot.

This was also the first time in recent history that pyro has been used at the show.

After the A-4 and Matt Younkin flew on Saturday I left to beat the traffic and start my 300 mile journey to NAS Key West.

Titusville (Tico), FL   NAS Key West, FL   Chino, CA   Indy 500 Fly-Over   Reading, PA WWII Weekend   CWH Show, Hamilton, ONT   Dayton, OH   Muncie, IN   Topeka, KS   Purdue University, IN   Thunder over Michigan, Belleville, MI   Hillsdale, MI   Marion, IN   Waukegan, IL   Glendale Airport, Kokomo, IN   Rome, GA   Peachtree City, GA   Houston, TX   Urbana, OH B-25 Gathering   B-25 Doolittle Memorial Fly-over at Dayton, OH