Scott Air Force Base Air Show 2008 September 20-21

The Air Force Thunderbirds, flying F-16 Fighting Falcons, will highlight Air Show 2008 at Scott Air Force Base near Belleville, Illinois, September 20th and 21st, 2008. The eight pilots of the USAF Air Force Demonstration Squadron perform precision flying and solo flight routines. Many of the impressive flight demonstrations are, in fact, simulations of combat maneuvers. The appearance at Scott is one of only 88 such demonstrations the Thunderbirds put on each year. Another highlight is a flyby of the B-1B Lancer strategic bomber which possesses the largest internal payload of any current bomber.

Warbirds Display

Warbirds of the type which saw action during the Second World War are always a highlight of the air show. This year, they include a B-25J Marauder Medium Bomber. B-25s took off from an aircraft carrier to bomb Tokyo in early 1942 in retaliation for the Pearl Harbor attack. It's often erroneously reported that the Japanese didn't know Doolittle's Raiders were on their way until the air strike. In fact, picket ships reported the task force to the Japanese high command which did not realize the incoming aircraft were not Navy aircraft, but longer-range Army B-25s. The moment the fleet spotted fishing boats that might be able to report them, the boats were sunk and the B-25's launched, even though they didn't have enough fuel to get to their ultimate destination. The Japanese were warned, but the Americans arrived earlier than expected.

Joining the B-25J are the Trojan Horseman, flying six North American T-28 Trojans, used both for training and in combat by the US Army Air Force and Navy in Southeast Asia. There will also be a Grumman TBM Torpedo bomber, like a TBF but with a General Motors airframe. It was the Avenger that helped break the back of the Japanese Imperial Fleet at the battle for Midway in 1942 after which the Japanese empire immediately fell into a defensive mode.

Among other warbirds are featured a P-38 Lightning, the twin-boom fighter that intercepted and shot down the transport carrying Pearl Harbor-planner Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto during the Solomon Islands campaign. With it will be a P-40 aircraft, the main frontline fighter in the US arsenal when World War Two started, challenging Japanese Zeros over Pearl Harbor, in the Phillipines, and was flown by the Flying Tigers with their trademark tiger shark design.  Expect also a P-51, often considered the best fighter aircraft of World War Two, with wingtanks an invaluable escort for B-17 bombers that could follow the Flying Fortresses all the way to the target in Germany and back.

Also Featured

Another highlight will be a red-white-and-blue 450 Stearman aeorbatic biplane. and, of course, there will be numerous cargo transport aircraft from C-130 to KC-135 since Scott is the home to the Air Mobility Command and US Transportation Command.

On the Ground

In addition, expect a 1943 M2A1 Half-Track vehicle from the Military Vehicle Preservation Association, reenacters of the US 2d Ranger Battalion of St Louis, model rockets from the St Louis Rocketry Club, gliders of the St Louis Soaring Association, and the US Air Force Reserve Jet Car in which is mounted a Westinghouse J34-48 engine taken from a North American T-2A Buckeye aircraft, capable of speeds approaching 400 miles per hour.

Consult the air show website at at scottairshow.com in case there are any last-minute additions.

Hours are 9am to 5 pm each day. Visitors may drive in and park or avoid the congestion by taking the MetroLink to the Shiloh-Scott station where buses will transport them to the Air Show area.

For more about things to see and do in Illinois go to my Gather group Illinois Road Trip at http://illinoisroadtrip.gather.com/

For other upcoming activities in Southern Illinois, check the calendar at my Southern Illinois Road Trip website at  http://home.midwest.net/~howes/southernillinoisroadtrip.