OT:McGuire AFB air show
- Thread starter RUnTime
- Start date
We had a fantastic time, just need more metal detectors to expedite entry, that line was brutal Saturday!
I was there. Between the traffic jam at the gate (due to an accident) and the security line, it took over three hours to get from one mile away from the base to our seats. And over an hour to get out of the parking lot once it was over. The show (what we saw of it; the first third or so took place while we were in the security line) was impressive, though.
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anon_ivydyf0amkzay
Guest
As someone who spent 22 years in the USAF, I avoided air shows at all possible costs...everyone is a tragedy waiting to happen. I was the weather officer for the Thunderbirds and the weather criteria that separated "oooooh and ahhhh" from "oh shit!!!" is so small!! Parenthetically the hanger for the Thunderbirds is so clean you could serve a meal on its floor!
LOL no tragedy here. I was in and out of that base with only minor inbound delays. A few tweaks next year and there will be no delays.
You sound like disgruntled military personnel. Pissed that you were not in a F16. Obviously the Thunderbirds need clean hangers to keep the dirtbags out.
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My brother was on a ground crew in his military days and told me a story about a Blue Angels practice that almost went very badly.
Apparently, at that time at least, the Angels use some target on the ground to fix the relative positions between the planes during certain maneuvers. This case they picked a lime green truck down the end of some field.
My brothers crew asked him for permission to go watch the practice. he said okay. They took out.. a lime green pickup. That screwed up the angels and they had a danger-close pass on one of their runs and all hell broke loose over the radios. Apparently, no one communicated this information.. about avoiding use of lime green anything.. to anyone.
I have attended airshows at both McGuire and Lakehurst in the past. There have been tragedies at airshows in the past. Back in the 1970's one of the Blue Angels was killed during a practice before the airshow. One of the most memorable airshows I attended was at Lakehurst back in the 1990's, they were doing an WWII reenactment with live explosions. They had a number of pits set up with piled up dirt and pine branches covering them for effect. So the reenactment starts, they had a few bombers flying and fighters from that era, the bombs are going off and it really added to the effect. Unfortunately whoever was in charge of this reenactment did not take into account the extremely dry weather that had been prevailing in NJ for a couple of months, the dry pine branches cover the mortar pits and the winds which were steady between 10-15kts. Mortars are going off and the fires in the pits are getting larger not only that but a line of fire started creeping towards the crowd. No one started to panic until the smoke started choking people and then all hell broke loose. all of sudden they start telling everyone to move away from the fence as the fire was alomost upon it. It was a wild scene as NJ forest fire and local units had to respond to help the on base fire fighters in getting the fire under control. They ended the show early because of the fire and as far as I know Lakehurst has not held another airshow there since. Also, this was before it became a joint base so McGuire is definitely the better venue for the airshow.
Was there Saturday with son and daughter and I laws as well as my 18 month old grandson. Had a fabulous time. Only 20 mins in and 10 minutes on line , got there at 8:30 am as well as 45 minutes back home to Freehold. We took all back roads in and out no problems at all. Stayed until just before Thunderbirds finished
Had an awesome time as we did in 2012 and 2014. No traffic at all when entering via 68 at around 12:30 and no wait in line once we got off the shuttle bus. My sister in law came from the shore and gave up trying to get in at a different access point where there was a ton of traffic entering. Even the 30 minute wait to get back on bus at the end wasn't so bad but traffic was a bit slow leaving the base. Well worth it though. Thunderbirds were amazing and we are not a military family but we think it's important for our kids to learn about the armed forces and to respect those who serve.
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