At "Thunder Over Louisville" (annual airshow and the largest regularly scheduled fireworks display in North America), they regularly have B1's and B2's, along with B117's and a host of other fighters.

The first year the B1 came, he took off from an airbase in Texas, but radioed into Thunder's "Command Central" as he was on the runway. It was about 5:00, and he was scheduled to appear in Louisville at 6:00.

"Are you running late?" the Louisville voice asked?

The pilot laughed. "Late? Are you kidding? I'll have to go slow to get there at 6:00!"

When he showed, he came through in the first pass with his gear down and wings swept forward. It was an awesome sight, and filled the natural ampitheater of the riverfront with a noise that rivaled that of the finale several hours later. He flew off, and most of us assumed he was gone for good.

I happened to be standing in a place where I could see several miles up the river, and spotted something big, black, and moving very fast. By the time I got my son's attention, he was screaming past, most likely at 1,000 ft or so. He nosed up, hit the throttle, and made the earth move with the sound. If I remember correctly, they've had a B1 in the show almost every year since.

Come to Louisville two weekends before the first Saturday in May (Thunder kicks off the annual KY Derby Festival), and you're likely to see a similar show, along with 600-800,000 of our closest friends. <g>

Tim

 

I **LOVE** airshows. Fighter jets, trainer jets, vintage props, big ass bombers, little ass bombers, big ass cargo aircraft... everything. I can't wait for Fleet Week over in Frisco on Oct. 12-13th. I'm just glad it's still going to happen, with the War goin on and all. I was so pissed and kinda heart broken when I learned that the annual Travis Air Expo was cancelled due to the war. Sucked. Ah well, there's always other ones.

 

now, i've heard a sonic boom for about 2 or 3 times. i'm guessing everybody has since they travel far distances, right?

i'm really hating it when it snaps a 20 lb branch off my 80 feet trees in the backyard.....if i was standing in the backyard with a sonic boom coming by causing a branch to snap and fall down onto my spinal cord.............OUCH!!!

 

i really want to see an F-117, Commanche, Tiger, and many more

 

Blackbird's are kick ass

 

but we now have satellites and the Blackbirds are retired. they're still cool. but what the heck is it with Lockheed or whatever job cuts???

 

As a kid in Texas I remember the booms every afternoon when they were testing the B70. It would take off from Edwards and make a big loop halfway across the country leaving a trail of broken windows and various sound damage.

 

shouldn't their be laws against this sort of thing?

 

Actually, there are. Supersonic flight is not allowed over land. Unless you live near a test range of some kind, what you heard were probably not sonic booms. Back in the day that wasn't the case, but that's been the rule during your lifetime.

I've heard (and not heard) a B-2 once down in Fort Lauderdale. It cruised by the beach during an airshow maybe a couple hundred yards out. Couldn't hear a thing! Very cool. It came back later at higher speed and was audible, but that first time was weird!

My drive in to work in the morning goes right by a couple of runways (I work on an Air Force Base), and periodically I get an F-15 or 16 going right over my head during takeoff. Full afterburner 50 feet over my head with the top down....now that's loud!

 

Seems like the rule started getting enforced more in the seventies.. it was common in the sixties and the XB70 tests did knock out windows in Dallas, the biggest as I recall was in the downtown Neiman Marcus store. And pilots make mistakes occasionally, a Navy pilot broke the barrier over Dallas at fairly low altitude in the past few years creating some havoc and numerous complaints.