Air Show At Dover Air Force Base

Yesterday (Saturday, 6-20), I went down to Dover Air Force Base (DAFB) for their Open House and Air Show. Dover is about a 40 minute drive south of where we live. I work in Dover now and hear these planes all day long. It was really cool to see all the planes and tour inside them. They had a bunch of demonstrations and aerobatics by several planes in the air too. I am the first to admit that I don't know much about planes, especially military aircraft. I work with a guy that is retired from the Air Force and he helped me identify some of the aircraft.

Here is a C-5. It is 121 feet long.

Dover Air Force Base has 33 of these.

The Wright Brothers first flight was 120 feet long!

The C-5 is also 19 feet wide and 13 feet high. It can hold two semi tractor/trailers, one behind the other.

One of the engines of the C-5.

The planes were all in a line to tour through.

Those little shadows in the center of the plane are people.

Here is a shot from one end of a cargo plane to the other.

DAFB also has an Air Museum. So all the planes in this picture are on permanent display. As you can see in some of these pictures, it has rained. The rain delayed the opening of the Open House a few times.

This is the new C-17 cargo plane.

There are at least 24 of these at DAFB.

The interior of the C-17 cargo plane.

This is the newest addition to the DAFB.

This is the C-17. These things are all HUGE!

This is the cockpit of a refueling/cargo plane,

the KC-10A.

The KC-10A carries huge fuel tanks under this floor for refueling other aircraft during flight. The tanks are really just big bladders that get smaller as the fuel is pumped to a refueling aircraft. One of the guys giving the tour said you can feel the fuel shift around while making turns during flight.

This is the same plane. It can be configured for cargo and/or passengers.

An outside shot of the KC-10A.

It flew over from McGuire AFB in New Jersey for the Open House.

This is the cockpit of the KC-135.

Don't touch that dial!

A view out one of the doors of the KC-135. If you look at the hangar in the center of the picture, you can see a C-5 coming in for a landing, just to the right. (You can click on the picture- or any picture- to enlarge it. Click on the Back button to return.)

Here is a picture of a C-5 landing, taken from a KC-135.

I work in Dover now, about couple of miles from the AFB. So we hear and can see the C-5's and other planes take off. They are so big, it is hard to imagine that they can fly at all.

The front of the KC-135.

This is a B-25 from WWII.

A very handsome plane.

I don't think I would want to be on the bad side of a B-25.

It has guns everywhere.

Take my advice, don't tailgate this plane.

I could use this set-up for driving in Delaware where drivers love to tailgate.

All ready for a drive-by. Or should I say a 'fly-by'?

There were even some helicopters. This one was from a TV station.

This helicopter is a UH-1.

This jet is a F15-E Strike Eagle.

Looks fast and dangerous.

Hey! Even the Amish came out to the Air Show!

Now these planes, like the C-130 above, are on permanent display at the Air Museum.

This is a C-124.

Look how it opens like a clam shell in the back.

Planes, planes and more planes.

This one was cool. This plane was used as a training plane. It flies best when fully loaded. So for training, they load these giant (and heavy) cement blocks in the cargo hold.

They call these cement blocks 'pet rocks'.

Man, I hope they don't ever get an electric short.

It sure would be hard to find.

This is a hospital plane for transporting wounded. It is the equivalent to a DC-9. All the seats face the back. The guy told me this was to help people from getting air sick. They can take out some or all of the seats and put in stretchers. There is one stretcher in this picture. They can even do surgery in flight on this plane.

This plane is called the 'Nightingale'. I think the paper here in the cockpit has directions to Taco Bell or something.

One of the turbine engines on display in the museum.

This engine is from a C-5.

I had my point-and-shoot camera with me, so it was hard to get pictures of the Air Show. You can see the smoke-trail from a little plane doing stunts. That is the tail section of a C-5.

This group of 4 planes was out of Arizona.

They did all kinds of stunts and were quite loud.

Here they are doing a fly-by in front of the crowd.

One of the stunts.

They had smoke trails during most of the things they did.

This is an FA-18 Hornet 'dancing' in the air.

This jet was VERY loud and very fast.

It did all kinds of maneuvers and loops and things.

Pretty awesome. I am glad I went.