Wow! Wish there was an airshow of that quality closer to home.

We agree on the F-35's being ugly, but the Raptor is sleek in my opinion. Unfortunately, the age of sexy military birds is coming to a close, as curvy jets like the F-16 come with a massive radar cross-section

Nice pics!

It sounds like I'm in the minority in thinking the F-35s look OK. I think they look mean from the front, in particular. The F-22 looks better, and it improved a lot from it's YF-22 days, but still can't hold a candle to the YF-23.

On the F-16s, the Have Glass program is adding a radar-absorbent coating to it, similar to the F-35's, I believe. I've always wondered if the air intake being kind of flat and under the nose helped block the compressor blades from radar. I think it has kind of an S-shaped intake due to the positioning.

Cool pictures.


Wheels

Simply put, bloody amazing piccies !! Thanks for the effort you guys put into making this site so great

I'm really not up on the radar cross section thingy - I have no idea why an F16 has a larger radar cross section (whatever that is - I guess it's what's fed back to the radar) than an F22 or F35. To me they both look like big hulks that a radar signal would bounce off. I can understand why an "absorbent" skin may reduce radar signature - but why an F-16 gives a bigger signature than a F35 with sharp lines??

Anyway - I thought the F22 WAS the F35 - I'm going to look at some piccies now.

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

Pin the battery and hide the Remove Before Flight flag inside the panel so folks won't know about it. Or disconnect the battery altogether.

Actually canopies are almost never left open for static displays and nobody is allowed to climb in. If there is an open canopy with a stand for close up looks, there's always an airman or pilot sitting on the stand to answer questions...and keep the cockpit secure.

Great pics Einstein! Oh, and what do you consider cold? People were in jackets while it was in the lower 70Fs while I was there in February...lol.

Just came home from day 2 and need to process and select the pics - probably not happening tonight.

@BillyRiley, all the air shows I've been to were free admission. This show here at DM beat the Edwards Show by a good margin in terms of the sheer number of static aircraft and aircrew on hand to answer questions and comments. It was too darn big, though - two days, even all day, was only enough to cover half the show. I missed out on a lot of good displays just because there wasn't time. Even if there wasn't the awesome string of flight events, the static displays literally stretch out for miles! Can't wait for the show to come back in a couple of years.

Also, I like the look of the Lockheed "stealthy" aircraft. Certainly beats the Boeing "Gaping Duck" that didn't make the JSF cut, IMHO.

@Weasel_Keeper, in Tucson, anything lower than 75°F and we're bundling up! But it was low 50's with rain and wind, which is about 20°F NHE (Normal Human Equivalent). I'm surprised there weren't more cases of hypothermia reported.

I'm pretty certain that's an ECM pod on the Tornado. Looks like (though slightly modified) the ones developed at SAAB Aerotech in Sweden. I was recently there and they had dozens of those big thingies. IIRC they also act as chaff dispensers (through lots of holes in the back, which aren't showing in the picture).