I made the trip down to North Kingstown, RI(KOQU)from New Hampshire for my first show
of the season on Saturday June 23, 2007. It was a beautiful day with a deep blue sky
and scattered puffy clouds as a backdrop. There was a refreshingly nice breeze from
the northwest that made the day very comfortable. Nothing like the smell of running
jet engines & food cooking on the grill when you're down wind. The show was packed
with families, former military, aviation enthusiasts, and many other quite unique
sights(smile).

This was my fourth trip to see the Rhode Island Air Guard show since 2003. Last year
was a wash out of sorts. Parking was a lot different for this year. Several large
distant satellite parking areas on undeveloped grassy fields. Air Guard Shuttle
buses moved the masses to the flight line for the action.

The Blue's were the main act with lot's of interesting stuff prior. I hesitate to
say it, (cringe & duck) but I didn't stay for the Angels show. With the huge crowd I
just didn't want to fight the lines and traffic. So once Fat Albert blasted off (yes
they used the bottles) and made a high speed pass, I was on the history channel.

This tactic made for an easy break from the event with little to no traffic. Even
better, I got to see, hear, and feel the diamond passing by overhead through my open
sunroof as I egressed the parking areas.

The flying portion of the show was great! There weren't many static aircraft on
display and getting a photo op was tuff despite getting to the show at the start of
the day. Some interesting notes about the F-22 Raptor and it's appearance for the
show under a double-billing deeper in the thread.

Another note of interest, there was a Black helicopter filming throughout the day.
According to the Public address announcer it was in the production of a Discovery
Channel reality program. That'll be one to watch out for...

Lot's of vendors with the usual airshow food and souvenirs. It maybe my imagination,
but it seemed like a lot more "Sponsor" based information from the Master of
Ceremonies and around the show. That includes the "Commercial Acts" during their
live broadcasts from the aircraft. I guess everyones got to get paid one way or the
other.

There was also the expected military recruiting efforts underway with a noticeable
heavy usage of technology (large screen plasma displays, games & audio) by the Army
folks. The masses always swirl to the "Free" stuff. Don't misunderstand me here, I
am pro-military having served 14 years for Uncle Sam before figuring out what I
really wanted to do when I grow up.

I've selected a few highlights from the day to share with you and provide a sense of
the sights I was pleased to witness. The show sure "Made my Day". Thank you Rhode
Island Air National Guard and show sponsors! The images that follow are my feeble
attempts at photography and post processing.

Seems like when you get one aspect of the photo right you then encounter some new
challenge to overcome. I still haven't been able to just press the shutter and get
that perfect shot. I see so many great photos posted to this group. My goal is to
try and mimic the excellent work posted here. As I do for you, I ask that you please
respect my copyright.

I've posted an index here for the start of the thread and replied to the thread with
the image files. I thought that would make things a little neater keeping it in one
thread. Enjoy!

Tom

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