I awoke to the sound of Merlins in the air

[Maverick]

DM AFB is doing the annual heritage flight formation certifications again. I heard then saw a couple 51's practicing over the strip and circling around past the RV park on base. I was here a couple years ago at the same time and they had 51's, 47's (2 of them), a 38, an 86 and a mig 15 all flying in various formations practicing for the upcoming air show circuits. They are just starting now so I am wondering what they will have later today.

[WWhiskey]

 

[Strip]

Get pictures! Actually film would be nice.....

Lucky dog!

 

Strip

[Maverick]

First airshow of the season is here at DM on the 20th and 21st and I'm already on base.    

[68ZooM]

i remember during the 80's Seafair weekend on lake washington, thats all you heard was merlin powered hydro's screaming on lake washington, 6 to 10 at a time, gawd that sound is one of a kind

[gpwurzel]

Lucky lucky man, I woke up to the sound of my cat snoring, and my wife wittering on on the phone to her dad lol........


Love the sound of the merlin, Duxford last year was awesome.


Wurzel

[bj229r]

i remember during the 80's Seafair weekend on lake washington, thats all you heard was merlin powered hydro's screaming on lake washington, 6 to 10 at a time, gawd that sound is one of a kind

I saw a special about them...what a shame. They destroyed ALL of the world's surplus Merlins on hydroplanes...apparently they are/WERE good for 1-2 races, then tossed to junk pile

[68ZooM]

I saw a special about them...what a shame. They destroyed ALL of the world's surplus Merlins on hydroplanes...apparently they are/WERE good for 1-2 races, then tossed to junk pile

Not true they ran them for a few seasons before rebuilding them only reason they change an engine was due to part failure, they were very dependable engines thats why they were used in airframes,  just off lake washington an old man and his son still have several hydros complete with merlins just sitting in an old warehouse on there property, i did the land work for there home and they showed them to me during the time i was there doing the dirtwork, they also had just merlins sitting on the ground, Merlins were great hydro engines till the Jet engine took over, he had the miss payNpak  miss O-boy Oberto, man i was like in awe.

[Maverick]

This is a pic I took with my cell phone this afternoon. Sorry that was all I had and they wouldn't let me on the flight line to get closer. We have one "Sandy" one P41 in desert camo and shark mouth and three 51's. When we went to chow we saw a preview of the F22 airshow routine. Simply outstanding.  

Yep, those are some F4's behind the prop jobs. They have several F16's F15's and the F22. Today they did some 4 ship formation flights with the WW 2 planes and then the jets did some air show rehearsal.

[sntslilhlpr6601]

Cool stuff.

I heard the loudest sonic boom I've ever heard the other day. I've heard them before but it was always just a faint thunder from high altitude. This one was unbelievable. Just a single BOOM that shook the whole house. I was in my bedroom at the time and I almost thought someone had punched my window as hard as they could because it flexed so much. Scared the poop outta me and my neighbors.

[Plawranc]