mgroves

This is the Weekend Update for the weekend of September 28th – 30th.

Missed the last Weekend Update? Check out the Weekend Update archives.

Well, the big event this weekend was the air show. My father, brother-in-law, and I all went to the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends at Rickenbacker airport. This was a really good show.

First, the most amazing thing I saw there was a demonstration of the 5th generation fighter plane, the F-22 Raptor. You know those lights in the sky that conspiracy nuts claim are alien ships because of the way they dance in sky that seems impossible? Yeah, those were the Raptors. This YouTube video of the Raptor does not do it justice. This plane basically flew backwords, did a turn on its nose, and made the tighest turns I’ve ever seen. It can do an Immelmann so fast and tight that it could literally flip around behind a fighter chasing it. It can reach Mach 1 without afterburners. Oh yeah, did I mention it was stealth too? Enemy targets have no chance.

The best part of the show, however, was the incredible collection of World War 2 planes that were there, especially Mustangs. We got to see a lot of them fly, which was so cool. I actually got to go up inside of a B-17, which is probably my favorite WW2 plane. Those things look big, but they are incredibly cramped. I imagine that it was a pretty intense experience to be in one of these things in combat.

The most ridiculously awesome part of the show was the simulated strafing/bombing runs that the classic planes did. Go ahead and read that last sentence again. A bunch of the WW2 planes made passes on the runway, and explosives/pyrotechnics would go off on the ground to simulate what their ground attacks would be like.

One of the two remaining Lancasters is the world was at this show. The largest bomb that the British ever constructed in WW2 was made especially for this bomber’s large capacity. It was called the Grand Slam bomb. The simulation of the Grand Slam bomb may not have been entirely accurate, but I think that’s only because they erred on the side of safety. If this picture had sound, it would be a thousand people screaming HOLY !@#$. I think when they “dropped” it, I pooped a little.

Here’s a Flickr slideshow of the rest of the stuff. I could write all day about all the history and things I learned about these aircraft, but I encourage you to check out Wikipedia.

It turns out that my dad was stationed at this same airport when he was in the Air Force, so I got to see a lot of the base and stuff too. I also got to see the type of cargo plane that my brother has leaped out of for no good reason.

The other major thing that I did this weekend was go to the Funny Bone comedy club here in Columbus to see Adam Ferrara. He’s not my favorite comedian or anything, but he’s very funny, and I really enjoyed it. The opening comedian was Rob Little, who was very funny too. The MC was the guy who hosted (and still hosts) open mic night at the Funny Bone. He is a bitter, angry man (it’s not just his act), and I don’t really like him. He is pretty good at getting the audience warmed up, though.