Apollo Leader

World War II time!

Here's an F4U Corsair of the Commemorative Air Force (formerly the Confederate Air Force) starting up... trust me, the prop is moving at high speed!

E-4B passes by.

E-4B on appoach. The E-4B would be used by the President in the event of an all out war. I believe the E-4's are also used as a back up to the 747's used as Air Force One. When President Bush was over in Europe earlier this year, one of Offutt's E-4B's were over there in support of the trip.

C-17 Globemaster III

Here's another A-10 on display. I think the A-10 is slated to serve throughout the rest of this decade. The F-35 JSF I think is considered its replacement of sorts.

A closer look at the mission markings this Nighthawk accumilated during Iraqi Freedom. One of the crew chiefs suggested that they could possibly paint the mission marking for the attack against Saddam in red. B)

F-117A Nighthawk (aka The Black Jet).

This is one of THE VERY two F-117's that were used in that preemptive attack in the early morning hours of March 19th to put Saddam Hussein, his two sons, and some of his generals out of commission.

The Heartland Organization of Rocketry (THOR), the rocket group I belong to, even had a display.

B-52H Stratofortress.

EA-6B Prowler... the A-6 Intruder legacy lives on!

AV-8B+ Harrier II

Here's another shot of that Falcon/Viper/Electric Jet.

An F-16B from Edwards AFB. This Fighting Falcon is an odditty because by the late 80's/early 90's, virtually all Falcons for the USAF were C and D models. Originally this B model was built for Pakistan. For some reason, this and 20 or so other Falcon's were withheld from the Pakistani government and went into storage during 1992(3?) at Davis Monthan. Nearly 10 years later, this B (and maybe some of the others were taken out of storage and put to work at Edwards.

This A-10 had the "Spirit of 9-11 'Let's Roll'" artwork under its cockpit. Other aircraft at the show, mainly Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom veterans I believe, had variations of it (more detailed eagles).

A-10 Thunderbolt II (aka Warthog).

T-38 Talon.

Here's an F-15 Strike Eagle. As is the norm, this E is equipped with conformal fuel tanks (aka FAST Packs) and the LANTIRN pod set. The other pods under the fuselage are used by the crew members to carry luggage.

This year's air show and open house marks my 17th anniversary of attending this show... way back in 1986 when I was 12, the Blue Angels performed using the A-4 Skyhawk (this was one of the last times before switching to the Hornet) and there was even an F-106 Delta Dart from an Air National Guard unit on display!

Since this was the first time I had a digital camera with me, I ended up taking over 200 pictures and a few minutes worth of AVI movies.

Below are some of the pictures I took (starting with Saturday). I've even attached a few of the movies I recorded (I do have a few in the 2 to 3 Meg range, but they are obviously to big to download here ).

First of all, here's an F/A-18D. The E and F model Super Hornets have been in sevice for a number of years now, but have yet to appear here at Offutt.

I think the main purpose for these suckers were for displaying at stores and other public places, but still, for $3000, they could have build, designed, and sculpted much more realistically and accurately.

In regards to the VF-1S that came with the broken lasers, I think I recall that Toynami refused to repair or replace the damaged "figure"... <_<

In reading Drifand's poll about what people would like the 1/48 VF-1J to come with (fast packs, GBP armour, etc), it is clear that a large majority of people absolutely LOVE the GBP armour.

My question is simple: Why do you like the GBP armour so much?

Is it the best representation of ultimate kick-ass fire power for our beloved VF-1?

Is it all the opening and closing missile hatches?

Is it all the missiles that come with it?

Is it because it is simply rare as a toy/model in the last 20 years?

Is it because it simply looks damn good?

Tell me what you think.

Gotta say all of the above.

A light up cockpit?!? What will the bootleggers think up next!

Thanks for the pics, Graham!

Now I'm not too worried about Bandai rereleasing their Hikaru type VF-1S.

1/72 = 10 pcs.

1/60 = 10 pcs.

1/48 = 4 pcs.

The VF-11B may be 1/65th, but I included it with the 1/72nd (Macross Plus) toys.

Hey Apollo, how'd you get it to hold everything up? The arms on mine are all floppy.

And yeah, I gotta say it looks 100x more complete with the fin funnels and bazooka.

Vostok 7

Wedging the gun up against the shoulder and or the chest helps.

Domo arigato, Mr. Yamato, er, Graham!