Shawfest 2010

On May 9 I headed over to Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, SC for ShawFest, an annual open house and air show. There were all sorts of aircraft on the ground available for close inspection and many aerial demonstrations throughout the day. And the weather could not have been finer for spending a day outside!

It's amazing how complex even just the landing gear mechanism is.






Part of a team of 4 women skydivers.




Old meets new - a WWII-era P51 Mustang and a present-day F-16 flying together.




Look closely and you'll see a crazy wing walker on top of the plane.




The featured attraction was the Air Force Thunderbirds. Just a couple of weeks prior I'd gotten to see their Navy counterparts, the Blue Angels, perform in Charleston, so it was interesting to compare and contrast the two teams. Both were extremely impressive.






















On my way out I captured my first military base post office for my collection!


The crowd was estimated at around 80,000, so departing was an exercise in patience. It probably would have been worthwhile to cut out a bit early, or either take a book and chair and enjoy an hour of reading before joining the queue.

It was a very enjoyable and well-run event, and I'll definitely plan on going again in the future.