Arctic Thunder

End of July every 2 years is the time for the Alaska Air Show, named Arctic Thunder. It was held at Elmendorf Air Base, an important USAF station which guards America's back door from Russia and the Far East. Rumour has it that Air Force 1 uses Anchorage as a refuelling stop when flying the US president round the world.

This is Sylvia at the show, compete with ear plugs which are an essential fashion accessory as these planes make one hell of a roar on full throttle.


This is Alan, a bit further away from the main runway, where you could actually hear yourself think. He has our portable chairs, which we set up at the edge of the runway to view the proceedings.


This is the USA Navy flying team, Blue Angels, doing a special tribute to the loss of one of the C17 aircraft that should have been performing on the day. Earlier in the week, a C17 went down during practice, with the loss of 4 lives. The manoeuvre is called the 'Missing Man' and in the shot, one aircraft deliberately leaves the formation and leaves a symbolic gap to commemorate the missing pilots.



There were also displays by stunt flyers, a wing walker, the Canadian Snowbirds team, a helicopter troop landing, plus demonstrations of the F22 fighter and the Hawker Harrier. We watched the Harrier fly backwards, which was impressive.




The show was so good on the Saturday we went back on the Sunday and saw it all again. Weather was perfect for watching flying, with high cloud to make the sky more visible but no rain. This was a relief as Anchorage has just had the 8th wettest July on record, and it has rained nearly every day.

A great day out and a privelege to be there.

Alan & Sylvia