A skydiver at the New York Air Show (photo: Bond Brungard)
MONTGOMERY – The United States Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team returned to the Hudson Valley Saturday during the New York Air Show at the Orange County Airport.
The F-16 Falcon, with a top speed of around 1,500 MPH has been with the Thunderbirds for more than 40 years, and the team of six aircraft fly in formations 18 inches apart during air shows.
Ed Capovami, of Glenville in the Capital Region, is a pilot and photographer who combined both passions by spending the hot afternoon in the photo pit, getting to his tripod and camera when the flybys were announced.
“Impressive, absolutely,” he said, of the Thunderbirds’ tight formations and magic in the sky. “All the Gs they’re pulling, the precision flying they’re doing, the nerves of steel. They know what they are flying. They know their aircraft, the mechanics of it. Everything.”
Before the Thunderbirds arrived and shrieked through and around the Town of Montgomery, there were demonstrations from WW II era aircraft, a B-25 Mitchell bomber, and a C-47 transport which participated in the Normandy D-Day assault in 1944.
A C-17 Globemaster, from Stewart ANG in Newburgh, made a thunderous flyby after members of the West Point Black Knights parachute team dropped out of the sky.
The air show concludes its weekend run Sunday at the Orange County Airport when the gates open at 9 a.m.
(photo: Bond Brungard)
(photo: Bond Brungard)
(photo: Bond Brungard)
(photo: Bond Brungard)