Sun ‘n Fun Expo

Here we go! I am a little behind in posting. This is going to be a huge post, overpacked with photos like my bike is overpacked with gear.

Welcome to the The SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo! I have never been to an airshow before and I’ve booked camping here at the Lakeland Leland Airport for the whole week.

I decided to get here a day early so that I could find a shady spot if possible. I may have been a day early, but many were here even earlier. I had checked the maps and looked at the location via satellite to try and get an idea of the layout before arriving. Turns out that didn’t matter. There were plenty of places to pitch a tent throughout the camping area and I got a nice spot between two Live Oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. These trees and others provided shade for nearly the entire day.

Right away I met some nice people in the surrounding area. A couple, Tom and Dorothy were my immediate neighbors. They had moved to Florida a couple years ago, but had lived in Colorado for 40 something years before that. Throughout the week I met some great people.

The airport itself (where the festivities were), was a healthy walk, but they had trams pulled by tractors coming around throughout the day. I took a tram to see what was going on. I was blown away. There were tons of vendors of all sorts. Some were outdoors and some in giant hangars.

In one hangar was one of my favorite motorcycle painters, David Uhl. He doesn’t only paint motorcycles, but until now I had only seen him at Sturgis. During the Sturgis Rally he sets up in nearby Deadwood, SD. David paints all sorts of paintings with a vintage Americana feel to them. Obviously at this venue his paintings were more focused on flight. A few years back, David’s former associate Danial James gave me a bunch of cool Triumph T-shirts they had designed. Danial is a great painter too. It was great to see and talk to David for a bit. I am sure I will see him again in Deadwood this August.

After walking past a bunch of vendors outside, I got to an area where beautiful vintage planes were parked. Below is “Panchito” a B-25J. This baby flew 19 missions over Japan from December 1943 to October 1944. Flying above the B-25 you can see a C-17. I’ll talk more about that in a bit.

Panchito flew once while I was there, but I only saw her from afar as I was returning to the airport after getting a new bulb for my headlamp.

Below is “Placid Lassie”. This old C-47 is a real war hero and a veteran of D-day! When I arrived she was parked right next to “Panchito”. Placid Lassie was flying daily once the airshow began. Below you can see her after she landed from a flight. Even her engine had names.

And here she makes her way back to the parking area after the flight. Those white stripes (Invasion stripes) painted on the wings and fuselage were to reduce the chance of planes getting shot down by other allied forces during WWII.

There was a close call as Placid Lassie was making her approach to the runway one day. She was escorted by a golf cart at her side. For some reason this guy decided to stop his golf cart. You can see the driver below looking straight at me in the photo. He had stopped, but the C-47 hadn’t. That wing was inches away from clipping the cart when people started screaming! The driver hit the gas just in time to avoid tragedy. Look how close! Whew!

Here is Placid Lassie with some warbird escorts.

Below we see Thom Richard after landing his TP-40N Warhawk “American Dream”. Painted in the Flying Tiger style, it was a crowd favorite. And as you will see throughout the rest of this trip, I will be wearing a Flying Tiger cap.

Real-estate under the plane’s wings were a popular spot for many folks to escape the sun’s heat throughout the week.

Our modern military had a presence at the airshow as well. Below you see a proud pilot with his Black Hawk helicopter.

Here it is in the evening with the propellers tied down.

And another Black Hawk for a medical team.

There were also a couple Chinooks on display.

I took a seat in the co-pilots seat in one of the Chinooks. I do believe I look the part. It was awesome to be able to go into these machines and look around. The military personnel were happy to answer questions and talk about their equipment.

The C-17 that I mentioned earlier put on an impressive performance. For such a beast it is incredibly agile. That sucker can lift off using only a 1/4 of the runway. It can also quickly come to a stop and go into reverse for quick drop offs and escapes in hostile territory. You have to see in action to believe it.

There were a few P-51 Mustangs at the show. Here you see Mad Max, a survivor of WWII with its proud pilot.

Another P-51 was “Crazy Horse”. This 1945 beauty made daily flights during the show.

Below you can see the Class of 45. The P-51 and Corsair coming in for a landing at sunset.

There were all types of warbirds on display and in the sky.

These 4 blurry planes coming at you performed everyday. They were fun to watch, doing many loops with lots of smoke trails.

They were sponsored by Honda but I am not sure of the type of plane they are flying. Maybe Hellcats?

At the end of each show they would line up and do a spin out in a puff of smoke.

This glider had a jet on it!

The glider put on an impressive evening show.

They lit up some hot air balloons for the night show, but they stayed tethered to the ground.

Obviously this is not a Budweiser plane, although they have been known to take flight at enormous speeds.

This happy camper was cruising on a nice old Triumph Trophy

I know the rear looked like a ’56 Ford, but there is so much more to this guys ride.

Some would camp out in the fields with their planes.

There was live music here and there. Generally one or two-piece bands. These two were rocking some blues.

These WWI planes are tiny. I suppose they were to scale. I always thought they were bigger.

I took a little time off one morning to give Bonnie a long overdue bath.

You can see the Blue Angels beyond the P-51. They had their own hangers on the other side of the main railway.

Every night at the campsite they would blow up this screen with air and show flight related films.

The first time I tried to take a photo of this jeep with camper on top, I realized that I had left my camera back on a picnic table while I was putting my shoes back on. I ran back. The camera was gone, but someone left their phone number with a fire crew nearby. I called and got it back right away. Whew!

The seated guy below was a total douchebag. He aggressively controlled an ever changing line that he imagined between the two signs on either side of the exit runway. He was hollering at everybody even they were clearly behind the direction signs. You can see one of those signs directly in front of him. I had just taken a picture of the sign, which you can only do while behind it and they guy came up to me telling me I had to move back 3 inches. “Really? 3 inches”, I asked. He said yes! Later he threatened to tackle another guy who stepped over his imaginary line. My guess is he tried to be a cop and failed the psychological exam. Wrong man for the job!

Here is the helicopter from MASH 4077th.

Below is a long runway with airplanes from past to present. I will visit this runway again later with the bike.

The airport also has a museum and some permanent aircraft on display like this Lockheed XFV experimental prototype.

Many of the airshows were pretty much the same each day, but the sky would be different each time, making it very different visually.

These guys had a good gig riding around the show all day on their bikes.

The airshow was filled with high powered, high speed mechanical beasts. This little beast below looks mechanical with its seemingly armored plating, but it moves a lot slower. It was however the talk of the campsite as much as anything else as it had visited many tents throughout the week.

Then there was the F-22 Raptor. Holy shit!

I was grinning ear to ear when this baby flew. It is a phenomenal machine.

I hadn’t noticed until I looked at my photos that he opened the bomb doors on one his passes.

On one of the days the F-22 took a celebratory flight with a P-51. It is remarkable how much technology has been developed in a relatively short period of time.

Flying a Raptor is not taken lightly. There is a formal ceremony every time this magnificent machine lands.

The pilot disembarks and salutes both soldiers standing at attention before waving at the crowd.

Below is another crazy vehicle that was driving around the Expo. It’s a jet engine on wheels that would blow bubbles out it’s rear.

The Raptor was remarkable, but the real treat of this airshow was the Blue Angels.

This would be the debut of the Blue Angels new F-18 Super Hornets. It was the first full demonstration in front of a crowd since the team retired their older Hornets.

You have to see, hear, and feel these planes to truly appreciate them.

What these pilots do with the Super Hornets is truly unbelievable.

What can I say? Just look at them. Amazing!

Then one day a rumor started going around that the Thunderbirds were going to do a fly by. It was known that they were going to be doing a show in Cocoa Beach. And sure enough, soon after the Blue Angels landed their F-18s, those F-16 Fighting Falcons went soaring past. What a treat.

On my last evening at the airshow, I am sitting around talking to a good dude I met from Colorado. His name is Scott. As we spoke we realized we must have been feet if not inches away from each other one night at Sturgis over a decade ago. It was a night when a girl was run over by a pick up truck while asleep in her tent. A gruesome scene that we were both witness to. Anyway, Scott said he was going to check out if there was an evening airshow. I asked him if he thought it would be possible to ride my bike all the way up to those planes on the runway. He looked up and said YES! That was all the encouragement I needed, why not try.

There was a security checkpoint with a lady wearing a security jacket. I rode past waving with a smile, saying hi! She said hi and waved back, so I just kept going.

After a few twists and turns I was riding around on the runway with these amazing flying machines. Then I approached the Raptors. There was a black Suburban parked to the left of them, but no one was moving.

I was surprised that no one was yelling at me. I just rode around and posed the bike next to one incredible plane after another.

I rode right up the C-17. Look at the size of that thing!

I had to introduce Bonnie to my new friend the Chinook. After all, I did take a seat behind the stick.

And finally, as I was tucked behind this F-14, a cop circled around and didn’t notice me up on the bleachers taking this photo below. I hopped on Bonnie and headed back. I ended up riding past that same security checkpoint. This time there was an older man there who yelled, “Hey, you can’t be here!” I just waved again, said OK, and rode back to the campsite.

What a thrill!