Columbus AFB

Columbus AFB is located in the east side of Mississippi near the border with Alabama, 10 miles north of the downtown Columbus, and 130 miles west of Birmingham. The Columbus AFB Air Show was not very crowded since there are no big cities near the base. There were a lot of space available for general public near the runway. The weather was nice without any clouds during the day. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds flow in the end.

F-22A Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22A Raptor

The F-22 is the next generation air superiority fighter for the US Air Force, replacement for the F-15. A stealth technique is applied to the airframe, so its shape looks strange. Weapons are carried in weapon bays also to reduce radar cross section.

I saw a real flying F-22 for the first time in this airshow.

F-15E Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle

The F-15E did a steep climb after the take-off using its afterburners. An afterburner is an additional component added to some jet engines to provide a temporary increase in thrust. However, it consumes a lot of fuel. Shock diamonds are generated in the jet engine exhaust.

Heritage Flight

An F-15E, A-10, P-51 and P-47D flied in the Heritage Flight in this show.

SB2C-5 Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver

The Helldiver was a dive bomber and first flied in 1940. The airplane is perfectly in the center of the picture by chance, which was just resized but not cropped.

F-117 Lockheed Martin F-117A Nighthawk

The F-117A became famous during the Gulf War as a stealth fighter. However, it serves more like as an attacker. Although typical attackers need fighters to escort them to their targets, the F-117 can fly to a target alone owing to the low radar visibility.

The shape of the airframe is the combination of flat surfaces and is not aerodynamically efficient. It seems that the stealth technique was not matured since the F-117A was developed before the F-22. New aircraft adopt fly-by-wire systems, which allow aerodynamically unstable designs to be used.

Texan I and II Texan I & II

The new and old Texans flied in formation. They are trainers.