Road Trip – Destination: Thunder

Catherine had to back out of the trip to Thunder Over Michigan this year, so I made the trip solo. I decided to take two days to make the trip and photograph some roadside attractions of the aviation variety.

Below is a summary of my trip to Thunder. The links to the full photo albums may be found via…
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Travelogue.html#2007

Starting at 7 AM last Thursday (July 5 th), I left Ottawa for New York state.

American Legion Post 601
Parish, New York, U.S.A.
I crossed the Ontario/New York border near Prescott and headed in the direction of Syracuse. My first way-point was the legion hall in Parish where a AH-1 is displayed pole mounted.

American Legion Post 915
Central Square, New York, U.S.A.
After leaving Parish I traveled a short distance south to Central Square. I heard an F-86 was displayed in the area, but could not find it using Google Earth. The reason it may have been difficult to find is that it is parked under a large tree. The airframe appeared to be in good shape except for some damage to part of the wind screen.

Mohawk Valley B-52 Memorial
Rome, New York, U.S.A.
I then headed east from Central Square to Gnome in search of a large warbird, a B-52. I found it displayed in a memorial park on the former Griffiss AFB. It is an imposing airframe.

USS Oriskany Memorial
Oriskany, New York, U.S.A.
I didn’t have to travel far after leaving Gnome to find the villiage of Oriskany. It was about a half an hour drive to the east south-east. Displayed prominently in the centre of the villiage is a memorial to the USS Oriskany which includes an A-4 Skyhawk.

American Legion Post 34
Shortsville, New York, U.S.A.
After leaving Oriskany I traveled to Syracuse to try to view the aircraft at the ANG. Unfortunately they are not accessible to the public, so I continued west along I-90 to Shortsville where I found the F-86 at the legion there. It is painted in an odd light blue colour which I thought was strange until I noticed the nearby water tower was painted the same colour. Hmmmmm…… Anyway, it was raining quite heavily at the time, so I just snapped a few photos from inside the car.

American Legion Post 8495 – Freedom Hill Memorial
Perinton, New York, U.S.A.
After leaving Shortsville I traveled west on the I-90 for a short distance then north into Rochester to find the suburb of Perinton. There I found a UH-1 Iroquois displayed as part of a war memorial. It was a very well maintained park and very much shows the dedication of the local legion post.

Vintage Aircraft Group
Albion, New York, U.S.A.
I then returned to the I-90 for a short distance, getting off to visit the airport at Batavia. I had no luck finding the new organization Genesee Warbirds so I turned north to albion to look for the Vintage Aircraft Group. I found them at the airport but they were closed. With lightning in the area I wasted no time photographing their T-33 and ran back to the car as a heavy rain started to fall.

Water M. Kenney Field
Tonawanda, New York, U.S.A.
I stopped for dinner, at a rest stop along the I-90, then continued my trip by traveling to Buffalo. It was in the suburb of Tonawanda that I managed to find a baseball/soccer field with a F9F on display. This one appears to have been maintained over the years with liberal coats of paint, but is obviously used as a piece of playground equipment which is no surprise as there is a play structure nearby. Not the best example of the F9F I have seen, but at least it is preserved.

Town of Wheatfield Highway Department
Wheatfield, New York, U.S.A.
I then headed north to find Wheatfield, a suburb of Niagara Falls. There I found the municipal garage with a UH-1 on display. The machine is in decent shape except for the fact birds have found a way inside.

Niagara Falls ANG
Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.A.
Another short hop, this time to the west placed me at the Niagara Falls airport, home to the ANG. Although not accessible to the public, a few of the airframes can be viewed from public areas, although not well. I
photographed what I could. Since it was now after 7 PM, representing 12 hours of warbird hunting, I called it quits for the day and crossed the border back into Ontario where I overnighted.

I was up and on the road by 8 AM on Friday (July 5th) to continue the trip to Thunder.

American Legion Post 4
Mount Clemens, Michigan, U.S.A.
I headed west along the 401 to Windsor where I crossed the border into Detroit. I then took a bit of a side trip north to the Detroit suburb of Mount Clemens to photograph the F-101 at the legion hall there.

Freedom Hill Park
Sterling Heights, Michigan, U.S.A.
A short drive to the south west put me in Sterling Heights where I found a F-4 and UH-1 displayed. I took a few photos of course.

The next stop was Thunder Over Michigan in Belleville. I am working on those photos, but before I do I need to add captions with aircraft serials, etc. to the albums above. I will try an do that tonight, but I am off for Geneseo tomorrow morning, so it may take a bit longer.

Looking forward to any questions or comments you may have.

Mike