Van Buren Township — Even though the United States fought the British for independence 250 years ago, Andy McEwen is happy to celebrate the country’s special birthday in Michigan.
McEwen is a flight lieutenant with The Red Arrows, the British Royal Air Force’s aerobatics display team. He and his team of pilots were set to fly over crowds with trails of red, white and blue smoke streaming from their Hawk T MK1 planes on Saturday evening at Willow Run Airport for Thunder Over Michigan.
McEwen said he considers the United States “our younger brothers and sisters” in relation to Great Britain.
“We’re not here very often, and I know a lot of U.S. fans are aware of who the Red Arrows are, and so they’re absolutely thrilled to see us,” said McEwen.
The Red Arrows were one of the performances at Thunder Over Michigan, the Michigan Flight Museum’s annual air show at Willow Run. The air show, which is in its 28th year, curated this year to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday.
While the air show proceeded Friday, it did so in abbreviated fashion. Spokesperson Rob Nichols said the Friday show was ended early “after a handful of performers” because of low visibility due to wildfire smoke from Canada that engulfed the region Thursday and Friday.
But everything was “game on” for Saturday evening thanks to greater air visibility, said Nichols.
“It’s not just a thing where the fans are excited. The pilots are excited as well,” said marketing specialist Jordan Hanhilammi.
Thunder Over Michigan had 13 performances slated to soar, dive, race and barrel roll in front of the crowd that came to the airport. The acts included the U.S. Air Force F-16 Viper demo team, a big rig truck with a plane engine strapped to the back and several types of military helicopters.
Aerobatic pilot Melissa Burns and skydiver Roberta Mancino said they were excited to show the crowd their performance, which includes fireworks shooting off Burns’ Edge 540 plane and Mancino’s wingsuit.
“Usually, it’s a big warbird show. The military force is here. I was really excited for them to bring our act, which is a high-performance aerobatic and skydiving act, which is not one that you typically see at this show. So it was a real honor to be invited here, I think, in celebration of America’s 250th,” said Burns.
Before the airshow, visitors explored the insides of military planes parked at the airport. Several dozen people walked up the back ramp and milled around the inside of a C5 Galaxy airlift plane as they waited for the air teams to take off.
Nicole Bradley and her 13-year-old son Sam were two of the people exploring the plane — they traveled from Lawrenceburg, Ind. to look at the planes. Nicole said her son is into aviation.
“We just got here, but so far, it’s really cool,” said Nicole, 50. “He’s loving the Red Arrows.”
Evan Whiskin of Ontario, Canada, said he came to the airshow for photography for social media and prints. He said Thunder Over Michigan is “probably the closest” of U.S. airshows to him.
“The Red Arrows are here, F-16s are here. I’ve been to Detroit before. Why not make the journey?” said Whiskin, 18.
Asked about the show getting cut short on Friday, Whiskin said “it happens.”
“There’s nothing they could have done about it, but they did their best to make it work,” he said.
mbryan@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Thunder Over Michigan ‘game on’ Saturday after smoke cut short Friday’s air show
Reporting by Max Bryan, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Max Bryan, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
