Memorial Day Weekend in NY is Magical to me, but talking about an entire weekend could take a lifetime. This is about 1 hour.
Backround-
Wanting to see Bill Reesman fly his Red Bull Mig-17, I had no idea how much impact it could really have on me. It started
when I walked up the Bill on the ramp when he arrived Monday before airshow weekend. I was talking to him about the
unknown “penny” on the T-6. After looking at my shots on one of my personal books I made, we talked about when he
used to shoot medium format photography and loved to make sure people were not in his shots. I was telling him how I
loved night photography. A few days later I was with my best friend Moose (John Musolino) and asked if it was possible to
do a flyby of the old control tower during the airshow. Bill told Moose and I that he can not put extra fuel in as per the
show, he needs to be almost empty for the routine and can not do any flybys after as he is always running low. After a
good nights rest, Bill stops by and was telling my how much he admired my shots on my website and to say I was HONORED
was the proverbial understatement of the year. This guy looks at pro's shooting airshows of his aircraft all the time and
stopped by when he was very busy and rushed prepping for an airshow to tell me how much he admired the shots on my
site. So now when we fast forward a few days,
AIRSHOW SUNDAY
He's getting ready to for airshow and starts the engines and lets it run for about 1 1/2 minute when he shuts down. I am
now really bummed as this Sexy Screaming little red flaming Mig is just eye candy for me and it seems it is not going
anywhere. I really wanted to see the burner flames as he roars down the runway again. Then I found that EVERYTHING HAS
STOPPED due to bad weather at the airshow. I now had time to go downstairs to the SheltAir FBO where my friend Lionel
always allows me to enjoy the AC and some popcorn with a fresh cup of the best coffee you ever had. I spoke with the A-
10 Demo team pilot there who told me the bad news.... NO VISIBILTIY at the beach and it looked like the airshow may be
over. At that time my very good friend Paul F Who flys the Harvard (T-6 Texan) Dazzlin Deb calls me to tell me that he is
going to do three flybys along with the American Airpower Museum’s T-6 flown by Ryan to keep the crowd at the Museum
going. He asked me if there was anything I needed and replyed asking him to dip the wing for me. As always, Paul Smiled as
I could see it thru the phone.
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Paul F. and his Harvard
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Ryan and the AAM's T-6
Now that the passes were done, I see Bill getting into his Parashoot in RECORD TIME and he Started the Mig and was
starting to taxi in like 30 seconds.... He turns on to the active and does a nice rolling start and lays on the burner and he is
gone leaving the earth quivering into submission. Man that thing is LOUD!
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After a while at Jones Beach, Bill comes back and starts his downwind. As I broke my other lens earlier during the airshow
and my best friend Moose had lent me his Canon 70-200 2.8L $1300.00 lens (LOT OF LOVE THERE as my cheap lens is only
worth about $130!) I could not wait for Bill to give me a great smoky touchdown shot as he says he PLANTS the aircraft
hard to kill 10kts immediately.......THEN HE DOES IT!
http://www.longislandwallpapers.com/..._dHBfv-L-1.jpg
http://www.longislandwallpapers.com/..._fG4R5-L-1.jpg
http://www.longislandwallpapers.com/..._wRAgK-L-1.jpg
http://www.longislandwallpapers.com/..._3WtMh-L-1.jpg
(look at how many people are watching....and is he doing this for me????)
HOLY CRAP, I COULD NOT BELEVE IT....THE NEXT DAY I still could not believe it, and still today can not. I must have
taken about 30 shots of the flyby and EVERY shot was CRYSTAL CLEAR! Mooses lens, My 40D camera THE PLANE!!!! My
True love will always be big round motors and the air-cooled redundancy of being able to loose a cylinder and still get the
pilot home. Hearing a cylinder fire, then 3 then 6 and then feeling the shutter of the rpms as all 9 cylinders roars to takeoff
power of a T-6/SNJ/Harvard is just music to my ears...but the Mig is just a screamer….but only until the burners are lit, the
it SHAKES THE WORLD. This is just 1 hour of a weekend that will be forever etched in my memory. Great friends and their
awesome toys! I still shake my head in disbelief.
There are a million more stories of big round motors and Magic from this weekend alone, but this stuff only happens at the
AAM. I do not write often as I am not good with words....but you can always check my website for my many fun pictures
of the adventures that Paul, Moose, Larry, Gary, Jim, Chris, Scott, Frank, Fred ...... and my new friend Bill Reesman take me
on.
