Date: March 24, 2007
Location: Tyndall AFB, Panama City, Florida
Story by: Greg Witmer
Photography by: Greg Witmer (except as noted)

The highlights for me from this show were:

This was the last official public display for the QF-4E flown at this show. Due to the high time airframe hours, this QF-4E will be converted into a target drone and eventually be destroyed in target practice. The QF-4E made several solo passes in front of the crowd including a slow pass with gear, flaps and slats hanging out.

Patty Wagstaff has a brand new paint scheme on her Extra 300S for the 2007 airshow season. This is Patty’s first airshow of the year and she really wowed the crowed with her high energy aerobatic display.

This was the first official public airshow for the F-22A Raptor Demo Team from Langley AFB, Virginia. Major Paul “Max” Moga flew a Tyndall F-22A Raptor and the crowd really went crazy watching the high performance fighter lift off and go straight up into the vertical at airshow center. This was followed by several high performance maneuvers before finally ending with a high speed photo pass.

A very interesting four-ship Heritage Flight consisting of an F-86, QF-4E, F-16, and the F-22 made 3 passes (diamond pass right to left, echelon left to right, and a 4 ship break pass that started from behind the crowd).

There was a secondary 1st time Heritage Flight consisting of Dale “Snort” Snodgrass in the F-86 and a T-33A owned by Fowler “Big Dog” Cary and flown by Lt Col. Jerry “Jive” Kerby that made a few passes in front of the crowd.

The Blue Angels flew a wonderful routine to close the show on Saturday afternoon. This was the first time since 2002 that the Blue Angels have performed at Tyndall. The Blues have added a few “new” maneuvers to their show so watch for them if get the chance.

Photo captions left to right: (1) Team Aerostars. (2) Blues Diamond. (3) Blues Echelon. (4) Another shot of the Blue Angel Echelon. (5) F-22 Photo Pass. (6) F-22 taxi. (7) F-86 and T-33. (8) The USAF Heritage Flight. (9) Patty's New Paint (photo by Stan Piet). (10) QF-4 High Speed Pass. (11) QF-4 Inverted. (12) QF-4 Slow Pass. (13) QF-4 Static.