So far the airshow had been interesting but not really ‘awe-inspiring’. That was now about the change as the US Navy F/A-18 started to roll down the runway. The NY Air Show website describes the F/A-18 as follows:

The Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet is a twin-engine fighter aircraft based on the original McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet also known as the “Legacy Hornet.” The Super Hornet is a larger and more advanced version of the legacy hornet. The Super Hornet has an internal 20 mm rotary cannon and can carry air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface weapons. The Super Hornet entered service with the United States Navy in 1999, replacing the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, which was retired in 2006.

The Super Hornet is largely a new aircraft and is about 20% larger in size than the legacy Hornet. The Super Hornet carries 33% more internal fuel, increasing mission range by 41% and endurance by 50% over the Legacy Hornet. The Super Hornet’s radar cross-section was reduced greatly making it harder to detect by enemy radar. The design of the engine inlets reduces the aircraft’s frontal radar cross-section. The alignment of the leading edges of the engine inlets is designed to scatter radiation to the sides. Fixed fanlike reflecting structures in the inlet tunnel divert radar energy away from the rotating fan blades.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I hadn’t been to an airshow since I was a child and I’d never seen such fast and powerful aircraft “in the flesh” as it were. It was really something.

Taking Off.

High Speed Turn.

Climbing.