L-29 Thunder Delfins

[ChrisC]

Got a chance to do some air-to-air with the Thunder Delfins.   They are a local demo team here in southern California based out of March Air Force Base.

[ChrisC]

This guy's L-29 was just immaculate!

[Jorgo]

They look pristine.  Did you do any aerobatics?

[tvrphoto]

From what I recall at the March ARB show, they simply flew by in various formations.  No aerobatic stuff.

I did contact the lead pilot before the show as well as had a discussion during the show about doing some promo stuff for them.  After finding out they were not an aerobatic team, but rather a local flying club...for now anyway, it was determined promo stuff would be a waste of time and money.  No L-29 flight that weekend.  Besides, we would have to find a 5th aircraft for the photography.

Great shots Chris

[ChrisC]

Hi all!

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner but was way on vacation.

Basically what is happening is, I know the guy who heads this group up and they are trying to get more firmly seated into the airshow circuit.  They are planning on attending the ICAS (International Council of Air Shows) convention and needed a 1 min video clip to send in. 

Unfortunately  the video was due by the 30th of July and they came to me on the eve of the 25th.   So I had one day to shoot video and one to edit 35 min of raw footage to 1 min plus my normal job...I hated every minute of it. 

I took my Canon D60 up with me as well and in between video shots took some stills.

As Tyson stated they have limited their "shows" to fly-bys and pull-ups but I think they are trying  to portray a different image now.   

For the video it was really simple stuff like breaks, aileron rolls, and roll-overs.   Tried to get them to do some loops or vertical stuff but they politely declined.   The maneuver that Mike is refering to was the best out of the lot.  Basically we started out with 3 ships line-abreast and then took the photo ship and did a roll over the line from left to right ending up trailing and low.   It was pretty awesome and was able to get about 75% on video until we started rolling on the bottom.

I'll try and get the video down to something managable and see if Mike can host it for me.   

I really hated it, I mean having to shoot photos, video, fly around in jets, and get paid for it....I think I would rather do my day job....NOT!!

[tvrphoto]

Well, the good news is that if they get their act together, so to speak, they along with the Airshows America Patriots will both have a four-ship team next year.  California will have the only two North American civilian run 4-ship jet teams.  I guess you could say it's the Northern Lights of the next generation.

Having just gotten off the phone with the lead pilot for the Patriots (there goes that name-dropping again!), ha says they plan on running red, white and blue smoke for the Santa Rosa show.  Sounds nifty!

[Steve-D]

I would love to see these guys up here in Canada. They'll be an asset to the airshow circuit even if they don't do the whole aerobatic thingy. Hope they aren't too expensive?

This is the first post for me on this website. I've been reading the posts and viewing the pictures since it was launched and I must say the contributing photographers are aviation photo gods. All the pictures are simply gorgeous to look at, and some of them make it seem like you are seeing it live so to speak. Simply outstanding.  Thanks for the video Chris and Roger.

I'll have to post a few of my own pics soon.

Cheers

FJJ - Steve

[Tonyz]

Steve,

Welcome to Fence Check.  Your kind words about the photos/photographers are appreciated!  Now get to posting some of yours!

 

Tony

[Roger]

Welcome on board Steve, thanks for the kind words and hope to see some of your work soon.

Roger

[Flying Buckeye]

The first picture is From Dayton 2007.


The second and third pictures are from Louisville 2008.