This was no ordinary day - June 29, 2008

This was the most extraordinary day to celebrate my 64th birthday. A day I will always remember. My sister, Maureen gave me VIP Tickets to attend the Rhode Island National Guard Open House and Airshow at the Quonset Airbase in North Kingstown, RI with John and Mark.

The Rhode Island National Guard Open House and Airshow was established in 1992 as a major community event that everyone from the region could be proud of and enjoy. The airshow offers the finest aerial and static displays along with activities for people of all ages. This show has operated for 16 consecutive years and was taking place this year on 28-29 June, 2008.

We were guests of Chelo's Restaurant and would be in their private chalet to view the Air show.When we arrived at 9:30am a breakfast buffet was being served. There was fruit salad, muffins, pastries, juices and coffee. The tables were set with this beautiful centerpiece which Lori, an outstanding Chelo employee, allowed me to take home as a birthday gift.This was going to be an extremely hot day, already it was 76. I am sure before noon we would need to be sitting under the tent, especially since we did not bring any hats. I did find a a sponsor in the next chalet that allowed me to have some plastic visors.The Airshow began at 10:00am with the National anthem being sung. The first performer
was Team Oracle featuring Sean D. Tucker and his son, Eric Tucker. Sean named as one of the Living Legends of Flight is the world’s only pilot to perform a triple ribbon cut. He flies through the ribbons at 220 mph in right knife-edge for the first ribbon, then left knife-edge and finally inverted. The ribbons are only 25 feet off of the ground and 750 feet between each set. He has been flying airshows world-wide since the mid-70’s and has won numerous aerobatic competitions. In that time, Sean has flown more than 1000 performances at more than 425 airshows, in front of more than 80 million fans.

Marine Corps have more aircraft than you may suspect! The Marine Corps supports aerial requests at events all over the country, providing flyovers at air shows, professional sporting events and more. We saw the Harrier-AV/8B, the Marine Corps' demonstration aircraft-with its short and vertical take-off and landing capabilities. Attaining aerial support from the Marine Corps for your public event .

The Black Daggers are the official U.S. Army Special OperationsCommand Parachute DemonstrationTeam. Their mission is to perform live aerial demonstrations in support of Army Special Operations community relations and recruiting.

Wherever the ShockwaveJet Truck, goes, it’s sure to get attention and plenty of publicity. The truck’s best performance holds the current Guinness Book of World Records at 376 mph on a two-mile runway."Stand her straight up and she'll pick up 3 g's, the same as what the NASA space shuttle will do."


It is now lunch time and the Chelo employees bring out some more delicious appealing platters.

It is now getting very hot, the temp is in the mid 90's . This is a 6 hour Air Show and I have many more performers to tell you about and many more photos. I will continue the Airshow on another blog. I will also tell you how that centerpiece saved me..........