Thunder Over Michigan – Eleven Corsairs!!!

Of the fourteen Corsairs originally scheduled to attend the Yankee Air Museum’s Thunder Over Michigan Air Show over this past weekend, eleven were able to take part, which is an incredible feat given the circumstances, and certainly the largest number of Corsairs in one place since the 1960s. It is hard to argue that this show won’t be talked about for many years to come… the sight and sound of those magnificent eleven Corsairs will be present in the mind of everyone who attended for a very long time indeed.

The Magnificent Eleven included the following Corsairs…

FG-1D Bu.67089 – Elenville, LLC

FG-1D Bu.92468  – Commemorative Air Force – Dixie Wing 

FG-1D Bu.92471 – Mid America Flight Museum

FG-1D Bu.92508 – Military Aviation Museum

F4U-4 Bu.97143 – Jim Tobul

F4U-4 Bu.97388 – Wings Of The North

F4U-5NL Bu.122179 – Collings Foundation

F4U-5NL Bu.121881 – Lone Star Flight Museum

F4U-5N Bu.123168 – Fighters & Legends

F4U-5NL Bu.124560 – John French

F4U-7 Bu.133722 – Erickson Aircraft Collection

Not to be outdone by the bentwing birds though, there were at least eight P-51 Mustangs on hand as well… their presence helped in part perhaps by the fact that so many of them had also attended EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019 just a week before. To have so many WWII fighters at the show was special indeed, but let’s not forget the bombers either, which included a pair of B-25 Mitchells (B-25D Yankee Warrior and B-25J Georgie’s Gal) and the locally based B-17G Yankee Lady.

There were also roughly two dozen modern military aircraft at Thunder Over Michigan as well, from the US Air Force and Navy, to the German Luftwaffe and Royal Canadian Air Force!

For those interested in WWII armour, there were a number of interesting vehicles from both German and American sides on display… and in action!

And we couldn’t let things go without some more Corsair Action!!! Here are some great shots from Greg Morehead!

The Yankee Air Museum are to be commended for putting on a marvellous show this past weekend… would that we all could have attended! Many thanks to Greg Morehead and George Land for the images in this article!

For those who love Corsairs, or simply vintage military aviation, you might like to check out the highly detailed article (written by your editor) about the last surviving Brewster-built Corsair in the most recent issue of Warbird Digest below…