Today is #MarketFriday initiated by @dswigle (Denise, that's me!!) Join me as we share our markets across the globe. I stand amazed every week by the awesomeness that is sent to me. Different markets showing off the cultures of our friends here on steemit. It is always my pleasure to receive these treasures. Going places, doing things, buying merchandise. I have been surprised by many, not being familiar with the culture and I must say that it has been such an educational experience for me in so many ways; I hope for you also.

Today we will be going back to the Air Show, at Joint Base Andrews, a United States military facility located in Maryland. If you missed Part l, see here. The pictures were in sunny weather and a little better. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force 11th Wing, Air Force District of Washington, DC. They will be showing off different kinds of aircraft in the static display and some flying, along with the aerobatic teams flying through the air, with the greatest of ease. Last week, I focused mainly on the Air Forces' F-16 Thunderbird Team and showed a bit of the Navy's F-18 Blue Angel Team. I can tell you that they did not disappoint. The weather wasn't great, but, then it got worse, so the pictures were not as awesome in my opinion. That and no clouds... enough excuses, it's just life. Come on in, this time, you really need to buckle up. Keep the little girl inside of you from screaming too much, you hear me?

In all my years of going to airshows, this is a sight that I've never seen and it is the first time that it has happened in 12 years...the Air Forces Thunderbirds and the Navy's Blue Angels are both flying at the same airshow! We had the pleasure of watching the Thunderbirds start the flying portion of the show and the Blue Angels were the grand finale. In this picture, the Blue Angels have started their engines and the crew chiefs are running around accomplishing pre-flight checks with the pilots. Even for show aircraft, the preflights are a necessary safety check and these crew chiefs turn it into quite the show as they run around enthusiastically squaring corners and carrying heavy wheel chocks out at arm's length.

And They Are Off!

And if the Thunderbirds beautiful Echelon turn wasn't enough for you, here is a picture of the Blue Angels performing one also.

While this is just a simple pass, I thought it was a beautiful shot (despite the rain and now fog) of the Blue Angels number 5 solo - belly-up.

Say hello to the mighty Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. Made famous by the Flying Tigers, who flew it while volunteering with the Chinese Air Force before the US entered WWII, this sample is painted with their Famous Shark Teeth to commemorate them. There were 13,787's made (all from the Curtiss-Wright production facility in Buffalo New York) and it saw service in the Pacific theater, the China Burma India Theater and in the European/Mediterranean theaters.

Here is the KC-135, in a low-pass with its refueling boom deployed. This is what it looks like when aircraft approach it in the air to receive gas. There are actually two primary ways to inflight refuel, this is a flying boom and the other is probe-and-drogue. With this flying boom, there is a "boomer" in the aircraft that is actively flying the boom, such that the receiver flies into close formation with the tanker, and the boomer flys (or steers) the boom into the receiver's receptacle. Not all pilots are Thunderbird pilots, but the pressure's on when refueling. Even though they might be in the clouds, at night or in turbulence, they need to stay within a small "box" behind the tanker, or the boom limits will be exceeded, the boom will disengage and they won't get their gas. To assist, there are lights on the bottom of the fuselage (the lighter marks under the back line on the fuselage in front of the engines and again, below the wings) that will provide visual signals to the receiver when normal visual references aren't available (night/weather etc.) and the boom itself is color-coded to help with fore/aft positioning. You can see the red and yellow paint on the extended boom, which is marking the inner limits of the boom. Get closer than the red and the boomer will disconnect you to avoid letting you shove the probe into the boom. Just above the yellow marking is a green area that marks the ideal fore/aft location, then there are identical yellow/red markings on the probe to tell the pilot he is getting too far and might lose his connection. If you look at the blister just forward of where the boom connects to the fuselage, that is where the boomer lays on his stomach and looks out a window so that he/she can visually fly the boom. The KC-135 is also set up to add Md32B hose-drogue pods on its wingtips to allow it to refuel aircraft that use the probe-and-drogue refueling system.

While the mighty KC-135 Stratotanker has been operationally passing gas (in flight!) since Jun 1957, it also drinks a lot! With the four thirsty CFM-56 turbofan engines that are retrofitted into the "R Model," it has over 86,000 pounds of thrust available, enabling it to carry up to 200,000 pounds of "transfer gas", up to 83,000 pounds of cargo (and 37 passengers), or a mix of both. The KC-135 has an operational range of 1,500 miles with 150,000 pounds of "transfer gas", or if it wants to use all its gas itself, it's range goes up to 11,000 miles.

The airshow provided a close up look at this DC Air National Guard F-16 Viper. In service since 1978, the F-16 started out as a low tech primarily daytime multirole fighter (air superiority and air to ground) and has evolved into a very capable, all-weather 4+ generation fighter. There have been over 4,600 built and they are in service in over 25 countries throughout the world. Though few remember this bit of trivia, the General Dynamics YF-16 was selected after a fly-off of against the Northrop YF-17 in 1974. About 10 years later, the YF-17 was re-engined with a more powerful engine, made carrier ready and was sold to the US Navy as the F/A-18.

This cute little birdie is a Stinson L-5 Sentinel. The Sentinels were utilized during WWII for reconnaissance, observation, liaison, artillery spotting and as air ambulances. The Gayle Ann looks to have been utilized for off-shore observations as it is marked with having spotted one Japanese ship and 15 submarines. This easy to fly aircraft could land almost anywhere and stay airborne longer than most pilots bladder could.

Until the Soviets made their copy of this mighty airlifter (the AN-124 Ruslan - NATO name: Condor), the C-5 Galaxy was the largest aircraft in the sky. It can haul twice as much cargo as any other airlifter. Think six Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) or six AH-64 Apache Longbow attack helicopters! Or maybe two M1 Abrams main battle tanks or one M1 and two M2/M3 Bradley fighting vehicles. This is the pinnacle of global mobilization. You can load it by lifting the nose, opening the clam doors on the rear and driving the load straight in while the previous load drives out the other end. It is only 50 feet shorter than an American football field with a cargo deck longer than the Wright Brothers initial flight at Kitty Hawk NC. Unlike most other airlifters that can be converted into troop carriers, the primary mission of the Galaxy is to haul equipment over intercontinental distances. This doesn't mean it can't carry passengers, it just won't be its primary mission and the troops don't ride in the unpressurized cargo area. The C-5's have an aft facing passenger area above the cargo deck that has 73 airline style seats permanently installed.

I consider the Echelon turn to be one of the most beautiful formation passes. While you can't see it, from this viewpoint, each aircraft is at the same altitude and flying off the aircraft "in front" of it. Before they start the Echelon turn and when they roll out, they are in a line abreast formation. This formation is utilized on a daily basis by fighters all over the world as they maneuver into overhead traffic patterns to come up initial and pitch out to land. Recovering as a formation allows quicker recovery times than individual aircraft (air traffic control treats each flight as if it were a single aircraft and don't worry about separation distances like they do with individual aircraft), which is important when you consider how much gas they consume.

While the Thunderbirds try really hard to make their formations look perfect to the viewing area (that's why they fly so close to each other), in this case, they are performing a Diamond 360 Solo Rejoin. In this maneuver, the main formation starts a level 360 degree turn in front of the audience and while they make one turn, the two solo's race in with afterburners going to rejoin before the turn is over. Here they are in the final phase of slipping into the Delta Formation.

The Shockwave is a sight to be seen and a sound to be heard. It is a custom built race truck with three Pratt & Whitney J-34-48 jet engines. With a combined 21,000 pounds of thrust, the Shockwave team regularly races aircraft down runways at airshows and they typically exceed 350 mph on these short fast races! Very entertaining, look the Shockwave up on the internet and watch the videos

The MV-22 Osprey was developed as a cross between a "normal fixed-wing aircraft" and a helicopter. As you can see the propellers are huge (too big to be vertical on the ground) and the engines rotate from basic level to up and down. This allows those oversized propellers to power the aircraft like a helicopter to take off and land vertically and then rotate the level to use the propellers in a more conventional airplane, providing much greater cruise speed and distance than a helicopter. The MV-22 can carry 24 combat troops at 350 mph and has a range of about 1,000 miles. Plenty to support the Marines amphibious mission.


Let's not forget to pick up a trinket or two! It is #MarketFriday!!!

A flower. There must always be a flower to color my world. This picture is dedicated to #FridaySkyBlue #ColorChallenge by @Kalemandra, who colors my world. Every. Single. Day.

Some things in life are worth doing it again.
The exactness of that feeling will never come again
But, the joy?
Does it matter when the joy is still there?

It is nice to have a fresh voice, day in, day out.
But the charm of elevating this day trumps finding another to take its place.
Have you seriously looked for a blue flower in this season?
Happy are those that did.

Please leave the link to your post here so it can easily be found by others. It helps you and me to have them in one place. Where else can you take such a quick trip around the globe? Thank you so much for joining us!! ❤

And just like that, the airshow is done. I hope you had a good time! As always, I want to thank you for taking the time to visit #MarketFriday!! Thank you for supporting the challenge! Have a most fabulous day!

Let the sun shine in on your life
So the joy may touch your soul



Fridays are all about the #MarketFriday Challenge! Looking to take part in it? Here is how:

How to Participate:

1. Go to the market! Any market will do! Food, Clothing, Plant or Animal, if you wish. You can go to the zoo or an art auction. Anywhere or anything that you pay money for a service. I once went to a nail salon.
2. Take pictures! Be creative (or not)
3. Tell us a little bit about the market, what brought you here?
4. Post the picture(s)
5. Don’t forget to hashtag it! #MarketFridayChallenge by @dswigle

It is always interesting to see the different markets around the globe! C’mon! Show me your market shots! I eagerly await them!

I have been discovering new places, some right in my own area! This week, I discovered a new farmers market that will be a walkable distance! I find that super exciting! I love to share and be shared with! I am intrigued by different cultures. It is exciting and yes! I would love to see yours! Don't forget to take photos wherever you happen to be shopping - whether it be the grocery store, the local marketplace or even an art gallery, a kite festival! Wherever money is exchanged for a service or for merchandise. Be different if you wish! It does not have to be a traditional market! We will love it! I promise you! Don't forget to use the hashtag #MarketFriday and @dswigle.

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

---

Thank you for visiting my post 💖 Because of you, I come back to post again and again, I am encouraged by you, for the time you take to visit, comment or even upvote. For all of these reasons, I am eternally grateful. Don't ever forget what a wonderful world we live in, people. Let's hold hands around the globe and make this earth really spin. Some days, it is not as easy to see, how wonderful it really is. Kindness counts. Wherever you go, whatever you do.

I always post this poem down at the bottom of my posts. It is one that has become so near and dear to my heart. I only post the most famous part of it, but, wanted to post it in its entirety today.

they set my aunts house on fire
i cried the way women on tv do
folding at the middle
like a five pound note.
i called the boy who use to love me
tried to ‘okay’ my voice
i said hello
he said warsan, what’s wrong, what’s happened?

i’ve been praying,
and these are what my prayers look like;
dear god
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.

later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered,
"where does it hurt?"
it answered,

"everywhere"
"everywhere"
"everywhere"

warsan shire

#Steemusa is a growing community of quality-content people from the United States or those living here. Check us out on Discord!