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Impromptu Air Show Over St. Clair Shores

Propeller and jet military aircraft were seen, and heard, over St. Clair Shores this morning.

 
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Residents living near the lake were treated to an impromptu air show Friday morning as military aircraft flew over the city.

Low flying A-10 Thunderbolt jets, appearing to be on approach to Selfridge Air National Guard Base, circled the city under the low cloud deck.

Just after roar of jet engines faded away, a low flying propeller plane flew south along the shoreline. It appeared to be possibly a World War II-era plane, possibly a cargo plane.

Related Topics: Selfridge Air National Guard Base

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Edward Cardenas

10:04 am on Friday, August 10, 2012

Did you see the propeller plane fly over St. Clair Shores this morning? Can anyone identify the style of plane?

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Dan Heaton

2:12 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012

Ed: My computer won't let me zoom in on the photo for a closer look. There are no engines on the wings and it is a single tail, so that narrows it down some. I believe there is an air show this week at the base in Alpena, Mich., so it could have been a war bird on the way there.

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Edward Cardenas

5:53 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012

Thanks Dan. I couldn't zoom in with iPhone, and when I cropped it, the photo became blurry.

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Chuck Hall

12:13 pm on Saturday, August 11, 2012

Where those Thunderbolts? At first I thought Warthogs. But they were quiet compared to what I see fly over the shooting range next the the airport in Alpena. Altitude may have been a factor in the sound level.

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Simón Perazza

2:56 am on Sunday, August 12, 2012

Couple A10s did low flyover yesterday over downtown East Lansing on 8/11, couldn't find anything in news about it... Somebody in Birmingham, MI I know mentioned they had flyover they didn't know what was related to as well same day

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walden schmidt

7:04 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012

It's the DC-3 mentioned in this article : http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/article/20120811/NEWS01/208110307/Aircraft-mapping-shorelines?nclick_check=1

PORTAGE TOWNSHIP --The 1942 Douglas DC-3 painted with traditional U.S. Air Force colors has drawn a lot of curious attention at the Erie-Ottawa Regional Airport this week.
The 70-year-old aircraft is owned and operated by Airborne Imaging, a subcontractor of Northrop Grumman, and is being used to collect scientific imaging of the Great Lakes.
From June through September, the aircraft and its crew of eight will map areas from Green Bay through Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie and the Niagara River.
The data collected by several high-tech systems aboard the aircraft will accurately portray the shoreline from about 500 yards inward from the waterline to about 1,000 yards into the lake.
The information, which is gathered every five years, will be used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to support navigation, construction and regulatory functions.
Johnson said the equipment can be used to identify, map and gather information about wetlands, vegetation, sediment accumulation and movement and even species.
Gebhardt said the DC-3 will be based at the airport for at least several more weeks.
"They're using a lot of fuel," he said. "Each eight-hour mission equals about 700 or 800 gallons of fuel."
The plane features two Pratt & Whitney 14-cylinder air-cooled engines and cruises at about 160 mph.

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Edward Cardenas

8:29 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012

Thanks Walden for the information. I think it made another pass Sunday.

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Graham Rummel

10:41 am on Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Thanks for the information we've seen the plane all weekend nice looking plane

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