Crowds waiting in line to get in on the morning of the first day of the 2008 Huntsville Airshow. KHSV's new air traffic control tower is in the background. The weather forecast for Saturday predicted clouds and scattered showers, but it turned out to be a great day. There was enough blue sky to take some good pictures. The rain missed us, and the clouds provided interesting backdrops for the planes as well as periodic relief from the sun. The strong wind helped keep us cool as well, although I'm sure it added an unwelcome challenge to the pilots.

Blue Angels Lieutenant Commander Craig Olson's plane being prepared for the show.

Throngs of people checking out the interior of a C-17A. I watch planes of this type practice landing at KHSV all the time. It's always interesting to be able to see them up close.

Patty Wagstaff's Extra 300S. A fantastic plane for aerobatics. http://www.pattywagstaff.com/

The 'Red Eagle' Pitts biplane, a 1986 Pitts S-1T. This plane is piloted by Jacquie Warda. http://www.jacquiebairshows.com/v2/site.html.

Camping out under the enormous C-17 engines. As the day wore on, every square inch of shade under these big cargo planes became filled. I took my lunch break under this plane next to the landing gear, but otherwise stayed out in the open walking around all day. Even with SPF 30 sunblock liberally applied, I got a bad sunburn.

Tom Reilly’s B-25J medium bomber, the "Killer B".

Staff Sgt. Noah Watts led the U.S. Army parachute team, the Golden Knights, in kicking off the day's events.

U.S. Army parachute team, the Golden Knights.

The Travel Air "Mystery Ship".

Jacquie Warda in an inverted loop.

Paul Johnson revving up his Jet Van. http://www.wrightattitudes.com.

Paul Johnson on his way to 300 mph.

The ACC West Coast A-10 Demo Team's A-10 Thunderbolt flying low over KHSV.

The A-10 showing us its business side.

Heritage flight. A-10 Thunderbolt flying in formation with a P-51 Mustang.

A-10 attack!

A-10 Thunderbolt inverted.

Tom Reilly's 'Killer B' B-25J bomber in flight over KHSV.

The Red Eagle Air Sports team in action over Huntsville. http://www.redeagleairsports.com/mainframe.html.

Red Eagle pilots Dan McClung and Buck Roetman crisscrossing through the sky in their Talon Eagles.

High altitude stall and drop.

Crazy pilots.

Corkscrew maneuver in a Talon Eagle.

Matt Younkin fllying his twin Beech 18 low over the runway. The sight of this heavy touring plane performing aerobatics was amazing. http://www.younkinair.com/index.html.