If there is one thing that gets me excited, it is Air Force Jets and helicopters. It has nothing to do with the movie Top Gun, but more that I have a personal connection to an AF pilot and previously covered Moody Air Force base while working at my previous station.  So, when I got word months ago that the Bluebonnet Air Show was coming to town, I immediately decided that I must cover it!

A lot of people would think an air show in Burnet wouldn’t bring in big planes, but it was AWESOME!  Look at the shot of the engines on the back of the A-10s.  I can remember trying to fall asleep in Valdosta, Georgia, and hearing these Warthogs go rumbling through the air.  The screeching noise is something you cannot forget.

I traded the Ford Escape news truck for this baby!

The DC-3 Bluebonnet Belle also made a cameo.  This airplane has a great deal of history.  Do you know that the DC-3 was the only aircraft to serve with all major WWII combatants?  Paratroopers would pack inside and jump into enemy territory.  The Highland Lakes Squadron purchased her in 2002.  She was in shabby shape and needed work before she hit the runway.  Now, she rolls down the runway in Burnet like she owns the place.

Bluebonnet Belle

For the queasy folks who couldn’t stomach the twists and turns stunt pilots were doing mid-air, there were restored military vehicles at the show too.  I couldn’t resist sitting in this old Jeep!  Inside, there were  old school helmets, gloves and even a push-button clutch.  Isn’t it amazing that Jeeps, although they have been around for decades, still retain their shape and same round headlights?  The Jeep’s style has evolved, but, not by much.

I feel like I am on the set of MASH

No, the Blue Angels weren’t there and no, I didn’t get special reporter perks and get to fly in a plane. I did, however, get to jump into a standard issue flight suit and sat in the cockpit of a fighter jet.  The most surprising part to me was how small it was. I am not complaining about leg room on a commercial flight ever again.  And, because I am a total child, I had to touch all of the buttons, especially the red ones.  No worries, the cockpit was actually just that…a cockpit that had been cut out of a fighter jet.  There was no danger by touching the buttons.

Congressman Lamar Smith, R-Texas (Courtesy: U.S. House of Representatives)

As a Hollywood success can tip its hat to Texas, money from movies is apparently helping one lawmaker from the Lone Star State. In the same week the western remake True Grit (see Josh’s Living Off The Air blog post about this movie) made its lucrative debut with scenes from Blanco, Austin, and Granger, U.S. News and World Report lists Congressman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, as one of the entertainment industries Top 25 “Favorite Lawmakers.”

Smith, who hails from San Antonio, serving the state’s 21^st Congressional district, is the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chair. The publication says the TV, movie, and music industry gave $79,550 in campaign money since 2009.

The Congressman falls at #23 on the list. $59,500 came from PACs, according to the report. Another $20,050 came from individuals associated with the industry.

Looking at the U.S. House and Senate as a whole, this industry gave these amounts to political campaigns since 2009:

• Democrat – $7,863,075
• Republican – $3,512,261
• Independent – $52,850

The following Texas lawmakers made the Top 100:

• #23 Congressman Lamar Smith, R-Texas – $79,550
• #42 Congressman Joe Barton, R-Texas – $54,500
• #52 Congressman Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas – $47,000
• #67 Michael McCaul, R-Texas – $40,700