Home»Andrew Thomas»2007 Airshows / Events»2007 East Coast Rhino Demo Team - Part 2

In July of 2007 I was privileged enough to be the “unofficial” photographer for the East Coast Rhino Demo team at the Cape Girardeau Regional Air Fest. In the weeks after that airshow I spoke with LT Desplinter (TC) about being their photographer for another airshow. Unlike say the US Navy’s Blue Angels, the single ship tactical demonstration teams operate on a shoe string and thus don’t have a dedicated photographer. I was more than happy to take this task upon myself, and hopefully be able to document at least a portion of the team’s activities for the 2007 airshow season, if for anything as a small way of saying “thanks” for their service to our country.

I decided that I would head down to the Dallas-Forth Worth area in October and shoot the Rhino team again. TC coordinated with the airshow media rep and got not only myself but my trusty assistant, Allen, media credentials for the 2007 Fort Worth Alliance airshow.

Allen and I arrived at the Alliance airport on Friday morning October 19th, in time to catch the team recovering from their morning demo practice. This gave us an opportunity to meet the rest of the team, including LT. David Cassilia (SH8) who was an awesome host giving my a guided tour of Rhino’s front office and WSO office. Once the rest of the media had been cleared out it was time to launch for the afternoon practice before the Blue’s got in the air. While TC and LT. Foley (Stigs) were suiting up for the flight, we noticed hundreds of these tiny baby spiders floating on a bit of spider web in the wind. The air was thick with them, and much to Stigs dismay had invaded the backseat of her Super Hornet. It was quite comical seeing this steely eyed warrior (who had previously been with the legendary VFA-103 Jolly Rogers) getting quite excited about the spiders in her office. TC and Stigs put on a great practice demo, I was like a kid in a candy shop getting to photograph the team.

Saturday started early, the team had relocated the demo jet just down the ramp from where the Blue Angels were parked and would launch from there and recover back on the taxi way hot ramp with the rest of the single ship demo jets. SH8 and LT Hammond (Jitta) flew the Saturday demo, again I was beyond words being able to be in the thick of the action while the team was launching. Allen and I had to get creative in how we’d get back to the ramp where the Rhino team would recover, but thanks to conveniently finding an unmanned golf cart we were able to get back to the ramp in time to catch our team recovering.

Sunday would mark TC and Jitta’s last flight with the demo team. Allen and I once again got to the jets early, beating the team by about an hour, but spending the early morning on the hot ramp with a couple of Super Hornet’s is not a bad thing. Both TC and Jitta were more than gracious as I followed them during their donning their gear and preflighting the jet. It was noticeable the sense that this was their last demo flight and they wanted to savor every moment. Jitta even commented that he’d gotten so famous he now had his own paparazzi. The action during startup, launch, demo, and recovery was fast furious. TC was enjoying his last flight and in spite of my constant nagging to slow the photo pass up a bit, he came in every bit as fast as the high speed pass. With their recovery, that completed their portion of the 2007 Fort Worth Alliance airshow. As they had all season, the East Coast Rhino Demo Team put on a fantastic show, and gave a fantastic showcase of the US Navy’s Super Hornet’s capabilities.

I am deeply honored to have been able to document the activities of the East Coast Rhino team. I am flattered beyond words in their trust of my abilities. I wish them, and their families all the best and hope that these words and photos are a small thanks for all they do for our country.

A BIG thanks goes out to the 2007 East Coast Rhino Demo team from Strike Fighter Squadron 106 based at NAS Oceana VA.

LT John "TC" Desplinter
LT Matt "SHILOC" Morton
LT Stacy "Stigs" Foley
LT Josh "JTITA" Hammond
LT Dave “SH8” Cassilia

The maintenance crew for this show was:

AW Becker
AN Morton
AW Sankoh