C17 Globemaster Take Off

Not that I'm an expert in four engine fixed wing heavy cargo aircraft, but I know more about the subject than I do fighter aircraft or helicopters.  The C17 entered the inventory in 1993, just after I exited the inventory after flying eight years on the biggest of the big, the C5 Galaxy as a Flight Engineer.  I remember news of the C17 testing.  And I remember the news of no Flight Engineer station.  As the wave of the future, that did not play any part in my decision to exit.  The C5 will always be irreplaceable in my Air Force.
But this post is about the C17.  I think I'm over not liking it now for purely personal reasons.  And when I did see it fly up close, it is an awesome example of a heavy cargo aircraft acting like a fighter.
I did get on a C17 when out at Reno last year and had a chance to chat with the flight crew.  I took some good natured ribbing about the FE being replaced by some box with a few switches in the pilot's overhead console.  I didn't mention that pilots have been replaced for years by George, or Otto, or whatever the current name is for the auto-pilot.  No sense getting tossed on the tarmac.  Live to kid another day.   Seriously, was a great conversation with the crew.
The C17 can haul a lot of cargo.  It can load up with just over 170,000 pounds of cargo.   Like the C5, it has multiple configuration for either cargo, troops or med-evac.  There are very few places where the C17 can't operate.
When I watched the take off of this aircraft, it took me back to the days when I was on the other side of the crowd control barrier.  For an air show take off, we'd sit at the end of the runway, run up the engines to peace time maximum, sit on the brakes for a while to build up as much energy we could.   When the brakes were released, our empty aircraft would hurtle down the runway until the pilot would pull back on the column and that big cargo aircraft would leap off the runway and climb.  And climb.  And climb.  Very few rides at an amusement park could match what we were doing.
And so this C17 did the same thing.  The process to build up energy was the same, and the flight path was the same.  For a ex-cargo hauler, it was awesome to watch.

Photographically speaking this is interesting as the sky almost matches the aircraft color scheme.  Coincidence?  Maybe a camo paint job would have been better?

That's a pretty good climb angle for a cargo aircraft.