The Saturday did not start paticularly well with long queues to enter the onsite parking which came as part of the premier seating package ( entry is free ) all caused by ID checks and dog sniffers before entering the base/car park. I dont know how the offsite parking went but it did seem to be causing a few issues on the first day at least. That being said, as opposed to the full NCIS treatment for foreigners ( aliens?? ) at the MCAS shows at Miramar and Yuma this was literally a case of wave your passport at the nearest official and on you go.
You know its going to be a good day when the first thing you see is 4x F-15 tails in the static belonging to a mixture of C and E Mountain Home, Idaho and Portland, Oregon ANG based examples, one being the stunning 'Sandman' scheme and it didnt let up in the static especially for us overseas visitors. A Top Aces Mig Kill F-16 was next round the corner followed by an ATAC Mirage F1, a magnificent tiger striped Tactical Air F-5 and a whole host of other goodies, many in special paint schemes. A rather unexpected participant was the Arizona Cardinals taxi, a 777-200 adorned in the teams colours, which was parked close to the local ANG tanker bird from the 161st ARW in a beautiful Copperheads scheme ( parked close to a T-33 in a similar colours ). In the same taxiway were several representatives from the Singapore Air force resplendent in their Peace Carvin' motifs ( inc an AH64 from the same country ). And that is without mentioning the numerous European F-35's ( Norwegian, Dutch, Italian and Danish ), NASA F-18 and Canadian CF-188's, Beale U2S and T-38, and a host of HH-60 variants, one in a fab Vietnam era scheme.....So much to see so little time.
If they werent enough the flying display was also top notch with a particular highlight being the 56th FW CAD demo with F-16's ( Holloman based? ) ,F-35's and A-10's popping flares a plenty. Like the Miramar MAGTF demo's it was constant action in front of you and the flare pop's really helped in the respect. The A-10 demo in its final year was awesome with two stunning paint schemes in the Memphis Belle and Blacksnake schemes ( the snake was used on Sat ) and this item will really be missed on the display circuit. The C-17 demo, Kirby Chambliss Edge 540, the Nathan Hammond Super Chippy, Red Thunder Yak 50's and Greg Collyer T-33 displays all provided a great mix to the flying in addition to the noise of the F-35 display. Needless to say it was all finished by a bit of cheese supplied by the T-Birds ( those sneak passes get me every time! ).
Anyhow here's a few pics to give you a flavour of the event and I for one am looking forward to the next one in 2 years. Just hope I dont have to rely on just my iphone for the next trip but hopefully this will give you a flavour of the event. If you want some proper flying images ( and I know he has some corkers ) hopefully @ChrisM will be along in a bit.
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Untitled by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
Luke ‘24 by Tangoringo, on Flickr
