MCAS Miramar Airshow 2010
For many a year the month of October has traditionally brought the crowds flocking to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, home of the 3rd Marine Air Wing for its annual airshow. Our last sojourn here was in 2004 and so we felt it was about time that we ventured back to take another look at this hugely popular airshow demonstration laid on by the U.S Marines Corp's finest. So with much anticipation Jetwash Aviation Photo's made the long trip to the United States West Coast to see what 2010 held in store. Sadly, we were only able to attend the airshow on its final day, Sunday 3rd October. The freakish weather in the U.S at the time did little to help us, having arrived in Los Angeles a week earlier to a record breaking 115F/46C temperature we had high hopes of good weather, we then experienced rain in the deserts, followed by record low temperatures for the month of November in the San Diego area!!
A gaggle of CH-53E Super Stallions sit on the Miramar ramps during the 2010 airshow
Promised highlights amongst the airshow participants were of course the obligatory U.S Navy Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team, the Canadian Armed Forces "Snowbirds'"and the U.S Army "Golden Knights". So with much anticipation we awoke early on the Sunday morning and made the short drive to Miramar to find "claggy" overcast conditions that played havoc with the flying display. The Marine Air-Ground Task Force demo was cancelled (much to everyone's annoyance and frustration) as well as the Golden Knights scheduled para-drop. The weather eventually broke to the more traditional and expected sunshine, but by that time much of the flying display had already been curtailed. Anyways, the show still produced some nice aircraft and everyone made the best of what they could. So on with the show as they say................................................
The first aircraft to greet us in the static park was this Aerospatiale MH-65C Dauphin from the US Coast Guard at Los Angeles IAP
The 452nd Air Mobility Wing at nearby March Air Reserve Base sent along a Boeing C-17A transport and this KC-135R Stratotanker
VFC-13 at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada sent along this very nice Northrop F-5F in a "Soviet" style paint scheme
The aircraft is one of a number used for Disimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) by the U.S Navy
Another aircraft sporting a somewhat non-standard paint job was this Naval Strike Air Warfare Centre General Dynamics F-16B
As with the F-5F above this aircraft is also based at NAS Fallon
What the hell is that you may ask, a toy? Well in actual fact it's an RQ-7B Shadow belonging to MACG-38 at Twenty-Nine Palms
Not sure where the pilot sits but he must be very small !
The U.S Army Reserve brought along a Cessna UC-35 Citation and this Beech C-12V from the 52nd Avtn. Regt. based at Los Alamitos
The U.S Army's "Golden Knights" parachute team's standard mode of transport is one of two Fairchild FH-227 transport aircraft
Known as the C-31A in U.S military terms, 85-01608 is seen on the Miramar ramps after its aborted mission on 3rd October
A Langley based F-22A Raptor
The Boeing F-22A Raptor as always was a huge hit at Miramar. One of two present is seen on the ramps awaiting its demo flight
The U.S Air Force "Heritage Flight" consisted of the F-22, the F-16C and a P-51 Mustang
The Blue Angels Lockheed C-130T Hercules known as "Fat Albert" put in another awesome display for such a large aircraft
Blue Angels History:-
At the end of World War II, the Chief of Naval Operations, Chester W. Nimitz ordered the
formation of a flight demonstration team to keep the public interested in Naval Aviation. The Blue Angels performed their first flight demonstration less than a year later in June 1946 at their home base, Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville, Florida. LCDR Roy "Butch" Voris led the team, flying the Grumman F6F Hellcat. Two months later, on August 25th 1946, the Blue Angels transitioned to the Grumman F8F Bearcat. The 1947 team, led by LCDR Robert Clarke introduced the now-famous "Diamond Formation."
By the end of the 1940's, the Blue Angels were flying their first jet aircraft, the Grumman F9F-2 Panther. In response to the demands placed on Naval Aviation in the Korean Conflict, the team reported to the aircraft carrier USS Princeton as the nucleus of Fighter Squadron 191 (VF-191), "Satan’s Kittens," in 1950.
The team re-organized the next year and reported to NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, where they began flying the newer and faster version of the Panther, the F9F-5. The Blue Angels remained in Corpus Christi until the winter of 1954 when they relocated to their present home base at NAS Pensacola, Florida. Here they progressed to the swept wing Grumman F9F-8 Cougar.
The ensuing twenty years saw the Blue Angels transition to two more aircraft, the Grumman F11F-1 Tiger (1957) and the McDonnell-Douglas F-4J Phantom II (1969). In December 1974, the Navy Flight Demonstration Team began flying the McDonnell-Douglas A-4F Skyhawk II and was re-organized into the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron. This reorganization
permitted the establishment of the first commanding officer (CDR Tony Less) instead of a flight
leader, added support officers and further redefined the squadron’s mission to enhance the
recruiting effort. On November 8th 1986, the Blue Angels completed their 40th anniversary year when they unveiled their present aircraft, the McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, the first dual-role fighter/attack aircraft, which is still serving on the nation’s front lines of defense.
In 1992, more than one million people viewed the Blue Angels performances during a 30-day
European deployment to Sweden, Finland, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain. This was the first European deployment in 19 years. The 2009 show season brought out more than 8 million spectators and since 1946, the Blue Angels have performed for more than 463 million fans.
Wearing another rather unothodox paint job was this "digital" FA-18F Hornet from VFA-122 based at NAS Leemore
The West Coast F-16 demo team go through their pre-flight prep on the Miramar ramps
The West Coast Viper teams spare jet was 89-2083 from the 388th Fighter Wing based at Hill AFB in Utah
The Canadian Armed Forces "Snowbird" demonstration team still fly the veteran Canadair CT-114A Tutor
Since our last visit in 2004 MCAS Miramar's HMM squadrons have begun re-equipping with the MV-22 Osprey.
In the process of conversion from the CH-46E Sea Knight the units have become VMM squadrons
HMM-163 still opetrates the venerable CH-46E and one of its helo's is seen awaiting the start of the aborted MAGTF demo
As mentioned above the unit will eventually transition to the MV-22 Osprey
168000 is a Bell-Textron AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter assigned to HMLAT-303, the training unit at Camp Pendleton The AH-1Z is gradually being introduced into front-line Marines Corps service with HMLA-367, receiving their first three in September
Contrasting with the modern AH-1Z above was this Marine Corps UH-1N, also from HMLAT-303
Miramar's very own SAR helo', HH-1N 158554 is seen prowling the crowd line during the show photographing the massed throngs of people
MCAS Miramar is home to a number of FA-18 Hornet squadrons, VMFA-314 being the unit chosen to participate in the 2010 display
Four of the five AV-8B's at the 2010 Miramar Airshow are seen idling on the ramps in preperation for the Harrier display
All of the aircraft had made the relatively short hop from MCAS Yuma in Arizona
We would like to thank everyone at the 3rd Marine Air Wing Public Affairs Office and in particular Sgt. Zachary S. Dyer for all his assistance in arranging our access and escorting us during our time at MCAS Miramar.
"Semper Fi"