The East Coast Master Jet Base, NAS Oceana, is located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This show was a little more special to the aviation community then past shows held at this air base. This was the last demo of the great Tomcat. Fortunately Hurricane Ophelia kept far enough out to sea for us to have a great show.
First flown in December of 1970, the Tomcat cost the US Navy about $38 million each. It's replacement, the F/A-18 Super Hornet costs $57 million each. Made famous by the movie "Top Gun", the F-14 is known for it's large size and swept wings.
Side by side, the Super Hornet and it's little brother the baby hornet, will soon be the only two fighters at the Master Jet Base. Saturday night was the first of many demo's flown at the beach by the Super Hornet.
For the first time in decades two F-86 Sabers flew together. One aircraft was flown by Dale "Snort" Snodgrass, and the other by Ed Shipley. With these two awesome pilots the formations where quite tight.
The Master's of X-Team make more head on passes then any other act in the air show industry. Unfortunately due to bad weather the third member, Gene Soucy, did not make it to the show until Sunday.
Jim Leroy, member of X-Team, prior Marine Sniper and now one of the most popular air show performers in the United States. Jim flys a highly modified Pitts Special.
Shockwave is a custom built Peter Built Jet Truck. At 36,000 horsepower, the ShockWave has enough power to accelerate at 3 Gs vertical, which is as much as the Space Shuttle!
The Red Baron Pizza Squadron has kept the legend of the Baron alive with its fleet of vintage aircraft. The airplanes were originally built as WWII training aircraft for the United States Army and Navy. The Stearman biplane is one of the most respected primary training planes in the military. After the war, many Stearman biplanes were used as crop dusters. The current Red Baron® Pizza Squadron aircraft were built between 1941 and 1943.
The Skytypers Air Show Team is a squadron of six WWII airplanes that perform at air shows throughout the United States and Canada. Today, these aircraft have taken on a new role of writing giant messages in the sky, which they call Skytyping. These messages are computer generated and done at 10,000 feet. The airplanes create messages in the sky that are 8 miles long, as tall as the Empire State Building and can be seen for 15 miles in any direction or nearly 400 square miles.
NAS Oceana had three jump teams on hand. They included The US Army Black Daggers, The Canadian Skyhawk and The British Red Devils.
Major Geoff Hickman is in his second season as the Air Combat Command's Viper East F-16 Demonstration Team pilot and officer in charge of the F-16 Demonstration Team. As the Demonstration pilot, he showcases America 's F-16 Fighting Falcon to more than seven million people at approximately 65 shows around the world.
Allen Smith is not a new face at the NAS Oceana air show. He flew his L-39 several times.
The E-2C Hawkeye is the U.S. Navy's all-weather, carrier-based tactical airborne warning and control system platform. It provides all-weather airborne early warning and command and control functions for the carrier battle group. Additional missions include surface surveillance coordination, strike and interceptor control, search and rescue guidance and communications relay.
The next greatest event for me at this show was the Heritage flight. 2005 was also the return of the F-4 to the air show circuit. This aircraft out of Florida teamed up with the two F-86's and the East Coast Demo Team F-16 to fly a true Heritage Flight.
Some misc. photographs from this year show.
The Blue Angels’ mission is to
enhance Navy and Marine Corps recruiting and to represent the naval service to
the United States, its elected leadership and foreign nations. The Blue Angels
serve as positive role models and goodwill ambassadors for the U. S. Navy and
Marine Corps. A Blue Angels flight demonstration exhibits the choreographed
refinements of Navy trained flying skills. It includes the graceful aerobatic
maneuvers of the four-plane Diamond Formation, in concert with the fast-paced,
high-performance maneuvers of its two solo pilots. Finally, the team illustrates
the pinnacle of precision flying, performing maneuvers locked as a unit in the
renowned, six-jet Delta Formation.
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