We arrived at the base about 15 minutes before the off-base parking grounds opened. Once opened we had our cars parked in no time. It was quite windy and as the parking was situated on a dry field, lots of orange/red dust was taking into the air. Walking to the entrance gate took about 15 minutes and we had to wait in line until the gates opened at 9am. Plenty of time to look around and observe the other visitors. Should you have forgotten you were in the southern part of the US, the shirts a lot of the men wore were a tell-tale sign of that. Lots of gun promoting texts and variety of 'shoot first, ask questions later' slogans were wrapped around middle aged beer bellies.
The usual process of going through a security check followed although contrary to what we experienced at Travis AFB all foreign passport holders had to go through one particular checkpoint. After that, us foreigners were taken to a big trailer for fingerprinting (as if that had not happened at immigration at SFO already) and to receive a keycord with a laminated yellow name tag that we were not allowed to take off. All a bit questionable if you ask me.
By the time we were 'released' it was 10am and the walk towards the static show took us through the heritage park where a total of nine historic aircraft were presented, in age varying from a T-6 to an F-16
The static show covered quite a bit of space and as usual at US airshows almost all aircraft could be approached at touching distance.
In the morning there was quite an overcast but as the day progressed more and more blue patches started to appear. However the wind remained quite strong so from time to time you got sort of sand blasted when walking around.
Here are a few examples of the aircraft presented at the heritage park.
F-86_52-5323_USAF_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-4_67-0327_USAF by René Klok, on Flickr
F-104_56-0892_USAF by René Klok, on FlickrThen on to the static show.
Until recently this was the test aircraft of Lockheed Martin.
Sabre65_N11LX_Lockheed by René Klok, on Flickr
T-38_66-8380_USAF_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
T-6A_95-3007_USAF by René Klok, on FlickrThe same U-2 that was at the Travis airshow.
U-2_80-10337_USAF_03 by René Klok, on Flickr
P-51_NL51MV_USAF by René Klok, on FlickrTactical Air purchased 21 Jordan Air Force Tigers. The paint for this special livery was almost still wet.
F-5_N619TA_TacticalAir_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-5_N619TA_TacticalAir_03 by René Klok, on FlickrWe had seen this one active at Nellis a few days earlier.
N861TA (78-0326) by René Klok, on Flickr
MirageF1_N623AX_ATAC_01 by René Klok, on FlickrOne of the oldest active F-15C's in the USAF inventory.
F-15_78-0543_USANG_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-15_78-0543_USANG_03 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-15_86-0181_USANG_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
B777_N777AZ_ArizonaCardinals_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
KC-135_57-1469_USANG_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
KC-135_57-1469_USANG_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
KC-135_57-1469_USANG_04 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_01-6024_SingaporeAF_04 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_01-6024_01-6029_SingaporeAF_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_01-6029_SingaporeAF_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
CF-188_188934_CanadianAirForce_03 by René Klok, on FlickrAnother victim of the AA (Aircraft Anonymous)
C-130_06-3171_USAF_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_F-001_KLu_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_5146_NorwegianAirforce_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_5146_NorwegianAirforce_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
H-60_6003_USCoastGuard by René Klok, on Flickr
H-60_90-26224_USAF by René Klok, on FlickrThe flying started at 11am.
A-10_81-0974_81-0997_US Reserves_03 by René Klok, on Flickr
A-10_81-0974_USReserves_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_15_5185_USAF_03 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_90-0753_USAF_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
A-10_F-16_F-35_HeritageFlight_USAF_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
C-17_02-1111_USAF_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
C-17_02-1111_USAF_04a by René Klok, on Flickr
P-51_NL7715C_USAF_02 by René Klok, on FlickrThis is the last season for the A-10 demo team.
A-10_80-0244_USAF_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
A-10_78-0651_USAF_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
A-10_80-0244_USAF_03 by René Klok, on Flickr
A-10_80-0244_USAF_07 by René Klok, on FlickrThe 2024 F-35 demo team from Hill AFB.
F-35_18-5456_USAF_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_18-5456_USAF_05 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_18-5456_USAF_06 by René Klok, on FlickrThe heritage flight.
P-51_A-10_F-35_HeritageFlight_USAF_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
P-51_A-10_F-35_HeritageFlight_USAF_05 by René Klok, on FlickrThis was the first show of the season for the Thunderbirds.
F-16_Team_Thunderbirds_04 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_Team_Thunderbirds_07 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_Team_Thunderbirds_11 by René Klok, on FlickrHope you like this selection.
