Warbird Information Exchange

Curious to know if anyone is there or went? Website shows a lot of warbirds scheduled to attend as well as a C-141?!?! Would have loved to have seen that if it is not a misprint. Weather seems to be a downer this weekend.

_________________
Earn my respect and never lose it.
Demand my respect and never gain it. -Me

...just another plane dreamer.

Weather caused mostly a wash out of Saturday's show and prospects are questionable today. Too bad since it was the Centennial of Naval Aviation show. I was going to go but canceled on Friday due to the weather. Weather in two out of the last 3 years has badly impacted the Oceana show unfortunately (2009 and 2011).

The website has some seriously outdated statics that have been gone for several years like the C-141, C-22 and Air Force H-53. You would not have seen any of these. Apparently a lot of people were very disappointed with the poor showing of Centennial of Naval Aviation (CoNA) paint scheme aircraft at the show this year also.

Feel bad for those who made long trips for this show. Hopefully they will have better luck with weather next year.

Well, we had 7 or 8 of the 27 total CoNA birds here, so that was cool, as was the A-4C. It was a definite shame we couldn't get better weather though- the Collings F4U-5N was there, as was Jerry's AD-4 and TBM-3 which did a nice pair routine. They had all the makings of an epic heritage flight, then the bottom fell out again today and they canceled the flying around 3:30 or so...

Would've liked to have seen the S-3 and at least one of the P-3s, but I was plenty happy with getting up close and personal with the McWhorter Hornet.

Lynn

Worst weather we have had here in a long time. Ceilings running 600 feet or so for 3 straight days.

_________________
Flying Piper L4-J 45-55209

Here's my 3rd attempt at a reply......I guess WIX doesn't like to wait! Each time I try to reply, it says I need to log in again. When I get logged back in everything I typed is gone.
Let's try again.
I was disappointed to say the least. 90% of it was the weather, 5% aircraft turnout, 5% other spectators. It never ceases to amaze me that most people have no idea and don't care what's within 2 feet of them. If one more person would have tilted their umbrella back and dumped water all over my 1 year old daughter the evening may have played out a little different for me. I was also lucky enough to be behind a guy walking into the airshow in his 50's or so who kept bragging to everyone how he was retired Air Force and to look out for anyone dragging their knuckles...those are Crew Chiefs. Way to proudly represent the rest of us, bud! Thanks a lot......I was far from the only one in earshot too. Embarrassing.
Ok, so the static displays were more limited than ever:
F-18's
A few SNJ/T-6's
T-6B Texan II
E-2
C-2
F-18
F-15
T-45
A few turboprop T-34's
F-18
AH-64
CH-53 (I think it was anyhow, not too knowledgeable on the whirly wingers)
A few Blackhawks
F-18
FedEx 727
Delta Airliner (didn't look that direction enough to take note on which type)
F-18
A Boeing UAV mockup
F-16 Thunderbird in the Air Force display tent
an anti-aviation local news channel's Jet Ranger
F-18
A Coast Guard helicopter and C-130
F-18
Definitely NOT a C-141

It WAS cool to see the historic paint schemes.
That's about all I remember. The flying aircraft were 100 feet away and roped off from any spectators. That meant no close looks at any older stuff. There was the Skyraider and Avenger from MAM, The Corsair was backed into a hangar about 300 yards from any spectators and was alongside something shiny/polished aluminum with a round engine. I suspect that was Leff's beautiful T-6. Too far away to tell. A Wildcat was advertised as a performer on the airshow website, but I didn't see any sign of it.
Flying began about an hour after after we arrived. First up was the Curtiss Pusher. I thought it was really cool and my little girl did too! That was followed by an F-18 demo. The only plus to the weather were the dramatic contrails and compressibility displays nearing Mach 1. Up next went the Avenger and Skyraider. My favorites of the show! I'm always impressed by the MAM aircraft. They were followed by the A-4. Quieter than I remember, but sure fun to watch! I would have loved that demo if the ceiling was higher! Up next an F-18 Demo. The jet powered sailplane was next and was extremely impressive! That was followed by about 10 or so F-18's taking off for a fleet flyover. Then 2 more F-18's for an airpower and pyro demo. Scheduled next was the AV-8B. I thought it might be the last time I'd get to see a Harrier demo. The weather took a turn for the worse, the fleet flyover was cancelled, and the F-18's had to fly PAR approaches to get back to the field. I figured that was the end of any flying so we left. Not sure if anything else happened. There sure were a lot of F-18's.....

Here's all the pictures I took:















Did I mention there were F-18's there?

Johnny

P.S F-18

Part of the problem was that the local FAA was being kind of a knucklehead about the weather. We weren't allowed to fly the Curtiss on Saturday because the ceiling was "only" 600 feet (vis was 7 miles). We were told that there had to be a 1,000 foot ceiling for any "performance". We asked if we could just hop down the runway at 50 feet, for us on that long runway that would be a 2 minute flight, without ever leaving the runway enviornment. No, had to be 1,000 feet ceiling even to do that. Later on it started raining and an hour after that they said that the ceiling had lifted and we could fly. Anybody want to fly a Curtiss Pusher in the rain?? Same deal on Sunday with 800 broken, although eventually the ASOS said 800 scattered and we did get to fly, but a number of the acts could have done flat shows with perfect safety but weren't allowed to fly by the Fed.

As always the Navy treated us great, wish they were calling the shots on weather.



-




-

_________________
http://www.biplanerides1.com/

I'd love every second of it! Can't be much worse than riding my old Triumph in the rain with no front fender!

By the way, you guys are the only thing I videotaped!

Regarding the FAA, I'm a little rusty on flying regs. Is there something that says they can change the regs at the discretion of whichever representative is present at any event at any time? I figured VFR was VFR. Also why does the FAA have any jurisdiction over airspace on a military installation? Just curious....

Johnny

Oh and in case I didn't mention it above, there were F-18's there........lots and lots of F-18's. If anyone from Oceana is reading this there ARE other types of aircraft. I realize the fact that tons of them are based there which makes them a local favorite and the convenience is a plus, but for next year how about a little more variety in the flight lineup? How about some bombers flying? How about a few passes with a tanker in close formation with a fighter to simulate aerial refueling? There have to be some pretty neat flying machines at NASA Langley, Langley AFB, Ft. Eustis, and ESPECIALLY the Military Aviation Museum all of which are local and surely could be added to the lineup instead of six F-18 demos. I like Hornets myself, but its kinda like when you eat too much chocolate and it gives you a stomach ache. Too much of a good thing becomes less than good.........

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. Sux about the weather, but what ya gonna do?

One last question for ya'll that reside around the area...I work with a fella who did go and said he thought he saw some sort of fenced in storage area there with a ton of Tomcats parked. Any truth to that or is there some other sort of aircraft parked in long term storage?

_________________
Earn my respect and never lose it.
Demand my respect and never gain it. -Me

...just another plane dreamer.

Didn't see any F-14's aside from the two on static display. One along Oceana Blvd. on the way in and the other in the outdoor "museum" area. The only thing I saw behind any fences in large numbers were....are you ready for this?............F-18's.
That's not to say they aren't there, but didn't see 'em myself!

Y'know, I thought I was the only one who noticed all those F-18s... That was the first time I'd seen an A-4 since the last BA show with them in 1986... after the ear-wrecking roar of the Hornets, the Skyhawk positively glided through the air. What a sweet ship, and it was great to see it there!

Lynn