On the 29th April a group of eighteen guys (Twelve Dutch, four UK, a Belgian and a Frenchman) went to the States to have a good time. Main goals were the 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation events, the airshows at MCAS Beaufort, NAS Pensacola and JRB NAS New Orleans. Besides that a couple of 'behind the scenes' visits were arranged at museums, airbases and a very special one with Lockheed Martin in Marietta.
Below a small impression of the over 1000 military aircraft we saw during the nine days we spent in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. A little over 2500 miles were driven. Despite the bad weather still present in the area, we only saw blue skies with an occasional fluffy white cloud.
We spend two days at the MCAS Beaufort airshow. Photo opportunities were great, as were the burgers. This Fokker/Fairchild C-31A dropped the Unites States Parachute Team 'Golden knights'.
The US Navy painted several of its aircraft in special colours, which represent a specific era in Navy history. This F/A-18C carried dual VFA-106/VBF-17 markings.
Well, you will not see this any time soon in our part of the world any more! The VMA-231 AV-8B+ put on a great show.
When there is a Navy airshow, the Blues are in town! Number 5 made a mark with its but on the runway during its signature take off.
The parking lot was close to an area with some instructional airframes. An A-4C, C-1A, F-4S, FJ-3 Fury and this HH-46D were present.
We spoke to the the Public Affairs Office after the show was over and they agreed on a tour of the flightline the next day. Over twenty aircraft were present, amongst which this F/A-18A++ 163171 VE-202 of VMFA-115.
To avoid the traffic jam, we left Beaufort before the Blues started their show on Sunday. We first visited the Mighty Eight museum in Savannah which is near the international airport. While on the parking lot we saw four A-10s overhead, making a break to land. Later we visited the airfield and found the A-10s, a C-5B, Texas Reserve F-16s, Marine F/A-18s, several based C-130s as well as a few nice bits at the Gulfstream factory. 35 mil airraft in total of which the A-10s and F/A-18s were flying operational missions (on a Sunday!). We talked to the A-10 crews in the General Aviation office and the final pilot taking off banked nicely for us.
After Savannah we drove to Macon to spend the night.
Will upload a few more pictures soon.
Greetings,
Jurgen