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2011 Air Shows |
2011
NAS Oceana , Virginia Beach
Sept. 23- 25
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Location: NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia |
Admission: Free
-- see report about this. |
Parking: Free |
| Value: Excellent |
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This year NAS Oceana air show was held on September 23 through 25. It helped
celebrate The Centennial of Naval Aviation (CoNA). With an impressive flying
display line up along with several aircraft on static display, some with special
CoNA markings, this was destined to be a great airshow! Except that Mother Nature
did not want to cooperate. With heavy rains predicted for all of the 3-day airshow,
the weekend was almost a complete loss. The best day for flying displays was
Friday during practice hours and the twilight show. Saturday was a complete wash.
Sunday brought less rain in the morning, but low ceilings kept the aircraft grounded
until around 12 PM. Due to rain the Blue Angels briefly flew on Friday afternoon,
but they could not get off the ground on Saturday and Sunday. Fat Albert flew
Friday at the Twilight Show, but not Saturday or Sunday
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Friday
evening, after the rain stopped, the Twilight Show began. It was
not a full show, due to the weather. Blue Angels C-130 Fat Albert
flew as the sun was going down. Bill Leaf with his T-6 and the
Super Hornet Afterburner Flyover were the highlights of the evening
with simulated bomb run lighting up the night skies. The evening
ended with the traditional fireworks display.
Saturday was a washout.
Very few aircraft flew that day. A C-40 (737) and a C-9 (DC-9)
made a few flybys and touch and go early in the day. An AV-8B,
F-16 from the Viper East Team and the Super Hornet flew late
in the day when conditions improved a bit. On the ground there was
a very limited display of the Shock Wave Jet Truck.
Sunday was
a better day. The 1911 Curtiss Pusher replica took to the air.
A Skyraider and an Avenger also flew representing World War II
navy aircraft. The public enjoyed high performances from F-18s,
an F-16 and an AV-8B. Bob Carlton flew his jet powered glider. The
highlight of the day was a flying display of an A-4B Skyhawk. Again
the Blue Angels could not fly since the heavy rain came down on the
base late afternoon.
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As usual at this venue, there were plenty of bathroom facilities
and the cost of food and water were average. Parking was free on
the base grounds. Bleacher tickets were offered for $10 and VIP seating
which included food and beverages were $60 per day. Organization
of the show was good. Unfortunately the weather did not help.
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For most performances a lens with a 200-400mm
range worked well. Even with such limited performances it was possible
to take a few interesting images.
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I would like to thank Kelley Stirling, Public Affairs Officer for
assisting Airshows Review staff during the event. Also a special
thank you to the folks of the Association of Naval Association for
their hospitality when they offered me shelter at their chalet from
a prolonged thunderstorm that hit the base on Friday afternoon. It
was a great opportunity to meet veteran navy pilots including John
Allen who flew F-11 Tigers and F-4s for the Blue Angels. He also
flew F-8 Crusaders and F-14 Tomcats for the Navy.
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Warbirds that were present:
- Blue Angels F-18 Hornet
- C-130 Hercules Fat Albert
- F-16 Viper East Demo Team
- E-2C Hawkeye.
- TC-12 Huron CoNA
- TH-57 CoNA
- T-6G
- T-34C CoNA
- and many more
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Rating:
8.0 out of 10 due weather conditions |
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Review and photography by R. von
Puttkammer for AIRSHOWSREVIEW LLC. |
© 2011
AIRSHOWSREVIEW LLC. All Rights Reserved. |
All trade names, trademarks and manufacturer names are the property of their respective owners. |
