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2011
Air Shows |
NASNI
The Parade of Flight
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Location: North
Island Open House, Naval Base Coronado, San Diego, CA. |
Admission: Free |
Parking: Free |
Value: Very
Good |
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The
United States Navy is celebrating 100 years of Naval Aviation with
special events scheduled throughout the year. Naval Air Station North
Island in San Diego, California was chosen to kick-off the celebrations
with a parade of flight with more than 180 aircraft and an open house. |
It was not a regular air show. It was a one day
event with the purpose to show off past and present aircraft that
were used by the US Navy throughout this first 100 years. The gates
were open to the public on Saturday at 9 AM. The parade of flight
was scheduled for 1 PM. There were many things to see on the ground
too. More than 70 aircraft were displayed in the static area with
pilots and crew nearby to answer questions. Among them there were
3- P-3 Orion, 2- T-45 Goshawk, F-5N, F-5F, several F-18s, AV-8B
Harrier, OV-10 Bronco, TA-4 Skyhawk, several UH-60s, T-28, T-34,
S-3 Viking and F4U Corsair. Many of them sported vintage paint
schemes. There are about 28 aircraft that have been chosen to have
these historic paint schemes. The first aircraft was painted in
July 2010 and the last ones are scheduled to be painted in March
of this year. They are promoting Naval heritage and they will be
present at selected air shows during the year. Missing from the
static display was a F-14 Tomcat. There was also a classic car
show and motorcycle stunt show that sure pleased the crowed while
waiting for the Parade of Flight. Three ships were available for
public tours: the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74),
amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA5) and guided-missile destroyer
USS Pinckney (DDG91). In the waters of San Diego Bay there were
demonstrations of Navy LCAC (hovercraft) and a replica of the Curtiss
A-1 Triad taxied on the water. Food vendors and bathroom facilities
were plentiful. Available to the public were bleacher seats that
could be purchased for $5.00. Entrance to the base and parking
were free. About 75,000 people came into the base to see the show
and an estimated 200,000 others viewed the Parade of Flight from
other parts of Coronado and San Diego. Some got stuck in the Coronado
Bridge for hours and had to watch the show from there! |
The Navy parachute demonstration team the Leap
Frogs started the aerial part of the show. Followed by, what
everyone came to eyewitness, the Parade of Flight. This event
was 3 years in the making. It was a challenging task to coordinate
so many airplanes and helicopters to flyover. They were separated
by 30 seconds and 2 minutes spacing. They came from 10 different
airfields from Point Mugu to El Centro. They flew one at the
time and also there were formation flights of 3 to 4 planes.
The Blue Angels were first to fly by, leading the parade. There
were aircraft representing every decade from the 30s to today
and representing the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. Impressive
was the CH-53 Super Stallion 8-ship formation. Among the aircraft
flying were FJ-4 Fury, T-2 Buckeye, MV-22 Osprey, B-17, E-6 Mercury,
HU-16 Albatross, AV-8B Harrier, EA-6B Prowler, EA-18G Growler,
E-2 Hawkeye. An A-4 Skyhawk had mechanical problems and could
not participate in the flyover. The grand finale was the mass
CVW-9 flyover. 36 CVW-9 aircraft from The USS Stennis took off
from nearby Miramar and flew east over San Diego Bay in a formation
that was one mile wide.
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I
would like to thank Heather Eritano from the Naval Base Coronado
Public Affairs Office. |
Among
the flying aircraft not mentioned above were:
- F-6F Hellcat
- T-33 Shooting Star
- B-25 Mitchell
- UH-1Y
- T-28 Trojan
- STM Ryan
- HU-25 Guardian
- T-39 Sabreliner
- F-5N
- C-9 Skytrain
- S-3 Viking
- F-18 Hornet
- And many more.
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Rating:
9.8 out of 10 |
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Review and photos by Ricardo von Puttkammer |
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Rights Reserved. |
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