Highlights of the 2005 Oceana Airshow

The Friday arrival day at Oceana didn't look too great, with patches of blue sky swamped by dull grey cloud all day, a constant reminder of hurricane Ophelia's presence just offshore.   The pervading greyness sucked a lot of life out of the practice displays, as well as the entries made by aircraft such as this C-5 Galaxy.

It was a real treat to see the arrival of this world war two PBY-5A Catalina owned by The Fighter Factory and piloted by Bob Hill, who flies water bombers to fight forest fires.   The last time I saw a Catalina flying was ten years ago in my native New Zealand - there are only two flying on the American airshow circuit.   I didn't get good photos of the Catalina coming in on Friday, but I was able to stay after the show on Sunday and take this shot in the evening light.

Fortunately, the weather cleared up on Saturday and Sunday, and the pilot of this E-2C+ Hawkeye put on an excellent display, throwing the plane around like a fighter.   With an 80 foot (24.56 meter) wingspan, the Hawkeye is the largest aircraft operating from aircraft carriers; the large radar dish on its back provides the fleet with airborne early warning of enemy aircraft.

The original E-2C has a four bladed propeller but as you can see, this new model has eight bladed propellers.   The sound of the E-2C+ is quite different than most other aircraft, and the crew is said to be able to hear all sorts of sounds that they never heard before, which is something of a mixed blessing!

This Canadian armed forces CC-115 Buffalo is a real rarity at an American airshow, as is any other foreign aircraft - the only other foreign planes I've seen in 8 years of attending American airshows were some German Air Force Tornado fighter bombers at the 2005 Holloman airshow.   The Buffalo didn't actually display, it was acting as drop plane for some of the parachute teams which performed during the show.   It was highly unusual to see the Canadian "SkyHawks", the US army "Black Daggers" and the British "Red Devils" teams all together at the show, and they all put on a good display of their capabilities.

The parachutists performed several times, bringing down their national flags, doing various maneuvers including stacking multiple parachutes together, and then coming down during the "Beach Blast", which is a regular part of the show held along the Atlantic coastline after the Saturday night performance.   Here you see the Black Daggers coming down with flares streaming behind; the Red Devils also did their thing, but with dozens of glow sticks outlining the shape of each person.

The flying displays at the Beach Blast were not as spectacular as previous years, perhaps because of the increased costs of jet fuel this year.

It was especially appropriate that Dale Snodgrass should fly at this show, since he has more hours flying the F-14 Tomcat than any pilot in the world.   And why should that be significant?   If you don't already know, then read on!

The two F-86s flew singly, together and as part of an air force "Heritage Flight" in which historic aircraft like the Sabre and this F-4 Phantom II join up with modern aircraft like this F-16 Fighting Falcon.

The Super Hornet did a solo display too and proved that it's an ill wind that does no good - in the case of Ophelia, all of that moisture in the air resulted in some excellent vapor as the aircraft banked and did high speed passes.

At the end of each day's show the navy Blue Angels demonstrated why they're the world's best jet display team, wowing the spectators with dirty rolls, delta loops, opposing passes, double farvels and a tack-sharp echelon parade.   Joe Public doesn't care too much about Catalinas, Buffaloes, Sabres or Phantoms, but he knows who the real stars of the show are.

But then what does Joe Public know?   Aviation photographers and other enthusiasts came from all over the world, many like myself from America's opposite coast, as well as groups from Canada, the UK, Holland, Japan as well as individuals from Brazil, Italy and even Australia.   They didn't come to see the Blue Angels, they came solely to see the final fling of the navy's F-14 Tomcat fighter before they're finally retired over the next year or so.   The flying action began with a fleet flyby, four Tomcats flanked by a pair of F-18C Hornets on their left and a pair of F-18F Super Hornets on their right.

Not that they had all the fun, as you can see from this shot of a high-speed banking pass by one of the low-viz Tomcats.   Surprisingly, there wasn't too much vapor from the Tomcats, even though they're usually at least as vapor prone as the Hornets.