For the third year in a row I plan to attend the Miramar Air Show. It’s held at the MCAS Miramar in San Diego – the base featured in the Tom Cruise film, Top Gun. This year the show will be held Oct. 14-16.
Miramar is for military aircraft what Oshkosh is for experimental, private, and commercial craft.
At my first appearance I attempted to pay at the gate. A Marine looked at my open wallet and said, “You already paid with your tax dollars. There’s no admission. Go on in and enjoy your aircraft.”
In the past it has been billed as the world’s largest military air show. In the last two years I’ve seen some of the best planes perform some great aerobatic feats: The Blue Angels, F15s, F16s, and F14s, an F117 stealth fighter fly-by, A-10 Warthogs, Harriers, plus oodles of choppers and support craft. The Blue Angels support craft, Fat Albert, is a C130 painted blue to match the Angels, and it has rocket-assisted take-off. Spectacular.
This year I expect to see all of the above, plus the F22 Raptor, a B2 bomber, and more fantastic equipment. I’m especially looking forward to my first sighting of the F22. A recent History Channel show claims the F15 is (was) the world’s best fighter – with a 100% kill ratio in combat. Each time an F22 goes up against an F15 (or in multiples, such as three F22s against five or eight F15s), the F15s are destroyed, never even becoming aware of the F22s' presence. I’m glad these birds are on our side.
Soon I’ll post pictures from the last two years.
UPDATE 9-20-05: No pictures coming. They all suck.
