We attended the Yuma Air Show at the Marine Corps air station yesterday. Pretty cool.
As you may have guessed from my post about the jets at Death Valley, we like military jets and this was a good show. We got to see an Osprey take off, hover, and do a low altitude, 300 mph pass. The Osprey is a cross between a helicopter and a conventional airplane.
My favorite was a mock dog fight between a Korean War era MIG 15 and an F-89. The F-89 did a switcheroo and got on the MIG’s tail so that the good guy won – YEAH! They had a static display of the new F-35B Joint Strike Fighter which can do a vertical take-off. It’s going to replace the Harrier. We got a live demonstration of what a Harrier can do (rise straight up from a standstill.)
They had a B-29 Stratofortress like the one that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and a slew of WWII fighters that were doing mock close-air support complete with mock .50-caliber strafing of ground targets. There wasn’t an SBD but the WWII vintage planes reminded me of my dad (who recently died) and how thrilling it must have been to be part of that air war. When those P-51s made a low pass in front of the grandstand at 400 mph it makes the hair stand on end.
Chelan Traveler 
Air shows are a favorite of ours too. Ellington Air Base south of Houston has one every year and the highlightss are a mock attack on Pearl Harbor and the acrobatics of the Blue Angels. The “Texas Air Force” is a group of enthusiasts that have bought and restored old planes used in the show. It is quite exciting.
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When is the Houston Air Show? If the time is right we just maybe could see it.
Lief Carlsen liefcarlsen@hotmail.com