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2010 brought the return of an air show to Naval Base Ventura County (more popularly known as Point Mugu but also includes Port Hueneme and Channel Islands ANGS) on August 6,7, and 8, with the 6th being arrival and practice day. Most weather reports were pretty gloomy for the weekend, predicting fog and even drizzle, however that did not stop diehard aviation fans from coming out to hear a bit of jet and prop noise. One of the big static display highlights was VX-30’s S-3B Viking color bird, aka “Bloodhound 700”, looking spectacular in its blue / gold markings. The squadron currently has three of the type, two of which are now in depot maintenance, with a fourth aircraft on the way. The mission of the S-3 is range surveillance and control. This was one of the most popular static displays. |
This was mostly an Air Force, warbird, and aerobatic airshow. The only Navy act on the bill this year was the F-18C Legacy Hornet demo, from VFA-125 in Lemoore, California. Other than the aforementioned C-17 demo, the Air Force brought their A-10 West demo team to the show, from Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona. The pilot for this year is Joe Shetterly. The demo also included a Wall of Fire created by a Navy EOD team. Photographers who were alert enough to catch it, were able to get beautiful shots of the Wall of Fire directly behind the Thunderbirds aircraft. The team, based at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nevada, were the headliners for both days at Point Mugu. They now have block 52 F-16 Vipers. The CAF in Camarillo brought over their Zero and Hellcat to fly a simulated dogfight, and it was well done. Aerobatics were provided by Bill Cornick, Spencer Suderman, Julie Clark in her beautiful T-34 Mentor, Rich Perkins in the L-39 “Firecat”, Amanda & Kyle Franklin, Matt Chapman, Michael Wiskus, and Chuck Aaron in the Red Bull helicopter. Red Bull also had their skydiving team on hand. A low ceiling on Saturday prevented them from flying during the Nat’l Anthem, however they did jump later in the day. |
One other act in the show, Greg Koontz and the Alabama Boys, was very entertaining. This was a show that combined comedy with flying and ended up with landing on a pickup truck! Alert photographers on Saturday saw a formation of three E-2C Hawkeyes return to Point Mugu from an inbound carrier.
Thanks to Vance Vasquez at the Point Mugu PAO for access to the media pit. Thanks also to Lt. Jon Lyman and Lt. Nate Sayer from VX-30 for answering my questions about the S-3, as well as the photo op. |