Date: March 31, 2007
Story by: Chad Thomas
Photography by: Chad Thomas and Kevin Whitehead

The 15th edition of the Riverside Airport (RAL) Airshow once again did not disappoint. Clear skies, comfortable temperatures, pancakes, classic cars and an impressive airshow lineup greeted a record crowd which was estimated at over 80,000 for the Saturday March 31 event. What makes the crowd numbers even more impressive is that the NAS Point Mugu show was held the same weekend!

On the military side, an F-117A Nighthawk, flying out of the Point Mugu venue made several passes overhead.Two Fresno-based F-16Cs burned up the skies, making numerous low approaches to the field.The USAF A-10 West Coast demo team performed the popular Heritage Flight with “Six Shooter”, a P-51 Mustang flown by Chuck Hall. The US Navy F/A-18C West Coast demo team was also on hand for the Legacy Flight with an F-4U Corsair.

Some of the civilian acts included Rob Harrison’s Tumbling Bear aerobatics display and the “Thunder Delphins”. The highlight of the show was undoubtedly the C-17A Globemaster III demonstration. On departure, the large aircraft left a trail of thick dust that had photographers running to protect their hardware. As if that wasn’t enough, it performed an assault landing and departed once again. The behemoth aircraft looked right at home though, as if it were in theatre, operating from unprepared airstrips. Happy 15th birthday RAL Airshow…we are already looking forward to sweet 16!

Photo captions left to right: (1) Corsair. (2) The ramp at Riverside. (3) The C-17 kicks up some dust. (4) Hellcat and Zero.