by Laszlo Nyary for http://www.airshowsreview.com/
Reviewed by Laszlo Nyary for http://www.airshowsreview.com/
Featuring:
Location: Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona
Featured performers included the F-16 Viper West Demo Team, AV-8B Harrier Demo Team and The Patriots.
MCAS Yuma Air Show is held at the Marine Air Station which shares the grounds with the Yuma International Airport. The 2010 MCAS Yuma Air Show, in Arizona was only a one day affair. The show took place on March 27, exactly a week later of the Aerospace and Arizona Days 2010 Air Show in Tucson that was held at Davis-Monthan AFB. While the MCAS Yuma Air Show was smaller in scale than the D-M AFB, it was better organized, was much friendlier with helpful staff, especially from the Public Affairs Office, and just as importantly it had a Schedule of Events that was fairly accurate! The weather was typical Arizona weather in March, mid 80’s, sunny, although the wind was quite gusty at times.
The show itself was a bit short on top performers; the F-16 Viper West Coast Demo Team was one and if we count the Marines AV-8B Harrier as an official team, which may not be, who were based out of Yuma, they would be the second. There was one aerial refueling pass with a Hercules Tanker and an AV-8B Harrier, which would have been more interesting if the demo would have been a bit longer, say one pass each way or even several passes in each direction! The Heritage flight consisted of the F-16 and a F-4, too bad the F-4 Phantom was a fly-in guest and it did not land or was on static display at the show itself! There were a couple of civilian performers like the Patriot Jet Team, great performers flying very low with tight turns, Paul Stender’s Jet Outhouse and Jet School bus that raced with the T-33 “Ace Maker”; the T-33 won! There was an R/C demonstration too and a couple of Pitts S-2 who did some aerobatics in between the above performers. Over all the performances were good, especially the Marines AV-8B Harrier demo, and the Patriots with some very low level flying, who stood out overall. Static displays included: several F-5 painted in aggressor’s colors, F/A-18 Hornet, F/A-18 Super Hornet, several A-10s, a B-52 bomber, and a KC-135 Tanker, a Polish built PZL TS-11 Iskra (Spark) jet trainer from the mid-sixties, and several AFV’s from the Yuma Testing Grounds.
Yuma is one of those rare shows were the sun is behind the lens most of the time, thus making photography of performers a breeze, with good results as long as the focal length of the lens is in the 300-400mm range. There was a children’s play area, and there were plenty of concession stands with typical fast foods available at such venues. There were plenty of portable toilets and were well dispersed. Parking and Security were handled very professionally and quickly. As for show announcement, I cannot comment on it, as I was in the old control tower above the crowds and static display area, which gave an excellent view of the flight line but away from the loudspeakers, and it was a bit windy thus I was not able to hear the loudspeakers, but since there was a schedule, it was easy to follow the performers. Approxinately 20, 000 people attended the air show.
This was my first visit to the Marine Air Station Yuma, and I was very much impressed by their professionalism, and I wish to thank the PAO staff, especially Gunnery Sgt. Lisbon, Lance Corporal Benson, and Lance Corporal Diamant for their hospitality and cooperation, and Capt. Dolan who spoke with our Coordinator at The Magazine.
Some of the participating performers were:
F-16 Viper West Demo Team
Marines AV-8B Harrier
SAR Helicopter Demo
Heritage Flight with F-16 and F4 Phantom
Patriots L-39C Team
T-33 Ace Maker
and many others including static displays.
Rating: over all rating when taking everything into consideration was an excellent 9 out of 10. I highly recommend the MCAS Yuma air show to all! Go Marines!
The Viper West Team led by Maj. David Graham.
The Marine Harriers at Yuma.
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Location: St. Thomas Municipal Airport, Ontario
http://airshowsreview.com/2009_Wings&Wheels_St_Thomas.htm
Admission: Adult $15
Parking: Free and $10 by the main entrance
Value: Excellent
What a show, no wonder it had a record attendance for a relatively unknown show! The Wings & Wheels in St. Thomas, just south of London, Ontario, had an excellent show. It was well organized, helpful staff, excellent selection of aircraft performing and static. The concessions were not over priced. For example, most events I’ve attended, charge $3.00 for a bottle of water, only a $1.00 here! Same with food, the selections were not over priced. Sanitary facilities were plenty and well dispersed. One could go for a ride either on a helicopter or the Harvard.
The number of aircraft both performing and static would put just about any other major air show in North America to shame! There were so many American Air Force and Navy aircraft in attendance it felt like the American’s invaded St. Thomas! After all, the airport is a relatively small one with one major runway operating and that is a relatively short one too, yet it was able to handle just about all the aircraft including the C-17 all the way from Alaska! In fact, not all the aircraft could be parked at the airport. Most of the flying demonstrators were staged from the London airport, due to the number of static planes on display.
Everyone was glad to see that Snowbirds, the Centennial Tutor and the refurbished classic RCAF Goldenhawk F-86 Sabre were present and were able to dazzle the crowds. Although the Snowbirds flew a shorter routine than at Rochester, just a couple of weeks ago, that was a bit of a let down. As for the American planes the US Air Force must had all their spare aircraft up here. I never seen so many A-10 flying in formation in an air show, and on display. The Lancaster bomber from Hamilton escorted by a P-51D Mustang also made a surprise fly-by. All thes performances contributed to make The Wings & Wheels in St. Thomas, a very memorable event.
The show annoucing needs some improvements: i.e., especially communicating the direct location of incoming aircraft, and having someone who can speak fluently in English would be helpful. Apart from the announcing only the weather was a disappointment, but that was beyond persons' control. Saturday it rained all morning, but some of the show went on after 2 pm when it stopped raining. On Sunday the weather cooperated it was mostly sunny.
Over al,l Wings & Wheels in St. Thomas is an excellent value. A must see for any aviation enthusiast in the Southern Ontario Region and surrounding American States. It is really, worth attending this show! We'llill be there next year!
The list of the warbirds participating were simply amazing:
(2) CF-18 Hornet
CT-115 Tutor Snowbirds
F-86 Sabre Goldenhawk
CT-114 Tutor Centennial
(4) Harvard
(4) F-15C Eagle
(6) F-16 Viper
(7) A-10 Thunderbolt II
E-2C Hawkeye
C-17 Globemaster III
KC-135R Stratotanker
(4) T-6A Texan II
(3) T-34C Mentor
(2) T-39C Sabreliner
T-44A Pegasus
CT-142 Dash 8
C-130H2 Hercules
HC-130P Hercules
HH-65C Dolphin helicopter
CF-188 Griffon helicopter
and many others.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Next one will be at Binghampton then Geneseo both in NY.
Laszlo Nyary
www.airshowsreview.com
www.designbylaszlo.com
Any spelling and grammatical errors found in this e-mail body are intentional to enhance the content, as the writer is an organic product far from genetic manipulation to produce perfection.
