Highlights of the 2005 Riverside Airshow

A KC-135 Stratotanker from March Field also did some nice flypasts, and there's little doubt that we'll continue seeing them for many years to come.   There are over 600 Stratotankers in service and they constitute the mainstay of the US military aerial refuelling fleet.   The one you see here is a KC-135R, fitted with modern engines which dramatically improve its efficiency while making it much quieter than previous versions.   In contrast, you can see that the C-141 above has older style engines, which are also much smokier!

The Riverside police put on a very good display, including a simulated helicopter and ground unit chase of a fugitive in  a car, which did several high speed circuits around the airfield!

These propeller-driven displays were augmented with a three-ship demonstration by the Thunder Delfins in their Czechoslovakian built L29 Delfins, which for many years were the standard Soviet military jet training aircraft.

The classic warbird community was also quite well represented for such a small show.   The Palm Springs Air Museum B-17 Flying Fortress stayed on static display, but there was a strong naval fighter contingent, including this F4U Corsair, one of several aircraft belong to the southern California wing of the Commemorative Air Force, based at Camarillo.

This Mitsubishi Zero is also based at Camarillo.   Unlike most Zeroes on the airshow circuit it's a genuine Zero airframe rather than a replica, however the engine is an American Pratt and Whitney radial.   The Planes of Fame Museum at Chino in California has the only Zero flying with its original engine, but because of its rarity it isn't flown as much as this one.

The final member of the Camarillo contingent to fly at the show was this F8F Bearcat.

Originally developed by Grumman as an aircraft able to climb fast in order to shoot down incoming kamikaze fighters, the Bearcat arrived just too late to participate in world war two.   However it was used extensively during the French war in Indo-China which America largely funded, supplying the French with huge numbers of aircraft and massive amounts of other equipment in their fight against the communists.

The snowy mountains and baked grass are very remiscent of the Warbirds over Wanaka airshow in New Zealand, however this F-18D Hornet is not a sight you're likely to see anywhere in New Zealand anytime soon.   The Royal New Zealand Air Force is a pitiful shadow of its former self, especially since the last of its offensive aircraft were retired a few years ago.   The A-4 Skyhawks were the pride of the air force, but now all that's left are a handful of C-130 Hercules and P-3 Orions, and a couple of VIP transports.

On the plus side, however, Wanaka does have an excellent collection of warbirds and none of the smog which besets Riverside and the other airshows held in the Los Angeles basin.

The Hornet wasn't the only American strike aircraft at the show; the Air Force were good enough to provide an F-117 Nighthawk "stealth fighter" to do a few passes.   However the Nighthawk pilots are only allowed to do dull flat passes with any banking or other vaguely interesting maneuvers performed well away from the show area, whereas the navy allows its Hornet demo pilots to do a full-bore rip-snorting display  including fast banking passes, high angle of attack slow passes, minimum radius turns and other exciting maneuvers.   Since it's designed with enough power and maneuverability to get on and off aircraft carriers, the F-18 also has the muscle to take off from Riverside's short runway, as well as to land without parachute assistance.   Two separate demos were done, one by each pilot, and that meant two takeoffs and two standard navy landings, which means putting it down hard and making sure it sticks!