It’s October in San Francisco, which means it has to be Fleet Week.  Since 1981 Fleet Week has been a fixture in the City by the Bay.  It’s a weeklong event with disaster preparedness drills, military displays, ship open houses and 3 days of flying.

The flying started on Thursday with the Blue Angels performing their orientation flights and a practice show. 

Friday opened with the parade of ships led by the USS Essex LHD-2, a Wasp class amphibious assault ship, and the USS Champion MCM-4, a mine countermeasures ship.  Following them was the USCGC Stratton Coast Guard National Security Cutter and the Canadian HMCS Winnipeg FFH-338.

In September, Mather Field hosted another great air show for the Sacramento area.  Each year they host a photography tour which provides a unique opportunity for photographers to get on the other side of the airfield for better lighting.  On arrival day, we were treated to multiple passes of a U-2 Dragon Lady before landing.

During the air show, there was plenty of flying and static displays to keep all the spectators happy over the beautiful weekend.  The show opened with the national anthem and jumpers from the Patriot Parachute Team.  An F-15 from the California ANG based out of Fresno made several passes while new cadets were taking their oaths.  A P-51 Mustang and USCG C-27 Spartan made fly-bys as well.

NAS China Lake located in Ridgecrest, CA just had its first air show in twenty years. The home squadrons, VX-9 Vampires and VX-31 Dust Devils, each had the various airframes from their squadrons on display including the F/A-18D Hornet, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler, and AV-8B Harrier. All three variants of the F-35 Lightning II were on display as well. The RNLAF (Royal Netherlands Air Force) brought the F-35A, the RAF (Royal Air Force) brought the F-35B, and US Navy brought the F-35C. The remaining static displays were three NASA aircraft from Edwards AFB, a few warbirds, and a few more aircraft from the USAF and US Navy. There were also interesting displays of weapons and equipment that have been developed and tested at China Lake.

The US Army Special Operations Command Parachute Team, The Black Daggers, started the air show by jumping from the VX-31 SH-60 Seahawk. They performed their technical maneuvers during the National Anthem, with two members presenting the American Flag.

The Patrouille de France flight demonstration team is currently flying a North American tour in honor of the one hundredth anniversary of the United States entering World War I. They are the oldest flight demonstration team in the world with their first performance taking place in 1931. The team uses eight Dassault-Breguet/Dornier Alpha Jets with red, white and blue smoke generators. Their appearance here at Mather Field in Sacramento is the only show scheduled on the West Coast.

The schedule included two T-38 Talons from Beale AFB and the Airbus A400M Atlas transport from the French Air Force, with the Patrouille de France as the stars. The static aircraft included two C-130 Hercules, a UH-60 Blackhawk, a T-39 Sabreliner, and a World War II Yak. After the A400M finished its routine, it was also opened up to the public.