March 18, 2007

March 18, 2007

On Thursday Aimee and I played golf. It is common to see A-10 Thunderbolts circling in the air, practicing take-offs and landings at the nearby Air Force base. As military jets go, the A-10’s are pretty slow and quiet. So we were pretty astounded when my golf swing was interrupted by a group of loud jets buzzing the golf course. I looked up to see the Navy’s Blue Angels flying in formation. They entertained us for almost an hour, oftentimes barely above the treetops. Having seen the Blue Angels practice in Chicago I knew Tucson must be having an air show this weekend.

 
On Sunday morning we drive to a local shopping mall where we pick up the air show shuttle bus that takes us onto Davis-Monthan Air Force base. On the way thru the base, we see field after field full of military airplanes. Davis-Monthan is the graveyard for all the military’s excess war birds. They don’t rust here in the desert. They are all mothballed waiting I guess for WWIII to break out. Unfortunately there are enough airplanes here to carry us through to WWIV.

Once thru the base security we walk to the flight line. All along the runway under canopies are a large assortment of restored and active military jets and helicopters. Many of them are open so you can sit in the cockpit. Unfortunately Aimee tells me I am too old to stand in line with the other kids for my chance.

While we are perusing the planes, the air show has started. We watch a couple barnstormer planes do pirouettes in the sky. Aimee and I both really enjoy watching the Army’s Golden Knight parachuting team perform. The Air force’s rescue team does a mock training drill. One of the local A-10 Thunderbolts demonstrates a live strafing run down the side of the runway.

We stick around the whole afternoon and watch the finale of the show, the Blue Angels. It was actually more fun though to watch them buzz around the golf course. They were more out of place there.

In all Davis-Monthan was a great place to watch the air show. It was not crowded, the transportation was great and the pilots and planes were all very accessible. Many of the pilots were strolling around the grounds with us. Aimee and I both think that the military must be relaxing entry standards as the pilots were looking very young.