The 2010 Miramar Airshow Draws 800,000 Visitors

Story and Photos by Frank Lorey III

 

The 2010 Miramar Airshow had great attendance despite less than perfect weather.  Over 800,000 people visited the three-day, four-performance event.  Both the Friday and Sunday shows had the morning portions cancelled due to fog and low clouds.  Even Saturday had the visibility marred by lots of haze due to the humidity.

The mornings are usually devoted to the civilian performers, and on Friday all were cancelled except Sean Tucker and the Red Bull Helo.  The Jet Truck of Kent Shockley was also able to perform since he doesn’t leave the ground.  Even some of the popular military acts such as the Marine Air-Ground Task Force demonstration (MAGTF) and the Army Golden Knights and Navy Leap Frog parachute teams were scrubbed.

The top billings were still able to perform—the Navy’s Blue Angels and Canada’s Snowbirds.  The weather had cleared enough that the Blue Angels were able to perform the more spectacular “high show”.  This was the second year that the Snowbirds came all the way down to Southern California, and they were warmly received.

A great flight demonstration was given by the F-22 Raptor, along with the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F/A-18 Super Hornet.  The maneuverability of the Raptor is just incredible—it greatly exceeds the performance of any existing or projected fighter in the world, while the Super Hornet gives a 40% greater range than the earlier Hornet versions.  The MV-22 Osprey was set to fly, but was during the portion of the show that was cancelled on Friday and Sunday.  Visitors on Saturday got to see pretty much all of the acts, however.

Static displays offered several aircraft that were open to walk though, and a few cockpits that were available for visitors to see inside—including the Osprey.  The Osprey is slowly taking over helicopter transport duties from the aging CH-46 that dates back to the Vietnam era.

A new aircraft to the show this year was the Eurofighter Typhoon.  Two of them flew down from testing at China Lake, where they were taking part in evaluating new software.  Flt. Lt. Paul Blackburn said “we are based at RAF Coningsby, and the testing at China Lake is over a 4-week period, and then we move on for six more weeks at Nellis.”  They came from Great Britain just in time for some record heat in Southern California, but it was getting better this week.  The Eurofighter entered service with Britain in 2003, with about 200 eventually planned to be used by the RAF.

Other great static displays were the huge unmanned RQ-4N BAMS, the MQ-9 Predator RPA “Reaper” in fully armed configuration, and one of only two privately-owned Cessna A-37 Dragonfly aircraft that date back to the Vietnam war.  Many military transport aircraft and vintage civilian planes were also on display. 

With the upcoming 100-year anniversary of Marine aviation, the Marines are focusing more on their history.  A mini-reunion was held honoring veterans of the Iwo Jima campaign—most are in their mid-80’s and up.  Airshow visitors were encouraged to talk with the veterans when they spotted them around the show.  Even with the less-than-ideal weather, the crowds went away quite pleased with this year’s event.