2004 Displays

Click on any picture below to link to the related display.

Take a detailed look at the NB-52B as it appeared at its retirement ceremony. Read the history of the airplane as revealed by the mission marks running along the side of its fuselage. Illustrations are provided to assist in the construction of a model of the NB-52B.

NASA's Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress Mothership was retired in a ceremony at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base on Friday December 17, 2004. The NB-52B has been a fixture at Edwards AFB for forty-nine years.

Air traffic descending into Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport passes over the neighborhood where I grew up. In addition, each day several business jets cruise over at low altitude on their way from Sky Harbor to the Scottsdale Airport. While visiting my family over the holiday weekend I photographed the air traffic overhead.

The third X-43A Hyper-X mission did not go off without a hitch. Problems with the GPS or inertial navigation system of the X-43A resulted in a mission abort on Monday. Here is the story of two days at Edwards Air Force Base covering the final X-43A mission.

The third X-43A Hyper-X demonstrated that an air-breathing engine can propel a vehicle at Mach-10 on the afternoon of November 16, 2004. The Hyper-X flight was conducted out of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert.

On Thursday, October 21, I shot a series of panoramas along the length of East Camino Cielo on the crest of the Santa Ynez Mountains above Goleta and Santa Barbara. Camino Cielo features many sweeping vistas of the Santa Barbara Channel and the San Rafael Wilderness.

Vandenberg Air Force Base hosted an airshow over Halloween weekend. The weather was sunny, breezy, and cool. The show featured a peformance by the new Raytheon T-6A Texan II.

Page 1

Page 2

The Moon passed through the shadow of the Earth on the evening of October 27.

For the Natural History wing of the Museum:

On Tuesday, October 5, my sister and I drove our Toyota 4Runners to the ghost town of Ballarat in the Panamint Valley with the intent of 4-wheeling up Pleasant Canyon to Rogers Pass.

The Canadian Snowbirds appeared at the Kern County Airshow for the second year in a row. They flew an 8-ship show because the pilot of #5 was under the weather. They fly a show that is distinctly different from the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds with some very complicated formation changes.

Douglas DC-3, N101KC Rose of Dream Flight carried passengers on aerial tours from the Inyokern Airport during the Kern County Airshow on Wednesday, October 6, 2004. The flights provided spectacular views of the China Lake Valley and the Sierra Nevada.

The Kern County Airshow was held at the Inyokern Airport on Wednesday October 6, 2004. It featured several aerobatic performances, visits by an AV-8B Harrier and an F/A-18F Super Hornet of VX-9 based at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, a B-52 Stratofortress from the 412th Test Wing based at Edwards Air Force Base, and an Israeli Aircraft Industries Kfir. The Canadian Snowbirds appeared at the Kern County Airshow for the second year in a row.

Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X-Prize on October 4, 2004 for making two flights to an altitude of 100 kilometers from the Mojave Airport within two weeks.

On Saturday, September 25 the Santa Barbara Airport hosted the bi-annual "A Day at the Airport." This event offered a host of aviation-related activities for all ages.

Here's a survey of the wide variety of general aviation and regional airline airplanes that flew into the Santa Barbara Airport the day before the event.

Hummingbirds are common in Goleta.

A second movie illustrating the lunar month from August 19 to September 11 has been added to the Moon display.

Humid conditions resulted in impressive vapor condensation in the low pressure around the fast and maneuvering jets at the 2004 Pt Mugu airshow.

Static displays at the 2004 Pt Mugu airshow.

A Minuteman III missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base to the Reagan Test Range at Kwajalein Atoll very shortly after the beginning of the launch window at 1:01 A.M. on Wednesday, September 15.

Retrospective of the 2002 Point Mugu Air Show, which was held on April 19 and 20, 2002. It featured the aircraft of the Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force and Air Test and Evaluation Squadron VX-30. The next Pt. Mugu Airshow will be held on September 18 and 19.

The annual Camarillo airshow was held on August 28 and 29, 2004. It featured the aircraft of the Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force and Chapter 723 of the Experimental Aircraft Association. Celebrating its 24th year, the 2004 show pays tribute to more than 60 years of history and growth of the Camarillo Airport.

Warbirds

Transports, Trainers, and Liaison

General Aviation

Alongside Pacific Coast Highway in Ventura County, the Point Mugu Naval Air Station is home to the Pt. Mugu Missile Park. There you can see a wide variety of the missiles and airplanes that have been tested at Point Mugu since World War II.

The Luke Air Force Base Air Park display has been updated with recent photographs.

I drove up to the crest of the Santa Ynez Mountains above Santa Barbara at 3:00 in the morning on Thursday, August 12, 2004 to photograph the Perseid meteor shower.

A variety of vintage airplanes arrived at Hawthorne Municipal Airport on Friday the thirteenth for the Air Faire that was held on Saturday, August 14.

In 1979, Luke Air Force Base hosted a collection of jet fighters, clustered around the main gate. Several of these airplanes are still on display at Luke AFB Airpark.

A Minuteman III missile was launched on a suborbital trajectory toward Kwajalein Atoll from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:37 A.M. on Friday, July 23.

An LGM-118A Peacekeeper missile was launched on a suborbital trajectory toward Kwajalein Atoll from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:01 A.M. on Wednesday, July 21.

NASA's AURA satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB on a Delta II booster at 3:02 A.M on Thursday, July 15.

Douglas DC-3, N101KC Rose of Dream Flight carried passengers on aerial tours from Hawthorne Airport on Friday, July 9. It was built as a DC-3 in 1943 and served the Army Air Force as a C-53D. Its Douglas construction number was 11639. It now carries passengers on nostalgia flights in the Los Angeles area.

In recent years, a fireworks show has appeared in the sky over Goleta on Independence Day.

After nearly seven years, the Cassini-Huygens probe fired its rocket engine for over an hour and half to place it into orbit around Saturn.

Cassini made a close approach to Titan at 3:45 A.M. PDT on Friday July 3. The raw images of Titan made during the flyby revealed unprecedented surface detail. There are fascinating features visible in the images that have yet to be explained.

Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne made the first privately funded manned flight to 100 Kilometers altitude from the Mojave Airport early in the morning on Monday, June 21. Pilot Mike Melvill earned his astronaut's wings and experienced three minutes of weightlessness during the flight into space.

The flight was part of the envelope expansion phase of an attempt to win the $10,000,000 Ansari X-Prize. To win the prize the team must make two flights to 100 Kilometers within two weeks. The public was invited to attend this historic event.

Santa Fe steam locomotive 3751 made an unassisted run from Union Station to San Bernardino to be displayed at the rededication of the depot. It departed Union Station at 8:20 A.M. and arrived at the San Bernardino depot at 10:00 A.M. It will return to Union Station Sunday afternoon.

SpaceShipOne is schedueled to make the first privately funded flight to an altitude of 100 kilometers on Monday, June 21. It was designed by Burt Rutan and constructed by Scaled Composites Incorporated. Funding has been provided by Paul Allen.

Burt Rutan and Scale Composites have been responsible for producing many novel and innovative aircraft. This display features several of his designs and products of Scale Composites.

Static Displays

Page 1

Most of the airplanes that participated in the airshow were parked in two rows along the flightline.

Page 2 is a walk along the airplanes parked in the row on the right.

Page 3 is a walk along the airplanes parked in the row on the left.

Flying Displays

Page 1: Missing Man Formation and Silver Wings Stearman Biplane Wing Walking Act.

Page 2: D-Day Invasion Aircraft Display with Mustangs, Spitfires, P-47 Thunderbolt, Hurricane, and Avenger.

Page 3: Northrop N9M Flying Wing Performance by Ron Hackworth and Korean Air War F-86 Sabre and MiG-15 Tail Chase.

Page 4: Navy Flight SBD Dauntless, FM-2 Wildcat, F4F Hellcat, F7F Tigercat, F8F Bearcat, A-1 Skyraider, F4U Corsair, and Sea Fury.

Page 5: Pacific Air Battle FM-2 Wildcats, Zeros and P-38 Lightning and British Fighter Aerobatics Display.

Page 6: Air Power Formation Flight - Massive Gaggle of Warbirds and United States Air Force F-16 Viper Tactical Demonstration.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses were once widely used to fight forest fires. In recent years all the surviving B-17 tankers have been restored to stock military configuration. Many of them remain airworthy. This display features photographs of B-17 tankers taken from 1971 to 1984.

The Collings Foundation B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator visited the Santa Maria Airport from May 5 to May 7, 2004.

A variety of airplanes and helicopters helped to extinguish the Cachuma Fire in Santa Barbara County from Tuesday May 4 to Friday May 7.

N73544 took off from the Camarillo Airport for what may have been the last time at 10:00 A.M. on April 26, 2004. The Breitling Super Constellation made one low pass over Runway 26 at the Camarillo Airport and headed away to the north.

It will be flown to Switzerland to fly air tours in Europe. They have a five-year lease with an option to buy.

More photographs of former Camarillo Connie can be seen on the Lockheed Super Constellation Survivors Display.

Camarillo Connie is being test flown by the group that will take her to Switzerland.

Camarillo Connie on approach to Runway 07 at the Santa Barbara Airport on April 22, 2004.

Camarillo Connie makes a high pass over Runway 07 at the Santa Barbara Airport on April 23, 2004.

The Collings Foundation B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator visited the Camarillo Airport from April 20 to April 22, 2004.

The Gravity-B probe was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on April 20, 2004. It will verify whether the magnitude of warping of the space-time continuum caused by the rotation of the Earth is properly predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.

The second X-43A Hyper-X mission was launched from NASA's NB-52B mothership on Saturday, March 27. It was dropped from the NB-52B about fifty miles from the coast of Southern California. The mission demonstrated the feasibility of air-breathing powered flight at mach-7.

On Wednesday, March 24 NASA Dryden Flight Research Center hosted a press briefing about the upcoming X-43A Hyper-X mission.

New Display Archives:

2007 New Displays

2006 New Displays

2005 New Displays

2003 New Displays

2002 New Displays

Send a message to Brian.