2003 Displays

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

A thundercell drifted down the Santa Barbara Channel on the evening of November 12, 2003. A new display of lightning photos from this and other storms has been added to the Natural History wing of the museum.

The last Atlas II launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base was conducted at 2:04 in the morning on Tuesday, December 2.

There was so much airshow activity in October that it has taken a month to assemble the Miramar Airshow Static Display pages. There were over 160 airplanes and helicopters on static display at Miramar.

Static Displays Page 1 - Combat Aircraft.

Static Displays Page 2 - Transports, Tankers, Helicopters, Trainers, Electronics warfare aircraft.

Static Displays Page 3 - Vintage Aircraft.

Part of the collection of the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum is stored on the old South Base flightline.

On Friday, October 24, I shot the arrival of the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds and the static display aircraft on the main flightline.

Military Aircraft Static Displays, October 24

NASA and Vintage Aircraft Static Displays, October 24

Thunderbirds Arrival, Friday and Airshow, Saturday.

The Edwards Air Force Base Open House was held the weekend of October 25-26. During the two-day event, visitors saw new and unique aircraft in the Air Force inventory, and some of the best aerial demonstration pilots and teams performing today. The various demonstrations included Air Force aircraft such as the F/A-22, F-117, F-16, KC-135, C-17, B-1, which set 52 official world records, B-2, as well as NASA aircraft among others. This was also a once-a-year opportunity for taxpayers to see the kind of equipment they buy for the Air Force, and the abilities of the people who test, fly and maintain this equipment.

I spent three days shooting at Edwards AFB. On Wednesday, October 22, I shot the military rehearsals from the media site next to the runway.

Rehearsal, October 22, Page 1

Rehearsal, October 22, Page 2

On Saturday, October 25, I shot the airshow from the media site next to the runway.

Airshow, October 25, Page 1

Airshow, October 25, Page 2

Turbulent winds forced tankers to drop their loads of retardent alongside the Fox Field runway on October 26, 2003.

The Miramar MCAS Airshow was held from October 17 to 19, 2003. It featured two Stealth Fighter demonstrations, three VTOL Harrier demonstrations, a MAGTF demonstration, and lots of aerobatic performances, including the Red Baron Pizza team and the U. S. Navy Blue Angels. The Kodachrome slides are back, so the 2003 Miramar MCAS Airshow display has been expanded to two pages.

Page 1

Page 2.

The displays featuring Howard Hughes' giant Flying Boat, popularly known as the Spruce Goose, have been revised with additional pictures.

Page 1 illustrates the extraction of the Flying Boat from its hangar in October 1980.

Page 2 shows the Flying Boat's move from its temporary storage location to the display dome next to the Queen Mary in February 1982.

The Kern County Airshow was held at the Inyokern Airport on October 1, 2003.

Page 1 of the Kern County Airshow display features hot air balloons, several aerobatic performances, visits by an AV-8B Harrier and a pair of F/A-18E Super Hornets from VX-9 based at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, an F-15 Eagle from the 412th Test Wing based at Edwards Air Force Base and an F/A-18F Super Hornet from VFA-2 based at Lemoore Naval Air Station.

Page 2 of the 2003 Kern County Airshow display features the performance of the Canadian Snowbirds.

Butler Aircraft Douglas DC-7B, N6353C Tanker 66 recently visited the Goleta Tanker Station. Numerous DC-6s and DC-7s have been converted to fight wild fires over the years.

The Antonov An-225 Mriya has been sighted at JFK Airport on three occasions recently. This photograph was taken as it departed on September 26.

The latest entry in the natural history wing of the museum is a tour of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

A task force from the 91st Space Wing, Minot AFB, N.D., launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from North Vandenberg as part of a flight test for Air Force Space Command's Force Development Evaluation Program at 4:31 a.m. Wednesday, September 10, 2003.

I photographed a Lockheed-Martin F/A-22 Raptor of the 53rd Wing's 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron in the pattern at Nellis Air Force Base on the morning of Friday, September 5, 2003.

The flying displays at the 2003 Camarillo Airshow, held on the weekend of August 23-24, featured the airplanes of the Southern California Wing of the CAF and many Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-ins.

The F-5 Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstrator (SSBD) has been conducting tests aimed at reducing the impact of sonic booms. It made a series of flights from Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale, California during the week of August 25 - 29, 2003.

Oliver Rudolph photographed the Antonov An-225 Mriya on a rainy day at the Cologne Airport in August.

A variety of vintage airplanes arrived at Hawthorne Municipal Airport on Friday August 15 for the Air and Auto Power Show on Saturday August 16. Click to see pictures of the airplanes arriving at Hawthorne.

The Camarillo Airshow celebrated a centennial of flight the weekend of August 23 - 24, 2003. The show featured the airplanes of the Southern California Wing of the CAF and many Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-ins.

I dug out my old pictures of fourteen more rocket and missile launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base taken between 1982 and 1996.

An Orbital Sciences Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 11:00 A.M. Saturday, August 16.

The Canadian Space Agency's SCISAT-1 (Scientific Satellite Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment) was launched on an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL booster at 7:09:33 P.M. on August 12.

Hobbycraft has released a 1/144-scale model of the FICON composite aircraft system, which was composed of a Convair GRB-36D flying aircraft carrier conversion with a Republic RF-84K Thunderflash parasite reconaissance plane. Since my article about Project FICON is being published in the Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society, I chose to build and review the kit.

The Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow is the final resting place of those not quite worthy of burial in Red Square. Many of the monuments in the cemetery honor aircraft designers, cosmonauts or the victims of aviation disasters. Photos from a tour in 1993.

My comprehensive history of Project FICON is being published as a series of articles in the Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society. The first installment appears in the Summer 2003 edition. If you are not already a member, join the A.A.H.S. to receive your own copy.

The Collings Foundation Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, Nine-O-Nine and Consolidated B-24J Liberator, The Dragon and His Tail visited the Santa Barbara Airport from April 30 to May 2, 2003.

I spent a week in March photographing military jets in the wild.

Mojave is the home of many rarely seen former military aircraft. It is the home of the Civilian Flight Test Center and accommodates a multitude of stored airliners. The United States Airpower Museum is negotiating for some land to display their collection of airplanes on. More photos have been added from a visit to the Mojave Airport on March 23.

The loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and her intrepid crew is a global tragedy. By way of a memorial to the crew of Columbia, I am posting my photographs of Columbia taken at Edwards Air Force Base and Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale, California.

On a recent trip to Death Valley I spotted a Northrop B-2 Stealth Bomber flying in formation with a highly modified Boeing T-43A. It was a new one on me.

A Lockheed-Martin Titan II launched the Coriolis spacecraft into orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 West at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 6:19 A.M. on Monday, January 6.

This photo is featured in the Gallery section of the May 2003 issue of Sky and Telescope Magazine.

New Display Archives:

2007 New Displays

2006 New Displays

2005 New Displays

2004 New Displays

2002 New Displays

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