I’ve been to plenty of huge airshows over the years at Edwards AFB, Miramar, Point Mugu, and even places way outside of SoCal, like Scott AFB outside of St Louis and Hollomon AFB near Las Cruces, NM. (Search this site for pictures from them all.) These airshows typically have a ton of military jets and aircraft on display, demo teams for some fighters such as the F-22, F-35, or back in the day, the F-14, F-15, or F-16. They often include either the Navy Blue Angels or the Air Force Thunderbirds. They often have well over 100,000 attendees along with the traffic and lines that go along with a crowd of that size.
I’ve been to mid-sized airshows like Camarillo for years, mainly because I was working it with the CAF SoCal crew. Maybe one or two military fighters, no Blue Angels or Thunderbirds, probably lots of warbirds due to the CAF sponsorships. There might be 40,000 to 50,000 folks there.
Not so common are visits to the smaller airshows like today’s in Apple Valley. Two or three private jet flights, a bunch of aerobatic demonstrations by small private aircraft and probably a Pitts Special biplane, a couple of parachute demos, and maybe 8,000 to 10,000 or fewer attendees.
Last year we didn’t even know that the Apple Valley Airshow existed since we had only been here for two months, and we were way to busy unpacking and settling in to go by the time we found out about it. This year it was high on our list to go and I think we’re both very glad we did. Ronnie and I both had a really fun time.
We have a tropical depression headed right at us, the remnants of a Pacific Hurricane. We’re under a flash flood watch from this evening through Tuesday afternoon, but we weren’t expecting any rain during the show. Just lots of clouds. Good! Less chance to get sunburnt!
Even for a smaller airshow, there were LOTS of food and drink vendors.
The crowd wasn’t bad, but there was plenty of room for people to set up their lawn chairs and watch the show.
Self-built RVs doing formation aerobatics.
The C-53 Skytrooper “D-Day Doll” from the Inland Empire CAF Wing climbing out to drop a parachute demo team. I got to chat with a couple of Inland Empire folks at their booth. I signed up to be a member when we moved up here, I should go to a meeting and start getting involved.
The T-33 Ace Maker
The US Army Golden Nights parachute demo team aircraft climbing out.
Olga Sannikova flying the Aero L-39 Albatross “Pink Jet,” a wonderful demo.
The Red Bull Zivko Edge 540 doing things that defy the laws of physics and gravity!
The Army Golden Knights came back down with precision and style.
The SubSonex JSX-2 MicroJet. As its pilot you don’t get in it so much as you put it on.
The Undaunted Airshows dogfighting demo using an RV7 and an RV8.
Good friend Jason Somes from the SoCal CAF brought his MIG-17, the highlight of the show.
A great demo by the Pitts S-1 flown by Yuichi Takagi.
The Douglas Skyraider flown and maintained by the Soaring by the Sea group.
Two P-51’s led off the WW2 warbird demo, including “Man O’ War,” which used to be with CAF SoCal, but is now with the Palm Springs Air Museum. I’ve flown in this aircraft a couple of times, a true bucket list event!
The F4U Corsair from the Planes of Fame Air Museum.
The Planes of Fame Air Museum’s F8F Bearcat.
T-28 from the Palm Springs Air Museum.
TBM Avenger.
The show ended about 14:30, and by 14:35 planes were taking off like bats out of Hell for their home airports. It was obvious that the first rain from the incoming storm was all around us. We grabbed our chairs and stuff and headed to the car. We just barely got there in time thanks to a helpful volunteer with a golf cart who saw that we were struggling. As soon as we got into the car, this monstrous wind and dust storm hit along with the rain and you could barely see thirty feet. We were getting pummeled by debris and it was “exciting.” The good news was that so many folks had seen the rain coming and bailed early, before the show ended, that the traffic and crowd getting out was much lighter and easier than I had expected.
Looking forward to next year’s Apple Valley airshow!!
