NAF El Centro tagged posts

Last Thursday the NAF El Centro held it’s first photocall of the year. PHX Spotters was given five spots. The Sorting Hat was quickly brought out of storage and it indicated that Felipe, Jason, Kyle, Peter Van Dyke and Jared were to go (Unfortunately, the sorting hat doesn’t always consider real life commitments, and Jared was unable to go).

The day started out circa 0730 by the world-famous hay bales, where there was some practice activity, a slow morning, however. Shortly after that, a cloud of dust behind a red SUV announced the arrival of Felipe, who was traveling separate from the group. Then the Blue Angels started their morning practice, buzzed the large crowd and allowed for plenty of pictures. After they landed, the morning fun was over.

Unfortunately, the plans to go trainspotti...

Naval Air Facility El Centro provides a great training facility to active and reserve Navy Units. Marines use the base and its surrounding ranges throughout the year as well. The surrounding desert and the climate that comes with it create a perfect location for training aircrews. Since El Centro has no assigned aircraft to their base.  This gives us photographers a variety of aircraft to obtain a photo there were T-45s, EA-6 Prowlers, F/A-18 Super and Legacy Hornets, and there was a Marine Aerial Refueler from the Transport Squadron 352 (VMGR-352) “Raiders”...

Last Saturday, NAF El Centro hosted their 2012 airshow. This was my first ever Naval airshow, and it didn’t disappoint.

The show opened with the Navy Leapfrogs parachuting team, launching out of one of their C-2 Greyhounds, followed by the National Anthem and some civilian performers, including Tim Weber. A different civilian performer was a jet-powered International Transtar 4300, which fired up the afterburners on the runway while one of the Pitts was flying over. Then it was time for the military performers, which included two F/A-18E from the VFA-122 “Flying Eagles”, one of them flying solo, demonstrating the capabilities of the Super Hornet and another one doing a heritage flight with a CAF Bearcat...