Relentless Pursuit in Florida, Chapter III – Airshows on Military Bases
Words & images by COAP Online member Raimo Roonet
[Recap] At the end of April I finally returned from a “little” relentless pursuit of my own, having spent nearly a month in Florida with my wife and kid.
How to plan a month-long family trip across the pond to Florida? Squeeze in three airshows and a museum or two plus a night shoot, of course! That was not an easy task however. No, not necessarily because of the WAF (wife approval factor), but rather due to time and driving distance constraints. Of course, some sacrifices and compromises had to be made to fit it all in and the month was filled with all sorts of non-aviation related activities as well – schedule was pretty tight, we had only a few days for “just chilling” but luckily neither of us is of the “lay by the pool” type, preferring active pursuit of experiences and roadtrips to the poolside.
In the third and Final Chapter of the Florida Series I will look back on my experience regarding airshows held in military bases. There were two that we attended during this trip – Wings Over Homestead and NAS Key West Southernmost Air Spectacular.
Wings Over Homestead
Held at the Homestead ARB in southern Florida near Miami, the airbase is home to 93rd Fighter Squadron, the Makos, who wear their namesake, the mako shark, on their tailfin:
The Mako Shark tailfin of the 93rd Fighter Squadron, The Makos.
This was the first time since 2018 that an airshow was held at Homestead ARB, and until then it was usually held in November – naturally, moving a trational event to springtime was not to everyone’s liking. Worked for our trip though. Unfortunately it overlapped with Sun ’n Fun (see Florida Chapter II). As the program on Saturday and Sunday is pretty much the same on SNF and the Homestead show also hosted F-22 Raptor Demo Team and Tora! Tora! Tora! show (which does not do very many shows during the season), we decided to attend both.
Saturday on SNF culminated with awesome fireworks display which we surely did not want to miss, this meant we would be reaching back to our accomodation past 11 in the night. Homestead ARB was at least 4 hour drive away from there, which meant we had to start driving at around 4-5 o’clock in the morning, factoring in stops for breakfast and traffic to reach the venue for gate opening. So full day at SNF starting at sunrise, getting to bed by midnight, get maybe 4 hours of shuteye followed by 4 hour drive and another day at airshow. How hard can it be?
Turned out it was easier than we anticipated, the kid slept through most of the drive and those few precious hours of sleep were enough for me to not fall asleep behind the wheel. Troubles lied elsewhere.
Line of traffic at the interstate ramp – This photo was taken by my wife, as I was behind the wheel, used with her permission.
On the previous day we noticed on the social media that Wings Over Homestead show struggled with car traffic management. Badly. Lots of backlash online, people were stuck in traffic for 2-3 hours before rerouted yet again. We encountered some of the traffic on Sunday as well, the line reached the Interstate ramp some 3.5 kilometers away. We were still stuck in the traffic when we saw the beautiful yellow-striped Vampire making its passes and the Tora! warbirds taking off – those things looked marvellous passing behind the line of tall palm trees that grow along the base’s perimeter. Due to having bought the preferred seating we were directed out of the main waiting line through the back gate to the VIP parking, reaching the parking area right when the Tora! Tora! Tora! show started.
No time to go waiting in the entrance line now, grabbed my harness and cameras as quickly as possible and dashed to the edge of the parking area to shoot the warbirds. The location by the concrete barrier was awesome for viewing as the warbirds passed directly overhead, but at the sime time their angle and speed was such that I was struggling to get sharp shots. Before long their show was over, managed to get a few shots but nothing as awesome as I was hoping for.
Stuck in traffic… But The Tora! warbirds put on a show!
Onward to the security line…
Security was tight, every single person and their belongings were screened by the gates, with bags searched almost like at airport. Concrete blocks as barriers everywhere. I told in the previous chapter that the Florida’s sun is harsh, on bright concrete apron this is absolutely brutal, scorching from the top, slow cooking from below. And the amount of heat haze, forget about shooting anything near the ground over 100 meters away.
As the F-22 Demo Team’s merch tent was along the way to the Preferred Seating area, I quickly picked up one of their patches and coin. Managed to get to the flight line just by the time the Raptor was starting to take off. RaZZ in the cockpit delivered, highly dynamic show with stalls and flatspins plus loads of vapes. And the heritage flight with P-51 “Moonbeam McSwine”, which had flown in from Sun ‘n Fun, was gorgeous as well.
RaZZ takes off, framed by tailfins of another Raptor.
After the show the team members came by the Preferred Seating area to interact with the crowd. Tried to exchange my freshly bought patch with one of the F-22 pilots in hopes of getting a flown one but he told me he just bought the one on his shoulder as well as he had given his previous one away.
RaZZ wrapping things up (left). RaZZ and his Team, armed with packs of stickers, walking towards the crowdline in slow-mo (right).
One of the highlights on this show that even made the F-22 pilots to turn away from the crowds was the unscheduled visit and flyby by a pair of B-1 lancer bombers frum Dyess. Can’t really blame him, magnificient sight indeed.
An unscheduled flyby by a pair of B-1 Lancer bombers turns heads… even those of the F-22 pilots.
Next up was something so utterly American that no words can describe, they would most likely add flags to it as well if they wouldn’t catch fire. Greta would probably faint if she’d see one (don’t tell her though).
Only in America, trucks with flames!
USAF Thunderbirds headlined this show. Throughout the day their ground crew members strolled in front of the flightline and goofed around, playing “football” and what not. T-birds had their full show going on with the ground ceremony.
The USAF Thunderbirds enjoying some down time…
As awesome as the flying part of the airshow was, it was all undone at the end of the event. As soon as the Thunderbirds arrived, you could hear the vendors starting to pack up their tents. We wanted to go explore the enormous static display area, especially the C-5 Galaxy parked at far end of the apron, but halfway there we saw it being closed up already. Moments later a golf cart with military personnel drove in, signaling at people and herding them towards exits.
Static displays and some interesting finds.
We did manage to stop by a few merch tents on the way to the parking lot, and the hosts continued to shout and signal people to clear the area. This is all the “loot” I was able to get from this event:
The “loot” I picked up from the event.
It really was reminding us of cattle herding at this point, harassing even. Certainly a unhospitable ending, at least none of them carried rifles while doing it.
When are the visitors expected to see the static displays then? At least give us an hour or two after the show, this way the departing traffic is a little more spread out as well!
NAS Key West Southernmost Air Spectacular
As this whale of a name suggests, the show is held at Naval Air Station Key West, which actually is a bit misleading as the airfield is in fact situated on Boca Chica Key, the island right before the Key West. The base is home to the famous VFC-111 Sundowners – one of the US Navy’s aggressor squadrons, still flying their fabulous F-5s.
The VFC-111 Sundowners, still flying their fabulous F-5s
The drive through the Florida Keys itself is beautiful and the old part of Key West which is only a 5-10 minute drive from the base, is an amazing place to enjoy tasty food and drinks. It even has an aviation-themed restaurant called First Flight which is situated in the same house the company Pan Am was established in. While much better food options can be found on the island, one can not deny the atmosphere, which includes autographed photos, stickers and patches by different squadrons dotting the walls. Altough accomodation is rather expensive in the area, it is well worth to stay there a night or two.
First Flight – An aviation-themed restaurant in Key West is well worth a visit.
But I am getting a bit carried away, getting back to the airshow.
As we stayed on the Key West, getting to the event by time was easy. 15 minutes to spare until gate opening and there already was a kilometer-long line stretching across a bridge. The line however did not begin to move until about quarter an hour after the gate opening. Reaching past the main gate we found ourselves stuck in a line again for quite a while. Traffic problems started to look like part of “airbase show experience”. When we finally reached the parking area, we were at first directed to continue straight down the road towards VIP parking (again, we had preferred seating tickets). The very next guy posted on the road, just 20 meters later made us turn into the main parking lot. Protesting got us nowhere, had to turn to the main.
This was followed by more standing in line waiting for the security screening. Meanwhile the first performer took off – it had already been an hour since the gates opened. Again we found ourselves wondering, why insisting on this kind of tight scheduling when it is obvious all the people can not be let in at the same time. It is unfair to the performers as well – who would like to perform to an empty row of seats?
Another queue, another airshow!
Once inside, I knew what the scheduling was going to be like due to previous experience, so I used the time when the „non-highlight“ peformers (sorry, guy in yet another Extra300 or F-16) were in the air to go explore the statics and raid the merch tents.
Regarding merch, the NAS Key West, being almost caribbean setting, was a real treasure trove! The tents were mostly arranged in one area with only a few exceptions and the stuff they provided was gorgeous. Starting from the Sundowners patches (they had both chest and shoulder ones available) to the F-35 Demo Team coin („Beo“ was hanging around in the tent as well) and of course, the merch of the host/event itself! That event coin and base command coin are just works of art! Blue Angels had their tent set up as well with several colourful coin options but they like to keep their patches exclusive to their team.
Some of the unique and fantastic merch.
Highlights
The main highlight of the show was the weather. Humid weather on the island provided excellent vapes! It is usual to see vapes around high-performance aircraft but this setting induced vapes even on F-5s which to my understanding are not known for producing much, and not just during high-alpha maneuvers, the F-5 had high-speed vapes visible on the wings as well.
The high-speed vapes of the F-5.
The F-5s from the Sundowners. I wish they did more airshows, on other bases as well. Agressors are just a breath of fresh air in the otherwise grey military aviation. And their tight formations are just as spectacular as the ones the T-Birds or Blues do – hiding behind each other to conceal their numbers and doing attack runs.
The Agressors are a breath of fresh air in the otherwise grey world of military aviation.
F-35A with Kristin „Beo“ Wolfe at the helm. The setting and weather here really made this performance shine! During this demo I found out that there are people that can and will outscream a jet engine! No kidding, one lady was just a few meters away from me, screaming „WHOOOOO“ at every maneuver „Beo“ pulled, with a pitch that cut through my flesh and bone and resonated in my skull. Just after landing and fistbumping her teammates „Beo“ came towards to the preferred seating area, walked straight to my kid and handed him the Demo Team’s sticker. Seems like the kid is starting a collection of his own – patches for the old man, stickers for the kid.
The F-35 puts on a show.
At the Homestead, the Thunderbirds’ ground crew provided for some side entertainment. At Key West the F-35A Demo Team took care of that. At one point in the show, a Piper Cub of the Alabama Boys „lost a wheel“ – an inner tire was dropped from the Cub and it just kept on rolling on the apron, past the Blue Angels, over the wide open space and finally coming to a stop next to the F-35. Some time later a member of the F-35 Demo Team ground crew went and picked up the tire, upon discovering the bouncing properties of the object he began to play with it, hopping it in his hands, bouncing it on the ground, embracing his inner child. Truly magnificent mind of a ground crew member is.
The F-35 Demo Team defying gravity!
While the Blues did not do the full ground show at the Sun ’n Fun, they did so in Key West. What was not thought out well however was the sequence of the shows. The last show before the blues was one by Skip Stewart in his Pitts. Much of his show consists of low-flying stunts, cutting ribbons held up by poles etc. And just as he is flying only a few meters off the ground, inverted, at the ribbon, the ground crew of Blues is being driven to the planes in a convoy of minivans! Right in front of the spectators so they could wave from the car windows. I heard several photographers angrily murmuring that moment. How can you ruin the main stunt of another performer like that? Couldn’t they wait a couple of minutes to start driving?
The spectators wave from their car windows.
This show was being shut down pretty quickly after the Blues landed as well. It was not as bad as at Homestead but still, vendors were already packing up and there was not much to see or do. Sure enough, with everyone leaving at once it caused a jam in the base. Took a while to get the things starting to move, and when they finally did, we were directed via a long route taking us all around the base (hey, free tour, right?!) even though they had well thought out plans in place beforehand to handle the traffic based on their destination. Overall it did leave a bit better impression than Homestead, but that might have been because I already knew I needed to miss some of the acts to go “shopping”.
A couple of days later while leaving the Keys, I drove to the perimeter fence at the far end just to look if there is anything to see. To my surprise we reached the location just in time to see the C-5 departing, what a coincidence!
Managing to even catch the C-5 depart!
Highlights
While the military shows may offer great static displays and merch, good selection of attending units and at times, rare performers like the Sundowners, they seem to be plagued by similar problems.
The programs with a few exceptions may seem a bit repetitive. This is further emphasized by the military narrators whose speeches are always shoving propaganda terms like “defending our freedoms” down your throat.
Tight schedule, leaving no time to see the static displays if you want to enjoy the airshow as well. And the rush of getting everyone out and away as soon as the show ends is just awful.
Traffic management. Seriously, those in charge of traffic flow in the bases should go and see how things are handled in Disney Parks or Sun ’n Fun. At those venues it works near flawlessly, why can’t they make it work at airbases?
Day on the bright concrete is harsh, it takes a toll on you, by the end of the day you actually are starting to wish it was already over. The radiated heat from below is only one aspect – as the concrete is bright, it negates any sun-shading effect your hat might have. You’ll be squinting the whole day unless you like to use a camera with sunglasses on (I don’t).
For these reasons I would probably take another day at Sun n’ Fun instead of going to the overlapping military show the next time. Unless there is something really rare to see like Tora! again.
Even if the experience and atmosphere at the military airshows was not very enjoyable, I still got a ton of cool photos and merch. Decided to add a few of those patches to my shoulder bag:
A few of the cool patches now added to my shoulder bag!
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