A-4 Skyhawk -- Hot rod of the sky at NAS Oceana

[Odie]

Hey all, just got back from a 9 day stay in Virginia Beach where I attended the NAS Oceana airshow. This year they had a demo of a privately owned A-4 Skyhawk and I must say, having never seen one fly in real time, it was a treat! It put on a very good demo and I must admit that it had very clean lines that I had never noticed while watching them on film. Very thin head-on profile and easy to lose in the sky.

There was also the Tactical airpower demo, F/A-18F demo, legacy Hornet demo, and of course the Blue Angels. The Angels added some new routines to their performance and it was a surprise to see them.

Last year Oceana hosted a Sat/Sun crowd of 314,000. They haven't released any attendance figures for this year's show but it sure looked to be on-track for the same.

They had an F-35 on display in a hanger, but it was roped off so that you couldn't enter the hangar so you couldn't get a good view behind it.

A TBF Avenger flew, along with a F4U Corsair, and a Skyraider. The schedule had listed a Spitfire to be included in this group but it was MIA and not even on the ramp.

One of the local aviation museums had an event on Saturday evening where they wet down the ramp and cranked up a number of WW2 aircraft about twilight so you
could get some photos of the engines firing. The wife and I didn't make it to that event after spending all day on Oceana, so we stayed put at the hotel and watched
the F/A-18 do afterburner passes up and down the beachfront for the Saturday Beach Blast. After the Hornet departed, sky-divers dropped in to land on the beach.

All and all, it was a fun weekend, but I do miss the Twilight Air Show that they used to have on Friday evening.

[Navy Chief]

Used to enjoy air shows a lot, but the older I get, the less I can handle dealing with crowds, let alone 314k!!

As I understand things, the FAA regs for civilian-owned ex-military aircraft are quite stiff. It will probably never happen, but I still hold out hope for a A-7 Corsair II to fly again. NC

[Willy]

I've seen the Blue Angels numerous times and IMHO, they should have stuck with the A-4. But I also understand the Navy's wanting to showcase their newest jets.

The last time I was stationed at NAS Pensacola, I was at Port Operations as the Chief Engineer on a tugboat. The Blues were getting ready for their end of the year show at Pensacola Beach and as my tug was the only one with Loran C we were picked to go anchor off of the beach as a reference point for them. We'd go out before daylight, anchor out off the beach at the designated spot and head back in when they were done for the day. During one of the practices, one of the A-4s came so low over the tug that it wrecked our TV antenna which was the highest point of the boat. The Blues sent us a fancy new one.

While driving through Millington TN on our way to Memphis Sunday, we got to see the Thunderbirds at the airshow there as we were driving down the highway. First time I'd ever seen them.

W

[stansdds]

I remember the A4 and when the Blue Angels used them. During the Arab oil embargo and the downturn in the economy, the Blue Angels traded their F4 Phantoms for the more economical A4 and the Thunderbirds traded their Phantoms for T-38 Talons. The A4 was a nimble aircraft, very capable of precision maneuvers, but when fuel prices declined and the economy recovered in the 1980's, the navy switched to its newest fighter, the F/A-18 and the USAF switched to the F-16.