California International Airshow 2016

Hi all. I recently went to San Francisco and managed to get to the California International Air Show at Salinas Airport. My first US air show, and I would go again. The temperature hit 98 Fahrenheit whatever that is in Celsius. All I know was it was damned hot! Really enjoyed watching the USAF Thunderbirds in action, the first time I've seen a military jet team display outside of New Zealand (no teams ever make it to NZ, too much water to cross I guess). Thoroughly recommend going to this event if you ever get the chance. My only regret was we departed California a day or two prior to the Fleet Week displays over San Francisco. It would have been good to catch the Blue Angels as well to complete the set. Took lots of photos (phone camera only sorry, it was very sunny and bright conditions and smog was present due to the fires around California). Here are a few from the show.


MC-130P, one of four operated by the California ANG 129th Rescue Wing.





HH60G Pave Hawk





SWAT Truck - Pretty extreme sort of Police vehicle for a Kiwi to see!





A couple of T6 Texans/SNJ





There were four different C-47/DC-3 there, these two took off to drop D-Day equipped parachutists but the cross wind was too strong and they didn't jump in the end (they were using WW2 era parachutes which can't be steered safely like modern canopies).





Two B-25's, one highly polished, the other in OD. They put on a good simulated bombing display to commemorate the Doolittle Tokyo raid.





The USAF had this F-16 on display in Thunderbirds scheme. This is a composite aircraft made up from various F-16s and is used for recruiting at events like this.





TBM Avenger in (very) bright colours.

There were six P-51D's and one P-51H and they put on a mass display later in the day. Awesome.





C-17 Globemaster. This was a great way to get out of the sun! You could walk through it, or join the queue to visit the flight deck.





The California Fire Department had many aircraft on display, many were already out fighting and spotting fires. The place is so dry, in it's seventh year of drought I believe. Santa Cruz and the area surrounding Monterey County was having some large fires and the resulting smog was quite apparent in the air.





As it got hotter people sheltered under the aircraft. Standing space only by the time it hit its peak! I found the C-17 much more comfortable The Navy machine is an E-6B Mercury.








The Thunderbirds closed the show. The highlight for me. The phone camera struggled with the pics so I just relaxed and enjoyed the display and noise.











Rach also enjoyed herself, managed to get herself into most flight decks and there was always time for candyfloss





On my travels I also managed to visit the USS Hornet Museum. I'll post something for that later on if anyone would like to see some of the pics

Great pics Joe!  Looks like you had a brilliant time , i particularly like the texans , cheers tony

Thanks for the pics Joe, brilliant. The Americans have such a variety of aircraft these days, unlike us Brits ! And look at that sky, blue as blue can be.

Seems you have a great day Joe. Good!


All the pics are excellent! Thanks for sharing

you had a very nice day for it,Joe,and seems as a good one also,thank you for showing us the pics, :D