After see many great photos from the winter light out in the States, namely Ash Wallace, Matt Clements and Tony O,
this Year I planned a 2 Week visit for my Wife and I in February. Roughly a 75/25% Percent split of Aircraft and sight seeing.
Leaving behind the cold on Sunday 8th February for the Sunny and warm Days of California.
I will gladly help any one with location details etc and apologies to anyone who already knows the area.
Landing in Los Angeles we drove half way to El Centro, staying the Night in El Cajon on the outskirts of San Diego.
Monday 9th February 2015 El Centro... What would we be in store for on our 1st Day.
A early start to get to El Centro for 7 AM.
This base has no permanent assigned aircraft so its a lottery to which visiting Air Sqns are visiting.
Luckily VAQ129( Call sign Phoenix) and VFA122 (call sign Expert) were in town numbering 25-30 F18s as well as the Blue Angels on there winter work up.
ELcENTRO9THFEB2015 (8) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
ELcENTRO9THFEB2015 (7) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
ELcENTRO9THFEB2015 (6) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
ELcENTRO9THFEB2015 (5) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
ELcENTRO9THFEB2015 (4) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
ELcENTRO9THFEB2015 (3) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
ELcENTRO9THFEB2015 (2) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
ELcENTRO9THFEB2015 (1) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrAlways nice to see and high on my wishlist C2 "Password 26" bashed the circuit for 45 minutes
ElCentro9thFebruRY2015 (8) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrYuma Tuesday 10th February 2015
Well aware of all the grey aircraft at El Centro and repeating the Days before photos. I decided to visit Yuma early on the Tuesday.
Yuma is 1 hours drive from El Centro but also 1 hour ahead in time so the drive between Yuma and El Centro loses no time.
Yuma's inner runway is/was under maintenance so no nice shots landing from the fairground location.
Not all was lost as some Cherry point Harriers were in town and I know they tend to stay low on departure for some reason.
Also nice photos available on the cross runway which the helicopters tend to use.
yuma10thfebruary2015 (5) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
yuma10thfebruary2015 (4) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
yuma10thfebruary2015 (3) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
yuma10thfebruary2015 (2) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrMy 1st F35
yuma10thfebruary2015 (1) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrHappy with the av8, f35 uh1 v22 variety we headed back to El Centro for a few hours on base.
eLcENTRO10Thfeb2015 (8) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
eLcENTRO10Thfeb2015 (6) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
eLcENTRO10Thfeb2015 (5) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrAfter this we went back out onto the approach
eLcENTRO10Thfeb2015 (7) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrThis Dusty crop hopper wowed us with some phenomenal flying in the field adjacent to the base :rock:
eLcENTRO10Thfeb2015 (3) by Rich Pittman, on Flickranother new type for the holiday rounded off Day2 nicely
eLcENTRO10Thfeb2015 (2) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
eLcENTRO10Thfeb2015 (1) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrMy plan was to keep moving and get as much variety in the bag in good weather, so another early start from Yuma Wednesday Morning, 3 hour drive to get to Tucson International for 7am
Hoping for some Iraq f16 movement they took off in the 5 minutes of cloud LOL so had to wait for the return
Tucson (8) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Tucson (7) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Tucson (6) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Tucson (2) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrWith the light on the runway becoming ever worse at Tucson and better at nearby Davis Monthan a switch was made between the bases.
I coudnt believe one of the sqns had deployed to Germany but there was still more than enough activity.
With these A10s on the proposed cut from service, again they were high on the wishlist.
DavisMonthanfeb2015 (3) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
DavisMonthanfeb2015 (2) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
DavisMonthanfeb2015 (4) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
DavisMonthanfeb2015 (5) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
DavisMonthanfeb2015 (7) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrA visiting c5 and p3 that got spared there fate at AMARG as they both departed Davis Monthan again.
DavisMonthanfeb2015 (6) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
DavisMonthanfeb2015 (1) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrAlready over the moon with the start to the holiday
Thursday the 12th saw us visit Tucson, Mesa Gateway and Scottsdale in Phoenix
Tucson (1) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrMesa with a visiting T38 about to depart minutes after we arrived
n917nawilliams12thfeb14 by Rich Pittman, on Flickr10 T45s operated out of Scottsdale for 2 Days prior to a 3 week weapons detachment at El Centro
165630scotsdale12thFeb2015 by Rich Pittman, on FlickrOn Friday the 13th unlucky for some, I had planned the Bus tour at Pima for the AMARG experience.
Dont listen to anyone who says its not worth doing!
The Day started at Tucson, then the Museum then the Bus tour back to Tucson and Davis Monthan and then back to the Museum where the sun/shadows were in a different place to the Morning finishing the Day on the fenceline at AMARG
Just as I boarded the bus a B52 took off over the Pima museum.
This example had been in long term storage and had to fly gear down all the way to Louisiana as they hadnt been able to test the gear
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/21/us/ar ... -restored/
2 Sh60 were noted flying into AMARG/Davis Monthan for the last time during my stay in Tucson
Tucson (5) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
pimaamarcoverflight (22) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
pimaamarcoverflight (21) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
pimaamarcoverflight (20) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
pimaamarcoverflight (19) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
pimaamarcoverflight (2) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
pimaamarcoverflight (1) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
pimaamarcoverflight (3) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
pimaamarcoverflight (4) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
pimaamarcoverflight (24) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
pimaamarcoverflight (23) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrLeaving Tucson behind nothing too significant was happening at Williams Mesa, often a hot spot for mil trade over the Weekend so we pushed North to Flagstaff.
The next Day (Sunday the 15th) we visited a meteor crater and the Grand Canyon before stopping at Kingman.
This left us a 536 mile leg to Fallon on Monday the 16th Presidents Day via the ET highway, somewhere the Wife wanted to visit
The long straight roads, weather and mountains were stunning throughout the entire holiday.
As we neared Tonopah, always on the look out for little civil airstrips that could provide a nice surprise we came across Tonopah airstrip and a nice O2 now civil operated
tonopah16thfeb2015 by Rich Pittman, on FlickrTuesday the 17th saw me finally visit NAS Fallon and top gun. Not overly busy as we just missed a carrier air wing and one was expected shortly after we visited. This base was just great.
Fallon17th February 2015 (15) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (14) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (13) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (12) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (11) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (10) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (8) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (7) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (6) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (5) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (3) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (4) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
Fallon17th February 2015 (1) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrNow then after getting more than enough good weather and aircraft, where to finish but Rainbow Canyon.
We left Fallon behind early PM and made our way to Bishop for a Night stop.
Knowing Bishop had a large airfield that gets used fairly often for mil visitors I had to go and have a look see.
Nothing much there when I visited except this guy which im sure a few will appreciate.
bishop17thfeb2015 by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
bishop17thfeb2015a by Rich Pittman, on FlickrThe next Day Wednesday we visited Rainbow canyon
1st Day we had 17 passes with Coso71 being a major wow moment
RAINBOWCANYON18THAND19THFEB2015 (4) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
RAINBOWCANYON18THAND19THFEB2015 (5) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
RAINBOWCANYON18THAND19THFEB2015 (6) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
RAINBOWCANYON18THAND19THFEB2015 (7) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrAfter hearing reports of death valley and the sight of the stars lit up at Night we spent the Night in Panamint Springs. Nothing fancy in the hotel but what would you expect miles from anywhere.
Thursday Morning we visited Rainbow Canyon again, nothing like Wales with 6 layers on, it was more like Weymouth on the hottest Day of the Year in the UK bliss :tumbleweed:
Apollo 12 and 11 stole the show operating from China Lake at present
RAINBOWCANYON18THAND19THFEB2015 (3) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
RAINBOWCANYON18THAND19THFEB2015 (1) by Rich Pittman, on Flickr
RAINBOWCANYON18THAND19THFEB2015 (2) by Rich Pittman, on FlickrThe last 3 Nights were spent in Las Vegas, a world apart from the rest of the holiday but equally enjoyable.
I hope you have enjoyed the ride
Cheers Rich
I really don't know how you get away with the 75/25% split!!
