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2002 Wings Over Wine Country Airshow
August 24 & 25, 2002
Santa Rosa, CA
by
Bernardo
Malfitano
Air
Performances
Then, a Grumman
F4F Wildcat, a Hawker Sea Fury, and an F/A-18 Hornet took off
for a Navy Heritage flight (which Navy that is exactly, was not
clear… This is an Australian Sea Fury…). A beautiful
formation, with the sleek supersonic Hornet winged by the two
chubby radial-engine warbirds. The Sea Fury is another one of my
favorite planes when it comes to looks (It may seem from this
page that every other plane is one of my favorites. This is not
true, but this Airshow and air museum did display a
disproportionately high number of aircraft right out of a very
short list of my favorite subjects for drawings).
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The older birds
landed, leaving the F/A-18 to deliver a great performance,
narrated by a US Navy officer who was obviously very proud of
this exceptional machine.
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That first picture
is a high speed pass (the way F/A-18s always start their airshow
routines. No better way, if you ask me). Notice how air is
condensing over the wings - There, it is accelerated by the
curvature of the wings (the wings are convex, do a mass
balance), and although the airplane was going at only .95 the
speed of sound ("only"?), the air over the wings is
supersonic relative to the plane, and this causes pressure and
temperature differences that lead to condensation.
(Look at the size
of that air brake).
Then, a single
pass by a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules. One of those planes you
can hear 2 miles away and identify with ease even before you see
it:
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