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The
2008 "Wings Over Wine Country" Air Show
took place on Saturday and Sunday, August 16 and 17, 2008,
at the Charles M. Schulz - Sonoma County Airport.
A special treat this year was the
"Return of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning
to Santa Rosa". The P-38 performed in the show
both days. And on Thursday, August 14th, a special, private
reception was held at Kaiser Air - Santa Rosa Jet Center (at
the airport) - - for $25 you got to see and touch a famous
WWII P-38 and take as many pictures as you
liked. Your $25
advance purchase ticket got you all this, complimentary wine,
champagne toast and finger food. I personally attended and can't
tell you how wonderful it was to get close to these incredible
aircraft. As a bonus, in addition to the P-38, two
additional aircraft were on display; an incredibly restored P-40
Warhawk and a P-51D Mustang.
On Saturday and Sunday, August 16th and
17th, antique aircraft, warbirds, and modern day
aircraft performed flybys and were parked on the ramp for an
up-close and personal look. One of the exciting features of the
Pacific Coast Air Museum's (PCAM) "Wings Over Wine Country" Air
Show is the opportunity to touch and feel the awesome power and
might of these historic machines which have meant so much to our
great nation's history. Military flybys
inspire you with their precision and power and some were on
static display when not in the air. Visitors had a chance
to climb aboard a jet
fighter or walk through an open cargo/transport plane.
Vendors displayed models,
T-shirts, caps, books, and crafts which were available for
purchase. And of course there was a wide variety of food and
beverages available.
The gates opened at 9:00 a.m. for pre-show activities, including a
pancake breakfast just outside the main entrance gate, static
displays and radio-controlled model aircraft demonstrations.
The main Air Show events kicked off at 11:15 a.m. with the Opening
Ceremonies, American flag flown in by a parachute jump team,
followed by a CDF Aerial Firefighting Demonstration and an
aerial assault demonstration by the Sonoma County Sheriff's SWAT
Team.
A large number of
aircraft were open for all to see. Visitors were encouraged to
walk through the Pacific Coast Air Museum's wonderful array of
restored aircraft, such as the
UH-1 Huey,
HU-16 Albatross, a rare
Russian
IL-14 Transport and
a whole lot more. Imagine yourself a Top Gun pilot while sitting
in the cockpit of an
F-16N Viper,
F-14 Tomcat or an
F-5E Tiger II, or checking
out Vietnam era birds such as the
F-4,
F-105 and
F-106.
Here are
just some of this year's Outstanding Civilian Performers:
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Kent Pietsch and his
beautiful Cadet Aircraft
Kent did his famous comedy routine, a "deadstick"
aerial performance, and both take-off and land from the
top of a moving truck! |
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U-2 "Dragon Lady" High Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft
The world's premier high altitude reconnaissance
aircraft, currently on duty every day in the Middle East
and around the world. Flew over on Saturday
(not on Sunday). |
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Flight of Black T-38's from Beale AFB
These beautiful black supersonic jet aircraft are what
U-2 pilots fly to maintain their proficiency. Low
passes performed on Sunday (not on Saturday). |
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The Misty Blues
All-Female Parachute Jump Team
This world famous and wonderful group of women both
opened the show each day, then later flew a complete jump
routine. |
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"Jacquie B" in her famous
"Wild Women Do" aerial acrobatic routine
Jacquie flew the most amazing low level aerobatic
routine in her beautiful red Pitts Special aerobatic
aircraft. She's in very high demand on the Air Show
circuit and we were fortunate to have her at our show! |
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Paul Lopez Flying His
MX-2 Aerobatic Aircraft
Paul, a new performer on the air show circuit, flew
an utterly amazing low-level aerobatic routine in his
specially built green and white MX-2 aircraft. |
Other Aerial Performers
Included:
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Santa Rosa local Dan
Vance did an aerobatic routine in his P-51 Mustang,
"Speedball Alice" |
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Flybys by WWII warbirds,
including a P-38, P-40, B-25, AT-6s and lots of P-51
Mustangs |
This year we again featured the
return of the popular
C-17 Globemaster III, the
Air Force's newest and most capable airlifter. This amazing
aircraft which "stole our show" last year, takes off and lands
in very short distances, flies around the traffic pattern like a
fighter, and can back up on the runway and into it's parking
area. This year was no different and you could tell the crowd
was awestruck by the size and performance of this amazing
aircraft.
Jet fighter fans really
appreciated the power and precision of the
U.S Navy's very popular F-18 Aerial
Tactical Demonstration. The F-18 beat up the
field with high energy maneuvers and breathtaking speed.
Due to the weather conditions, the F-18 was squeezing the
moisture out of the air and every high G turn produced vapor
trails and shrouds of mist. During the high speed passes,
the shock waves produced the following awesome effects:
Image by
Bernardo Malfitano
We had lots of "Warbirds" static displays to see and a
tremendous "Warbird" flyby. Two of the “Warbirds” were Santa
Rosa’s own
P-51 Mustang, “Lady Jo”
and
“Speedball Alice”.
This year's "Wings Over Wine Country" Air Show was truly
the
biggest and best yet.
Check out Bernardo Malfitano's 2006 Wings Over Wine Country -
Photos are some of the aircraft and pilots who attended last
year's show!
Check out Bernardo Malfitano's
2006 Wings Over Wine Country
- Photos are some of the aircraft and pilots who
attended past shows!
2005 Air Show Photos
www.airshowfan.com/pcam05.htm
Courtesy of Bernardo Malfitano
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