Point Mugu Air Show

These guys were called the Breitling Jet Team. They were really fun to watch.

We had a trip to California planned to visit my brother and his family, and it was right during our Airplane Unit, so I just looked online to see if there was anything airplane-related we could do while we were there. There were lots of museums, of course, but by happy coincidence, there was an Air Show at the Naval Air Base at Point Mugu, just a couple hours away from my brother's house! Since he loves airplanes too, we of course decided we would go. And we were so glad we did!

It was the best Air Show. I haven't been to one since I was little, but I can't imagine anything being as good as this one was. There were tons of cool planes to see and explore on the ground, and then great air acts every half hour or so. And the last act was the Blue Angels! They are a team (I'm sure you've heard of them; even I had) that flies F/A-18s and demonstrates all the maneuvers and precision flying that goes with being a pilot for the Navy. They were totally amazing. We would have waited in line for hours (and we did! ha ha. It was SO crowded driving on to the base) to see them, and then to get to see all the other stuff TOO…it was wonderful. I don't know if I've remembered all the names of the planes right, but the boys helped me, so hopefully I don't mislabel anything in this post.

I thought the best plane we saw there was this gigantic C-5 Hercules. We even got to walk through it. It was nice to be in the shade for a minute on such a hot day!

Every part of this thing is just enormous. The tail!

(Stunt plane flying by above the tail)

Look at Sebby compared to those massive engines!

And look at Abe and the girls by the huge landing gear wheels! It was an amazing airplane to see up close.

There were some other big planes too. This is a C-130.

Inside the C-130

I don't know what this tanker plane is called, but it's the kind that can drop water on wildfires. It did a water drop demonstration and it was really cool!

Here is an F/A-18, like the Blue Angels fly

Sebby with another F/A-18

We got to look inside the cockpit of this MK-58

This is one of the Predator UAVs. We were kind of surprised we even got to see this, since we thought they were still pretty secret.

We can't remember what this one is, but it's some kind of information-gathering plane—look at that huge radar tower on top!

This little stunt biplane was really good. I can't believe how many twists and turns and ups and downs he could do. Here's a short video:

And now on to the best part, the Blue Angels! This KC-135 is actually part of the Blue Angels team too. It's a refueling plane.

Then there are the six F/A-18s. Often it's just four flying together in this diamond formation, and the two others zooming in for other maneuvers. The announcer said that in their diamond, there is only 18 inches from wingtip of one plane to the canopy of the next. 18 inches!!!

I loved it when they glinted in the sun like this.

They moved together like one plane. It was just astounding. HOW do they ever manage such precision?!?

They can get so CLOSE to each other without colliding! It makes you gasp to watch it.

Goldie was impressed.

This was cool: the jets coming between the sun and the ground, casting their huge shadows on the clouds of smoke below.

Short video

I loved it most when they turned on their smoke trails and made these beautiful patterns in the sky.

Afterwards, we waited around for the crowds to die down, so we got to sit outside near the runway and watch the sun go down over the airfield.

The C-5 got all closed up.

Theodore smiled at everyone.

And finally, we drove off down the coast; sunset behind us, moonrise ahead. What a perfect day.