Thunder Over The Valley III

This particular chopper is stationed in San Diego. They made the trip in about three hours, and flew right through downtown Los Angeles, flying straight up the 101 freeway through the downtown area. I can imagine what some of the higher floor office occupants must have thought seeing a military helicopter flying through downtown Los Angeles. The gauges in the cockpits are just mind boggling--much, much more complex than driving a car.

The by-planes were very impressive. Taking off, they almost lumbered off the airfield. They don't fly very fast, and they look as though the just might fall out of the sky; however, when they let their smoke out over the airport, it was quite breathtaking.

This helicopter was the biggest at the air show. It was a United States Marine Corps chopper, and is used to actually transport the marines. It has been in active duty, and has seen combat in every military action in which the United States has been involved, from Vietnam to the current Iraq war. There is over five miles of wiring inside this copter.








The highlight of the airshow, at least for the part for which we stayed was the fly over by the B-52 Bomber. The runway is not long enough for the B-52 to land; however, it did do a fly over on Saturday while we were there. It is quite an impressive sight to see that airplane in flight.