Purdue University Aviation Day, West Lafayette, IN   C-47 Parachute Drop at the Air Force Museum   Good Neighbor Airshow, Chamblee, GA   Spirit of St. Louis Airshow, Chesterfield, MO   Dayton Airshow, Vandalia, OH   Coles County Airport Airshow, Mattoon, IL    Marion, IN Fly-In/Cruise-In   Tri-State Warbird Museum Flying Showcase, Batavia, OH   Bowman Fest, Louisville, KY
2022 Airshows

 New Orleans Airshow Photo Review
  Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, Belle Chase, LA - March 19-20, 2022 (Photos taken 3-19-2022.) 

I have not seen this before and may never see this particular USAF Heritage Flight again.  Captain Aimee "Rebel" Fiedler had just finished the F-16 Demonstration when Major Kristen "Beo" Wolfe took off in the F-35A Demonstration aircraft.  I was confused, as I was expecting the typical World War Two warbird to be in the flight.  In thinking about it, the F-16 is now approaching legacy status as it has been in service for almost 50 years and is being replaced by the F-35.  Originally, the F-35 Demonstration aircraft was supposed to have been at Luke AFB this weekend, but that show cancelled out.  The USAF F-35 Demonstration was not listed on the New Orleans show's website.  This was a great surprise, and I am glad I was able to see it.        

But I am getting ahead of the story.

This was my first airshow of the 2022 season which I hope will be a lot better than the last two years as I did not do many airshows. The B-52 on static display was the first thing spectators saw as they came in from the parking lot.

This C-130T operated by VR-54 of the U.S. Navy Reserve is located at Joint Base New Orleans.  The base is unique in that it has multiple Navy Air Reserve Units along with Louisiana Air National Guard F-15s located here.  With the exception of the C-130 unit, all of the other units on base flew in the show. 

The MH-65C Dolphin is from the Coast Guard unit stationed at the base.  It would fly in the show. 

These UH-1Y Super Hueys and AH-1 Super Cobras belong to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773.  Several of these aircraft would also fly in the event.

Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, Belle Chase, LA is also the home for the 159th Fighter Wing of the Louisiana Air National Guard.

These F-18s belong to Strike Fighter Squadron 204 of the Naval Reserve. 

Friday evening, I was sitting outside at my hotel in Slidell, LA, enjoying the weather and a cold adult beverage when I heard a jet in the area.  I was able to see a T-38 in a flying in a westerly direction north of my location.  It then turned south, did a 360 degree turn, and then headed southwest towards Belle Chase.  I wondered at the time whether there would be a T-38 at the show.  I assume that the pilot had family in Slidell and was doing a 360 degree turn over their house.  I found this interesting because Slidell is 33 miles from the Naval Air Station.

This was the only static warbird on display the first thing in the morning.  A T-6 arrived a few minutes before showtime and taxied in.

I always recognize the first flag jump of the airshow season.  The U.S. Army Black Daggers Parachute Team brought down the American flag. 

It was a busy day at the show, with the flag jump starting the day's flying at 10:00am in the morning.  There was a lot to fly during the day.

Scooter Yoak did two routines at the event.  The morning routine was one I had not seen before which consisted mostly low passes down the runway.  At the same time air show narrator Rob Reider opened up a microphone to the aircraft and the two talked about the P-51 Mustang and its capabilities.  It was an excellent way to teach the crowd about the aircraft.  I thought it was a very nice piece of work and added a lot to the show. 

Scooter is executing a 180 degree turn after doing a low pass down the runway.

Scooter just landed as two of the F-15s from the 159 Fighter Wing taxi by.  The location of the crowd line on the ramp allowed for all of the high performance aircraft to taxi by the spectators.  Not many shows can do this.  This was very cool.

Narrator Rob Reider had information on all of the pilots.  The pilots that flew the F-15s and F-18s at the event were all former regular military that joined the National Guard and Naval Reserve after leaving full time service.

As normal with the F-15, they took off in afterburner and did a high performance climb.

The turned around and came back, as normal, in burner.

Shockwave was the jet truck at the show.  He huffed and puffed so much before doing his run he ran out of fuel at the end of the runway after making his run, and had to be towed away so the show could continue. 

The airboss was Ralph Royce who did an excellent job of keeping the show moving.  The only dead time during the show was when two different acts had mechanical issues before their acts.  Otherwise, one act would get done and the next would already be in the air or in the process of launching.  As soon as Shockwave made his run, the F-15s were back, in burner, of course.

It is now 11:10 AM.  The show has already been going on for an hour and ten minutes.  The Coast Guard MH-65 Demonstration is the first of a series of strictly military and one warbird routines and demonstrations that would run until 2:22 PM.  It included three F-35s.  It wasn't so long ago I went to an airshow just to see an F-35 on static display, let alone fly.  Now the production line in Fort Worth is turning them out and they are making their way into the Air Force, Navy, and Marine units.

The Coast Guard Demonstration lowered the rescue swimmer and then pulled him back into the helicopter.

How cool is this?  A parade of five VFA-204 F-18s coming down the ramp for the crowd to view. 

LCDR Peterson was having too much fun waving to the crowd.

The day was actually rather brisk and chilly.  I had several layers of clothes on to stay warm.  It was really nice when the jet aircraft turned the corner and warmed us up with their exhaust. 

I don't think I have ever seen helicopter taxi in front of the crowd like this.  A very nice touch. 

The F-18s broke off into two groups of two and a single aircraft.  I was not sure I would capture this as the solo and a set of F-18s came straight at each other to begin an air-to-air combat sequence. 

The second F-18 appears to have an engine problem with the smoke trail it is leaving. 

The solo F-18 is beginning to demonstrate the turning capability of the aircraft by doing a minimum radius 360 degree turn.  Four more aircraft would also demonstrate their minimum radius turns. They were the F-16 Demo, USAF F-35 Demo, Legacy Flight F-35, and the USMC F-35 Demo. 

The F-18s finished with a slow speed pass and several formation fly-bys. 

The F-18s were in the air for a half hour of flying time from takeoff to landing.

Guess who's back?

And in burner, of course!

Next up was the F-16 Demonstration with its rattlesnake paint scheme. 

This was a surprise to me, as I noted at the beginning.  There was nothing on the website that said the USAF F-35 Demonstration aircraft was going to be at the show.  I didn't know it until it headed down the runway to form up with the F-16 for the Heritage Flight.

The formation is over airshow center as it flies to the back of the crowd. 

The two aircraft are coming back for the crisscross in front of the crowd.  This shows both the horizontal and vertical separation of the two aircraft for the crisscross. 

The F-16 landed and the F-35 began its demonstration.  Here the F-35 is starting into it minimum radius turn.  It was the third aircraft of the day to do one.

Next up were three helicopters from the Marine Reserve helicopter unit on the base, HMLA-773.  Two Cobras provided fire support for the units Huey as it inserted Marines onto the field. 

Scooter Youk was back in the air and did his normal aerobatic demonstration. 

This was another surprise because the CAF FG-1 Corsair was not listed as a participant on the show's website.  I like surprises like this.

It was great to hear the sound of the R-2800 as the aircraft taxied by. 

This is where there was a break in the action.  Rob Reider noted that there were some issues with the F-35s.  Then a few minutes later one USMC F-35C launched to begin the Legacy Flight.  Apparently, the plan was to have two F-35s in the flight. 

The F-35C is beginning his minimum radius turn.  The fourth one of the day. 

The two F-35C's were from VFA-125, which is the US Navy's west coast Flight Replacement Squadron based at NAS Lemoore, CA.  However, both of the aircraft have "Marines" written on them.  I have to assume that these two aircraft are piloted by Marines that are assigned as instructors to the Navy squadron at VFA-125.

At this point in the show I was putting my chair away and getting ready to leave and start the long journey home.  I thought the second Marine F-35 was still broken.  I almost left too early.

But wait, don't leave now, there is still more!  The second Marine F-35C was repaired and in the air.  I pulled my chair back out of the bag and sat down to watch the demonstration.  This aircraft was also a surprise as there was nothing on the airshow's website that indicated there would be a demonstration by an F-35C.

With a wave from the USMC F-35 Demo pilot, it was now time to go.  It was now 2:22PM.  The MH-65 routine started at 11:10 AM three hours and 12 minutes before.  There had been three hours and 12 minutes of current military and warbird flying with no civilian aerobatic acts.  Besides the MH-65 demonstration, two F-15s, five F-18s, one F-16 demonstration, three F-35s including two demonstrations, a Navy Legacy Flight, an Air Force Heritage Flight, two AH-1 Super Cobras, and one UH-1Y Super Huey all flew in the show.

There was still plenty of show yet for the spectators who remained to see it.  Shockwave was going to go out and race an aircraft again.  There was at least one more civilian aerobatic act before the Blue Angels.  The airshow friends I made, sitting on either side of me, were puzzled that I wasn't staying.  I just replied that I would be eating dinner in Meridian, MS while they were still trying to get out of the parking lot after the show.  The main parking lot was on runway 14/32 which is 6,000 feet long.  Vehicles filled up most of the runway's length and were parked the width of the runway and on the grass to the east of it.  There were only two one-lane exits out of the base from this parking lot.  Spectators had been coming in all day and were still arriving when I left.  It was going to take a long time to empty that runway onto the public street.  It was time to beat the traffic backup and go home.

The New Orleans Airshow at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base is the best military airshow have I seen in a long time.  The base is unique in having several types of aviation reserve units located at it.  They helped make the show more than the normal "cookie cutter" that have become so prevalent, with the same acts each weekend at a different show.  I hope I am able to return next time Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, Belle Chase, LA , does an airshow.  This show is worth the trip down to New Orleans.