MCAS Miramar airshow

Miramar Marine corps air station holds great airshows with massive flight displays and non-stop action. Unfortunately, the spectators will be facing towards south (the sun) which makes taking pictures and videos tricky. By the time the evening show begins (Saturday only) the sun is to your right and moving towards rear, giving you an ideal low, side light so you can take very attractive photos. However, in year 2000, the air show date was moved from mid-summer to fall and this shortened the time of night show where very impressive photos could have been taken. I must be honest and say Miramar airshow is not as attractive as it used to be.

（Click photo for a larger size high quality image）

USMC combat Demonstration. Upper left: CH-46D USMC HMM-161 (Bu.153328 / YR-05) Upper center: UH-1N USMC HMLA-369 (Bu.15968?/SM-30) Upper right: CH-53 of USMC Bottom left: USMC's M-1 Abrams Main Battle Tank.
Left: UH-1N of USMC (Bu.158259/01) for rescue mission. Right: UH-1N's flare demo.
Left: KC-130F of VMGR-352 refuels AV-8B Harrier and F/A-18D Hornet Right: KC-130F of VMGR-352 and CH-53. If you look at the photo closely you'll notice the boom is not connected !
Some colorful images taken during the night show. Left: F/A-18A of USMC VMFA-134 (MF-07 and MF-06) Center: Red Baron Stearman Squadron's beautifully restored Stearman A-75 Right: Civilian aerobatic team performance by Pitts S-2B (N776TA, N777TA, N778TA)
3 images of the amazing but noisy Harrier. Harrier is displayed every year at Miramar Left and Center: USMC AV-8B demo. This is what you see every year. Right: I was really surprised that during year 2000 show the Royal Navy Sea Harrier FA2 of 801Sqn (ZE692) made a demo.
Although it is a USMC air base, you can see some nice Air Force aircraft, too. Left: F-117A of 9FS (85-0835 / HO) Center: B-2A Stealth bomber, Right: B-1B Bomber of GA ANG/128th BS (85-0059 / GA) Note the #1 engine on B-1 is shut down.
Warbirds fly 2 times, in the morning and at dawn. Morning provides very poor light conditions for photography, but in the late afternoon it is just beautiful ! Left: AD-4N Skyraider (Bu.126935 / N2088G) Center: formation of Cavalier Mk. 2"Six Shooter" (44-22580 / N2580), Yak-3M (N529SB) and P-51D-25NA "Merlin's Magic" (44-73129 / N151SE) Right: TBM-3 Avenger (Bu.85983 / N28SF)
Golden Knights parachute team from U.S. Army.
Blue Angels perform every year.

Miramar airshow related links (Links will open new window）
Airshow site	Click here
What you can see (This is generic. May differ from year to year.)	Military aircraft demo, warbirds, USMC combat demo, civilian aerobatics, Blue Angels
Location	San Diego (California)
Weather Forecast, past weather history	Click here
Nearest city	San Diego (California)
Nearest Major Airport	Los Angels （LAX)
Nearest local airport	San Diego (SAN)
Airfield information	Click here
Nearby Attractions	San Diego Harbor Excursion