GF and I took a trip to Arizona and then on to California, I told her we had to hit a few bases there for some spotting which she was great about. We hit Prima Air Museum and AMARC

Prima Air Museum was great, was awesome seeing a lot of the old SAC aircraft stationed at Pease back in my youth...


I must say, I was really upset with this tour, being stuck on a bus and having to shoot through the glass and only going down 2 roads before heading out... There was so much more to see, almost not worth it. Wish there was a better tour where you could get off the buses and see more of the boneyard..


Shot at Davis-Monthan while we waiting to hit Prima to open.


AZ ANG is based out to Tucson Int airport, very busy twice daily with Sorties.


downloading these off my FB album so they're a little compressed

when we were heading to CA, I stopped by Luke AFB, that's an awesome base to spot at.

Caught a bunch of F-16's and 35's departing


An hour later they started coming back and working the pattern. Norwegian F-35 staying busy.

Once we hit Cali I went to Miramar which is one of the toughest bases to shoot off base.
The Canadians were busy with their Hornets and Alpha jets.


Then over to North Island


This one was painted by http://www.flygirlpainters.com/

I love the departure shots - very cool!

I feel your pain on Miramar - I live about 2 miles from it and can never find a good spot for off-base shots. Maybe off of Miramar Road, or Kearny Villa, if you can ride a bike down it (because you can't park a car anywhere along the road).

When were you there?

Sorry Ken for missing your question, we went out there in early Nov. I didn't dare mess around with that Miramar Rd. Thought about having my wife drop me off there for an hour since hornets and Osprey's were landing but I didn't need a copy harassing me with no car.

I remember when Miramar.. was .. Miramar.. TOPGUN with 14's ect...

Me too. I used to work on Miramar Road on the 9th floor, and could watch the '14s go by all day.

that must have been so awesome

Yeah, it was pretty cool, but at the time we didn't know that they would be moving soon, so I don't think I properly appreciated it. It was also cool when the Blue Angels came to town, and they'd be flying by at our height, and fairly close.

At the time, Willie Driscoll worked for the same company, so we got to talk airplanes a bit, but I tried not to bother him too much. He was the RIO with Duke Cunningham, who were US Navy aces in Vietnam, in case anyone is not familiar with him.

Ken, how close are you to El Centro, do you ever go out there?
I follow a guy on Instagram who lives right off by the hay bales, that would be an awesome location.

That's about a 2-2.5 hour drive for me. I've gone to their air show a number of times, but don't get out there very often otherwise.