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ISSUE
158 - February 2011
Over 8,000 Total Ads Listed
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|
| A Centennial Celebration |
By David Rose,
Contributing Editor
San Diego, California |
 San Diego is a small town. Altogether
it’s spread out over a wide area, but the downtown section,
despite having enjoyed enormous growth over the past few decades,
is only about ten blocks square. It has a great bay, long and
deep, (after years of dredging) which is able to accommodate
ships of any size. It was the bay of course that attracted
early seafarers, a safe harbor with easy shorelines, perfect
for developing a port. And develop it they did. The Port of
San Diego is now home to a large commercial airport, Lindbergh
Field where Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis was
built and from where he began his epic journey to Paris.
 On the
sea side of things the port boasts one of the largest ship
yards on the west coast and a huge U.S. Navy base, The Naval
Air Station North Island. One can enjoy seeing all manner of
Navy fighters, transports and helicopters taking off and landing
there all day.
Naval Aviation has always been linked to San Diego.
The first flights of any U.S. Navy aircraft occurred at Naval
Air Station North Island. The actual site of the Navy’s
first flight, in a Glenn Curtiss designed seaplane, is now dry
land, it’s bay shore location having been filled in during
the second world war to add valuable land to the base. That flight
having occurred in January 1911 gave rise to a huge celebration
of Naval Aviation in San Diego this past weekend.
The Navy spent
enormous resources planning their pivotal celebration and they
had been enticing visitors to attend with a seemingly endless
stream of media ads; radio, TV and the newspapers were all enlisted
to bring out the throngs for what the Navy promised was to be
the greatest celebration of Naval Aviation ever; there would
be a flight of 200 aircraft; thrilling demonstrations by paratroopers
and Navy Seals; the Blue Angels would perform. There would be
displays of specially painted aircraft, classic cars and all
manner of Naval weaponry and equipment, the aircraft carrier
USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) a Nimitz class nuclear powered supercarrier
and other ships of the line would be open to welcome visitors.
It looked to be a huge party and I wasn’t going to miss
it. |
|
 But how. As I said, San
Diego really isn’t that large, and with the throngs expected,
the downtown and bay shores would be jammed. The displays would
be on the North Island base itself and that meant crossing
the Coronado Bridge just to get to the Island. Traffic on the
bridge is always a problem because it empties right into downtown
Coronado. But if we stayed on the San Diego side we would need
to find both parking and a place to sit for the anticipated
four hours of activities. I was sure we could enjoy the fly
by from anywhere on the bay, but it would be nice to be comfortable.
Fixating on the word comfortable, we decided to head for that
great bay front sea food restaurant ‘The Fish Market’.
We would simply sit outside over the water, enjoy a fine lunch
and watch the show. “Your nuts” our friends said, “You’ll
never get near the place”, and headed off on their own.
Having fallen on my head as a youth I dismissed their protestations
and we set off, sublimely optimistic that as an aviator on
his way to an air show, I had every right to believe there’d
be no problems.
The flyby
was scheduled for 1 PM, so around 11 we drove down the coast
highway, pulled up to the restaurant’s valet parking
and gave them the car. The restaurant is located right next
to the aircraft carrier museum Midway and the harbor area there
is actually a park. We decided to take a few minutes and walk
around enjoying one of those perfect days that seem to exist
perpetually here in San Diego. Looking up at the Midway flight
deck it was obvious there would be many watchers from that
great vantage point, but the thought of four or five hours
in the sun on a steel ship had dissuaded us from that idea. |
|
| In the park area next to
the Midway is a statue reminding us that a sailor had accosted
a young woman in the very nicest way sometime in 1945; I understand
she slapped him. You can spend a fun afternoon there watching
the little boys walking over to the statue and staring up into
it. (big boys too). |
|
|
Returning to the restaurant, the Maitres De seemed
a little frazzled but greeted us with a smile which immediately
exploded into laughter when I outlined our plan. “have
a seat in the bar,” she said, “the people who
already have tables outside will be there all day” With
that she dismissed us with one of those little pagers that
shake, buzz and flash.
We had not yet been seated in the
bar when the little pager went off. We were escorted to a
table dead center on the outside balcony and turned over
to the waiter. Seems an argument had ensued among several
of the visiting clientele and they had left in a huff. Turned
out we were the only ones who had bothered to get on the
list. Like my Dad always said, “if you don’t
think there’s any parking, drive up to the front door
and park there.” It’s surprising how often that
works.
The place really does have great food and we were
just getting into the appetizers when one o’clock rolled
around. With it came the familiar sound of jet engines. Into
view came the first of the 200 ship flyby. The Blue Angels.
 They flew by in good formation, slowly made
their way around the bay, then out over the beaches and out
of sight to the South. It was to be the last we’d see
of The Blues. I suppose the expectation that they would be
doing a show should have brought to mind the fact that we
were in downtown San Diego and that Lindbergh field, with
all it’s commercial traffic, is on the shore of the
bay right next to North Island. At any rate, the sky fell
silent.
The route of flight
for all the aircraft was to be over the Coronado bridge Northbound,
up the center of the bay and exit Southbound. This brought
all the aircraft right past the Fish Market and we enjoyed
the show and lunch for the next three hours. Turns out the
200 plane flyby was not to be the sky full of planes I had
anticipated. They had said it would be the largest formation
of planes since WW II and that’s what I had come for.
In any case we got to see some great planes, one at a time
and about a minute apart. Underwhelming, but rewarding nevertheless.
One treat was the flyby of the B-17 Sentimental Journey,
unforgettable, and beautiful in polished aluminum and blue
paint.
|
|
| A parade of F-16's,
F-18's and helicopters
took the better part of the afternoon and then the sky did
fill with a large formation, approximately 35 Navy fighters
in groups of 5; very impressive. The Osprey made their appearance
and wowed the crowd with their ability to hover as well then
exit the area at a high rate of speed. Vintage fighters and
an array of early aircraft made their way past our lunch
table and we enjoyed ever minute of it. Thanks Navy. |
|
|
By David Rose, Contributing
Editor
|
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