USA 2023
As the initial USA West tour, including the large Red Flag exercise at Nellis AFB, filled up quickly and there was still a lot of interest, we decided to add an additional tour to this great area for aviation.
It was a bit of a disappointment, that we learned the published dates for the exercise were not correct and we would be at Nellis a week early. We made some large changes in the itinerary so we could catch the familiarisation flights, usually held at the days preceding the start of the exercise and this worked out great for us.
Here you can enjoy the report of this tour which started on Sunday 5 March 2023
On Sunday 5 March 2023, the group got together at Schiphol airport for the flight to Phoenix, with a stop at Houston. United provided our transport with a Triple 7 and after a small delay we arrived in Houston on time. Clearing customs, picking up the bags and checking them in again and after small diner we entered the petite CRJ900 for the last couple of hours to Phoenix. Here we got on the train to get our rental car and the final stint of the day was a two hour drive to Tucson and check in the hotel for the next two nights.
Monday 6 March 2023 was the first full day of the tour. In the coming week, we would leave the hotel at around 07:00AM almost every day, as we did this day. We had a couple of guys on board who were first time visitors to the USA so we try to show them a little bit extra when possible, so we did a little tour of the Tucson IAP before heading for the best spot to take pictures in the morning. This all sounds nice, but one thing was not happening this morning, moving F-16s…. We did, however, saw lots of stuff moving at the nearby Davis Monthan AFB and moved over there and captured lots of A-10s and a couple of visiting aircraft. After all aircraft had returned from the mission we moved over to the incredible Pima Air and Space Museum. In the mean time the wind had changed so the aircraft would approach from the Pima end. We got a couple of A-10s there, but it also got a bit more cloudy and we decided to visit a few scrapyards and walk a bit along the AMARG fence and capture some incredible pictures and, even more important, ever lasting memories of the large number of aircraft parked in the desert. We ended the day with some Beer & Burgers and we all went to bed with a smile on our face.
This Tuesday 7 March 2023 was a bit cloudy, but the F-16s at Tucson were flying! Some of the group wanted a flight over AMARG so we drove to Ryan Field for that, the rest stayed at Tucson and later relocated to Davis Monthan again. At Ryan Field we could also enjoy a couple of US Army UH-72A Lakota’s. The sun had come out in full force and when the group met up again we were treated by an E-8C heading for long time storage as well as a couple of Tucson F-16s and a recently converted QF-16C still wearing tailcode FM. In the afternoon we drove north making a small stop at Marana Reginal Airport and the spending the night in a hotel in Phoenix.
On Wednesday 8 March 2023, we were in time at Luke AFB, but the Air Force were sleeping late today, but there are no hard feelings as they pulled all the strings today! At around 10:00AM the first couple of F-35s went airborne with six F-16s from Singapore, one even in original RSAF markings! So, we saw about 30 missions in the morning. There was hardly a lunchbreak and aircraft after aircraft was lining up for take-off. We got to see two dozen F-16s, and F-35s from the USAF (29), Denmark (4), Italy (3), Netherlands (2) and Norway (4). We saw a glimpse of some aggressor aircraft on the flightlines and we were ecstatic to see four former L’Armee de l’Air Mirage F1s and two former Israel Air Force F-16 go up for a mission. In the meantime we also helped a lady in distress who had an exloded tyre on her car. Even though we had a long drive ahead we stayed till 17:45PM before starting our 4,5hour drive to Las Vegas.
On Thursday 9 March 2023, we had our first day in Vegas. Even though it was late yesterday, we got up early again today, it is not a holiday, it is an adventure!! The supermarket we picked from the internet was boarded up so we found another for our daily food and drinks. Nellis AFB was on the schedule for today and tomorrow, as we wrote in the intro we were surprised by changing dates for the exercise and we were a week early. In our original itinerary we planned to visit Nellis on Monday and Tuesday, and no Red Flag aircraft would be present yet. So, it was a good decision to change it to the end of the week. Also here it was a slow start, but the majority of the aircraft on the ramps would fly today. Present were over two dozen F-16s from Shaw AFB, ten New Jersey National Guard F-16s, Navy Growlers, Marine Hornets as well as USAF B-1s, KC-135s, E-3s, HC-130s and HH-60s. And then we can not forget about the dozen of locally based A-10s, F-15s, F-16s, F-35s and HH-60s with exotic tailcodes OT and WA. Late afternoon we were about to pack up and a bit disappointed we did not see a B-1 fly today. Then there was ‘something’ on the scanner and seconds alter an Ellsworth B-1B appeared behind the palm trees in the best light you can wish for pictures. It approached ‘right for left’, which means it would make a right-hand circuit and land on the lefthand runway. We loaded everybody in the back of the pick-up truck and drove safely to a spot a bit further out where we captured it on our digital cards. Again, happy faces when we returned to the Strat hotel on the strip. Later we would walk a big part of the Strip to enjoy a meal and a drink and be astonished by the strange place Las Vegas is.
On Friday 10 March 2023, the weather was not looking good, it was cloudy with heavy overcast. The locals flew, but no sign of Red Flag aircraft besides six F-35s from Hill AFB and two additional New Jersey Guard F-16s. As the weather was not improving, we were happy with the things we saw the day before and the long drive we had ahead of us to Yuma, we decided to move south early in the afternoon, also to enjoy a lot of the sights these kinds of drives have to offer. For a couple of hours, up until Parker, we had some rain, which you do not see very often in this part of the country.
Saturday 11 March 2023, the Yuma airshow was on the schedule. As usual, we were there in time and everything went smoothly up until the foreigners were separated from the US citizens. We were put on another bus and brought to a different spot as the rest of the visitors. At this building a picture was taken from your passport as well as fingerprints were taken, and we had to fill out a yellow card with name and passport number and carry it on a lanyard all day. This all gave us a strange feeling. The show was small, the air display was poor, could have been much better, for the general public and photographers, with hardly any extra effort.
The idea was to go to NAF El Centro afterwards as there was also a small show going on. Unfortunately one of the guys got stock in the back of the cue and was late, but the majority of the group was already on its was and enjoyed the Blue Angels performing. The other car drove in the direction of Phoenix and saw a couple of visiting aircraft at Phoenix Mesa Gateway airport, four Idaho A-10s, two Navy T-45s and a US Army UC-35.
Sunday 12 March 2023 was the last day of the tour, and we all went back to Mesa Gateway for the visiting aircraft, then on our way to Phoenix Harbour IAP to take pictures of two local Arizona National Guard KC-135Rs. On the ramps were a German Luftwaffe A400M and while waiting to be boarded a nice Black Beale T-38A took off and a North Carolina Guard C-17s came in. These were the last aircraft of an amazing tour with a lot of uncertainties because of the changed Red Flag dates, but everything worked out ok. On Monday morning the group arrived safely back at Amsterdam.
