Fly High Aviation Media is proud to bring you the following report for the Airpower Over Hampton Roads Air Show 2023, which was showcased at Joint Base Langley VA, on the dates of May 6th and 7th 2023.
Normally at this time I usually like to say thank you to the public affairs office and the usual helpers and organizers, but since I've been doing media photography it is the first time I was ever been rejected for a media pass, I know several small aviation media groups which were all rejected, I don't know the real reason because I didn't ask, but I enjoy reporting and showing off images of various air shows and events I attend, so I did a report anyway hopefully the public affairs office at Langley will see this.
So let me give you an idea of my experience of getting in and out of the event on both Saturday and Sunday, bear in mind I lived in Norfolk VA and Hampton VA for nearly 7 years. On the Saturday I had missed out on getting a car parking pass for the base, so I was to park at the Coliseum a few miles away a place very familiar to myself when I worked inside there several times photographing high schools with graduations, this was reasonably well organized after a queue and search of the bags we were loaded on school buses and a 10 to 15 minute ride resulted in bypassing most of the traffic coming in in the back entrance to the north side of the airfield and we were dropped off right by the static aircraft this was a bonus. Getting the bus back was a bit of a different matter, long slow que’s, but it was as well organized as it could be, there were a lot of people to move.
Sunday I had a parking permit for the base, but a mile and a half walk by the time I found my position on the front line for the show, yes I have some heavy equipment which thankfully I was able to use my trolley to pull it along, all in all it was pretty seamless getting in apart from the walk.
On both days the air show itself was well represented by the United States Air Force as you would expect with a good amount of other acts, I enjoyed to watching the Delights of a parachute drop with Rob Holland circling around, I have experienced this myself at Toledo OH, when Rob Holland’s aircraft was only feet away from the Cessna 208 door I was flying in, we were with the black daggers parachute team, who departed the aircraft without myself thankfully, an experience I can never forget in my Aviation media career.
The air show was a good mix of military and civilian aircraft, rather than I tell you about the history of Langley AFB, on this occasion I have chosen to showcase the airshow itself, I have created a modern slideshow, which contains over 300 pictures taken over two days by three photographers, thank you again to Brian & Andrew for there help making this page happen.
Hope you all enjoy the new concept and hopefully next time Langley PAO might welcome a couple members of our team, until the next show. We have 21 different sections of the air show to view, with 300 plus images, all can be watched by just scrolling down to each sction of images, or faster pace click the arrows forwards or backwards, to also see a more dramatic larger image, simply click the image within a section and use the arrows to advance.
Please scroll down to watch the slide show from Air Power Over Hampton Roads 2023, there are 21 sections finishing with the United States Air Force display team "Thunderbirds" in the last section.
Photography: Harry Morrow.
Brian Aldridge.
Andrew Robinson
Preparations for the 2023 air power over Hampton Roads Air Show begin, ground crew for the wings of blue jump team make final preparations and the air show commentator Rob Reider is checking his notes, we are ready to go straight after the national anthem.
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There is a selection of aircraft preparing for the flying display, From the Thunderbirds preparations to a couple of excellent P51 Mustangs, a pair Vans RV aircraft and a US Army CH47 Chinook.
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United States Army Boeing CH-47 Chinook & Rob Holland in his aerobatic MXS-RH start the proceedings.
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US Army CH47 Chinook making a couple of passes
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The Wings of Blue jump team from the United States Air Force Academy opened the show, jumping from a US Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter which was circled by Rob Holland in his MXS-RH aircraft.
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Opening the Main flying display each day was a two-ship Mustang team known as high flight Mustangs, Pilots Lou Horschel flying Mad Max and Ariel Luedi flying The Little Witch, both aircraft gave a great routine of formation flying.
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Opening the Main flying display each day was a two-ship Mustang team known as high flight Mustangs, Pilots Lou Horschel flying Mad Max and Ariel Luedi flying The Little Witch, both aircraft gave a great routine of formation flying.
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The CAF’s FG-1D “530”, is one of the original air frames that launched the Confederate Air Force ( now Commemorative Air Force ), this airplane is not only historically significant, but it is fully ingrained in the CAF’s heritage and has been one of the busy aircraft in the history of the CAF.
Flying out of the base at Falcon Field Georgia, In 2001 the Corsair was painted at the Vought Industries Dallas facility as #530 from VMF-312 representing 1st Lt. MO Chance. Delta Airlines and PPG graciously repainted our Corsair again in 2023, retaining the VMF-312 scheme.
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NAS Oceana is home to one of the largest collection of F-18 super Hornets on the Eastern seaboard USA, the Navy sent their F-18 Super Hornet demo team known as ‘Rhino’, it was great to see the Navy's Frontline fighter jet in the skies of a Langley, Nas Oceana is only 30 minutes Drive or possibly one minute flying with full afterburners.
This weekend was a significant event for the ‘Rhino” demo crew, piloted by Spud and WSO Peaches, this was Spud’s final weekend as a demo pilot and Sir what a job well done, thank you for your service.
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Before the F-18 Super Hornet pilot “SPUD” Finished his demo weekend one more flight as a legacy flight was achieved with the F-18 Super Hornet and the FG-1D Corsair flying tight formation to Wow the crowds.
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Some of the static aircraft on display included some of the following: Douglas DC3 in Air North colors, three Cessna O-1 Bird Dog’s all wearing different US Army markings, North American P-51C Mustang wearing the colors of “Tuskegee Airmen”, Bell 206 helicopter known as Wavy10 which catches the local news and a smart looking Cadillac.
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Kyle Franklin performed some amazing stunts in his Piper PA 18 super cup, unless you had seen his show before you would have thought he was really flying like a crazy man, great entertainment for the crowd.
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Two wonderful looking North American T6 Texans, based in Farmingdale NY, performed excellent aerobatics, such wonderful warbird’s to view.
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Virginia welcomes Matt Younkin, with his twin Beech 18, the aircraft is commonly known as “Miss Ellie” and sports a wonderful color scheme, this particular aircraft has been on the airshow scene since the year 2000 and Matt has been at the stick since the year 2006, an incredible display for an aircraft which was built in 1943.
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A big head turner at any air show is the 1940 Ford jet truck named “Aftershock”, this is the fastest fire truck in the world with a record speed of 407 mph the jet is powered by two Rolls-Royce Viper jet engines producing a whopping 24,000 horsepower.
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Rob Holland is a very accomplished aerobatic champion flying MXS-RH composite aircraft, apart from opening the show each day, with the wings of blue jump team, Rob also performs an incredible display and shows the performance and Capability of his mxs-rh aircraft, a great showman.
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Another line up of static aircraft on display: B-52, T-38 Talon, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-15 Eagle, F-22 Raptor & E-2 Hawkeye.
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United States Air Force F-35A lightning II demo team for 2023 is piloted by Major Kirsten “BEO” Wolfe, stationed with the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base Utah.
It was an impressive display by Maj Wolfe, who put the F-35A through an incredible fast pace display, full of high speed turns, climbs and other incredible maneuvers, which I hope it shows in some of the incredible photographs our team was able to get, Maj. Wolfe created a lot of cool vapor shots which I'm sure many of the photographers were glad to see.
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United States Air Force F-22A Raptor demo team, in the capable hands of Capt. Sam “Razz” Larson, Capt. Larson took over as display pilot in the F-22 Raptor just as I left living very near JB Langley, so I did not get much chance to photograph him in his practice demo sessions, so I was very excited to make it down from Maryland to see Capt. Larson put the F-22 Raptor through its paces.
I was not disappointed with the display. It was an incredible act, showing the F-22 Raptors capabilities, it's probably one of my best set of F-22 images I've ever taken, Capt. Larson showed the F-22 Raptor is the world's Premier air superiority fighter.
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The United States Air Force Heritage flight consisted of a P-51D Mustang “Bald Eagle” the F-35 lightning II and the F22 Raptor, the F-35 and F22 had just completed their main displays, it was an amazing sight to see a cross-section from the United States Air Force.
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I have managed to see and photograph the United States Air Force Premier display team, the “Thunderbirds”, every year for the last 15 years. Their display never disappoints; predisplay is a show in its own right, all part of a large team.
The T-Birds closed the show each day. They did not disappoint the large crowds who awaited with eager anticipation, some very familiar maneuvers and some new maneuvers but always very slick, very tight formation flying and very photogenic. “Thank you for your service”.
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