Tag Archives: Antelope Valley Air Show

Darkstar (Not The Real One) and Blackbird (The Real One)

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One of the bigger attractions at the Antelope Valley Air Show, held at Edwards AFB, was the appearance of the Darkstar plane from Top Gun Maverick.  Obviously not a real plane (and not even the real Darkstar which was a reconnaissance UAV that never progressed beyond testing), it was part of a hugely popular movie so garnered a ton of attention.  It was parked in the static display alongside a very real SR-71 Blackbird.  This was something I found far more interesting having seen them fly for real in my younger days.  The Darkstar was still fun to see. I am not that churlish.

SOFIA On The Ground

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The aerial display by the SOFIA was a high point of the Antelope Valley Air Show 2022 at Edwards AFB.  When it finished, it landed and taxied in to it parking location.  I was at that end of the ramp so was able to watch it come in and position prior to being maneuvered into its final position.  Being that close to a 747 is always pretty impressive since even the SPs are large jets.  Everyone was crowding to see it come in and it was drawing attention away from some of the flying display!

Aussie Tanker on Show

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The KC-46 will end up being a big selling tanker because the USAF will buy loads and a few export customers will follow suit.  However, where open competitions have been held, the Airbus A330 MRTT has been most successful.  It is developing a wide customer base and one of those customer is the Royal Australian Air Force.  They have brought their tankers, known as KC30, to the US on exercises but I had not seen one in person until I got to the Antelope Valley Air Show at Edwards AFB.  The tanker was sitting on the ramp in the static area.  It was looking particularly clean for a military jet and was configured with both the boom and the underwing pods for probe and rogue refueling.  Fitting in a big jet in a busy ramp is tricky so a pano can help out making a shot possible.  Now I just need to see one actually airborne!