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Century Circle

I got to the gate for Antelope Valley Air Show 2022 early in the morning.  We were lined up outside the security gate for Edwards AFB waiting for the time things opened up.  I was on the phone so was happy to sit in the car for a while chatting.  When I finished my call, I could see that I was a short distance away from Century Circle – a display of various aircraft associated with Edwards.  Nothing was moving so I figured I would walk up and have a look around.  I had got most of the way there when it looked like cars were starting to move. I rapidly retraced my steps to the car and we drove on to the base.

At the end of the show, I was coming back out the same gate so decided to see if it was possible to pull in and see the aircraft on display.  Indeed, there were no barriers and Iw as able to park up and have a walk around the various exhibits.  The name, Century Circle, is a reference to how many of the jets are Century Series fighters.  There is going to be a museum for the Air Force flight test center and the base for the building was not far from the aircraft.  I will be interesting to see what the museum is like when it is finished and how many of the other interesting aircraft that are currently on base will be included.

Of the jets on display, my favorites are the F-106, the F-105 and the F-104.  Nicely sequential now I think about it.  There is an F-102 which I have never been so keen on and this one is a two seater which takes a place that didn’t look that great and makes it worse.  Still, vintage jets on display is a good thing and I shouldn’t be critical of what is on offer.

The one plane that is a bit of an oddball is the McDonnell Douglas YC-15.  This was a program the USAF ran for a new jet transport to replace the C-130.  Boeing and McDonnell Douglas both built demonstrators for the program but neither was taken to production.  However, there are a lot of features from the YC-15 that will be familiar to observers of the C-17.  Having a transport jet alongside the sleek fighters is a little unusual but it is a rare beast and worthy of preservation.  Thankfully, the dry desert atmosphere is a place that will allow the airframe to survive for many years.

Take Your Pick When Refueling

The F-105 Thunderchief (or Thud) is a beast of a plane. Sadly I never got to seem them in action.  One is parked outside at Cavanaugh in Addison TX.  Its camo is a bit bleached by the Texas sun (it was just over 100 degrees the day I arrived and that was towards the end of the afternoon).  The thing that caught my eye, though, was the refueling receptacle or, more specifically, receptacles.  USAF aircraft have the flying boom refueling system.  This was not always the case and jets like the F-100 had flight refueling probes for the hose and drogue method.

I assume that the Air Force was in a transition mode when the F-105 was being designed so they had both.  On the upper side of the nose there is a ramp for boom refueling to take place.  Below that on the port side is a retractable refueling probe for hose and drogue use.  I didn’t realize that any jets had been built for both (aside from the UK and French E-3s which are a bit larger and more able to accommodate the extra kit.  I wonder which one was more regularly used since the techniques for each type differ.

DM’s Museum Jets

B11I4056.jpgMany airbases have a selection of historic aircraft on display to show something of what has gone before on the base.  Sadly, they are often unavailable to shoot when you visit.  Davis Monthan AFB has quite a few different planes on display and, fortunately, the location of the Fallen Hawg ceremony during Hawgsmoke was in front of the display A-10.  While everything was being set up, we had some time to kill and I was allowed to wander around the other planes.

B11I4070.jpgThe selection included some obvious DM aircraft like the A-10 and A-7 (even if it was actually a Navy A-7E that they had repainted).  A U-2 was a slightly more surprising one to see.  I’m not sure how that qualifies but I wasn’t complaining.  The F-105, F-100 and F-4 all looked good too.  Not only was it nice to be able to shoot them but it gave us something to do since we had got in place pretty early!