2024 NAS Oceana Air Show

[passedgas46]

Let's hope the Blue Angels fly Fat Albert again. Was awesome seeing a Bert demo again at Oceana last year

In general, Bert is a Saturday only performer. I wish shows did a better job advertising that. But yeah, it has flown at every show I've seen them at since they went to the C-130J.

I wouldn't say that. When we were at Dover in 2022, Fat Albert did indeed fly on Saturday and not Sunday. However, Fat Albert didn't fly at all when we were at the Pocono Raceway airshow last year. There is also video proof of Fat Albert flying on Sunday at Jones Beach in 2022.

[Pirate24]

Hi all
I’m not sure if this is the best place to put this but I’m sure you guys and gals will show me to the right area.

We are planning a trip from Australia (a mate and I) to visit Oceana’s air show, then scoot through the museums one the way to Miramars air show the following weekend. Looking for some advice on itinerary please, and some details around Oceana. Mostly military aircraft nuts close approaching 50 and havin a bucket list that needs completing.

Basic itinerary is fly in Thursday the 19th of September to Washington, and visit both Air and Space museums in DC and Virginia on the 20th Driving from Washington to Oceana on the 21st and hopefully have good weather. Stay overnight somewhere in Virginia Beach or surrounds. Is the Sunday show a repeat of Saturday usually?
Possibly stay half a day at Oceana on the 22nd, then drive through to Dayton (probably staying at a hotel along the way). Two days at the airforce museum at Wright Patterson, then fly to Pima on Wednesday the 25th. Do Pima air museum in Tucson on Thursday, and drive through to San Diego Thursday night into Friday morning. See the Midway aircraft carrier, the possibly the Gillespie field air and space museum too. See Miramar air show on the Saturday, and drive to LA, visiting the Western Museum of Flight in Torrance so we see both YF-23’s

Head off to LAX then the long flight home to Australia.

Does this sound doable (other than we will be tired), and are we missing somewhere or could do with replacing a stop with another?
Thanks in advance

[RFDGuy]

Hi all
I’m not sure if this is the best place to put this but I’m sure you guys and gals will show me to the right area.

We are planning a trip from Australia (a mate and I) to visit Oceana’s air show, then scoot through the museums one the way to Miramars air show the following weekend. Looking for some advice on itinerary please, and some details around Oceana. Mostly military aircraft nuts close approaching 50 and havin a bucket list that needs completing.

Basic itinerary is fly in Thursday the 19th of September to Washington, and visit both Air and Space museums in DC and Virginia on the 20th Driving from Washington to Oceana on the 21st and hopefully have good weather. Stay overnight somewhere in Virginia Beach or surrounds. Is the Sunday show a repeat of Saturday usually?
Possibly stay half a day at Oceana on the 22nd, then drive through to Dayton (probably staying at a hotel along the way). Two days at the airforce museum at Wright Patterson, then fly to Pima on Wednesday the 25th. Do Pima air museum in Tucson on Thursday, and drive through to San Diego Thursday night into Friday morning. See the Midway aircraft carrier, the possibly the Gillespie field air and space museum too. See Miramar air show on the Saturday, and drive to LA, visiting the Western Museum of Flight in Torrance so we see both YF-23’s

Head off to LAX then the long flight home to Australia.

Does this sound doable (other than we will be tired), and are we missing somewhere or could do with replacing a stop with another?
Thanks in advance

The shows should pretty much be the same Saturday to Sunday. Fat Albert from the Blues only flies Fri/Sat. Sometimes things can change a little but for the most part it'll be the same. If there are bomber flyovers those are usually just on one day and very hard to predict when they will actually get one.

As long as the time works out, I'd say that sounds good. USAF Museum and Pima are the two best aviation museums I've ever been to and you're hitting Air and Space in DC which I've heard is one of the few that compete with the other two.

[passedgas46]

I've been to Oceana's airshows many times over the last several decades. While it's lost its luster since the F-14s were retired, there's been some really good years. I hadn't been back since 2017 so I really can't vouch for the most recent shows. Last year, based on photos, looked disappointing. This year, on the other hand, looks really good, and my wife and I are considering making a weekend out of it. She's never been to Virginia Beach and I know she'll enjoy it.

We are planning a trip from Australia (a mate and I) to visit Oceana’s air show, then scoot through the museums one the way to Miramars air show the following weekend. Looking for some advice on itinerary please, and some details around Oceana. Mostly military aircraft nuts close approaching 50 and havin a bucket list that needs completing.

Basic itinerary is fly in Thursday the 19th of September to Washington, and visit both Air and Space museums in DC and Virginia on the 20th Driving from Washington to Oceana on the 21st and hopefully have good weather. Stay overnight somewhere in Virginia Beach or surrounds. Is the Sunday show a repeat of Saturday usually?
Possibly stay half a day at Oceana on the 22nd, then drive through to Dayton (probably staying at a hotel along the way). Two days at the airforce museum at Wright Patterson, then fly to Pima on Wednesday the 25th. Do Pima air museum in Tucson on Thursday, and drive through to San Diego Thursday night into Friday morning. See the Midway aircraft carrier, the possibly the Gillespie field air and space museum too. See Miramar air show on the Saturday, and drive to LA, visiting the Western Museum of Flight in Torrance so we see both YF-23’s

Head off to LAX then the long flight home to Australia.

Does this sound doable (other than we will be tired), and are we missing somewhere or could do with replacing a stop with another?
Thanks in advance

Your itinerary sounds doable. If I had to offer a recommendation, keep in mind which DC area airport you fly into. Reagan National (DCA) is closer to the main Air & Space Museum building on the National Mall. The Udvar-Hazy Center is just off of Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). Do research on the hours of each place. I'd also stay somewhere between the two (Fairfax, Vienna, etc.) so that you don't have too much of a drive from one to the other. In his signature, n33d4sp33d85 claims to live in Fairfax so I would contact him and ask for recommendations.

Your drive from the DC area to Virginia Beach will probably take at least five hours, maybe more depending on the traffic on Interstate 64. I've done that drive in both directions many times and four hours is my best time. You could time your Virginia Beach arrival so that if you're lucky to book a hotel room on/near the oceanfront you could walk over to the beach/boardwalk by the Hilton and watch the Saturday night "Beach Blast" where a Super Hornet does afterburner passes at dusk and the parachute teams jump onto the beach. (Do they still do this?) Then on Sunday you can enjoy the Sunday show at NAS Oceana, which is almost always identical to Saturday's airshow. If you want to bug out of Oceana early, do it when the Blue Angel pilots do their walkdown. It can be a pain in the ass leaving the base.

Virginia Beach to Dayton, especially after a day in the sun will be tough. I wouldn't want to do it without staying somewhere overnight. That part of your travel plans is also doable. Getting from Dayton to Phoenix or Tucson is probably going to be two flights and a full day's travel. Tucson to San Diego is a bit of a drive, too. Miramar's a great airshow and one I recommend, having been there a few times myself. San Diego to LA is a short drive, at least compared to the others.

If there was one more thing I would recommend, it would be to spend more time in the Virginia Beach area. In years past, I've done weeklong trips during Oceana airshow week(end), arriving on Sunday night and leaving the Monday after the airshow. There's a lot of stuff in that area between restaurants, aviation museums, airfields, etc. During airshow week you'll see airshow practice demonstrations by the home based squadrons taking place; I've seen these take place Mon/Tues/Wed of airshow week, the Blue Angels typically arrive late Wednesday or early Thursday and they'll scout out the area on Thursday afternoon before flying a practice. You'll certainly be checking off many items off the bucket list!

[Tangoringo]

I can heartily recommend the Palm Springs Aviation Museum too either on a detour from Tucson to SAN or SAN to LA. I went there a couple of weeks ago and if you time it right at the weekends there's a good possibility of catching either one or both mustangs doing pleasure flights. If in the Tucson area the Titan missile museum is only 1/2hr or so from Pima/DM and the Pimal Air Park civvie boneyard en route to PHX too.

[awal2049]

Does this sound doable (other than we will be tired), and are we missing somewhere or could do with replacing a stop with another?
Thanks in advance

One other thing you could do if you're spending some time in the Virginia Beach area is the Battleship Wisconsin in Norfolk. Not much plane stuff, but if you're into military history in general it's worth the time.

https://nauticus.org/explore/battleship ... attleship/

[Meekashark]

I can't speak on most aspects of your trip, but DC to Virginia beach. I have made the drive in about 4 hours... and it's taken me as much as 8 hours, then top it off with getting onto NAS Oceana, I'd probably park the car toss the keys and get me a scooter.

But seriously it can be done, I'd really set aside a good 6 to 8 hours to get to Virginia beach then add time to rest before the airshow, so I guess Sunday is your best bet. Also I wouldn't plan anything the same day as you leave the airshow except sleep and time to cool off. I've gotten off base in 15 minutes, and I've also sat in the car for 3 hours without turning a wheel.

Keep an eye on the weather, we have been blessed with great weather the past few years but every year the week before the show the tropics get the message and start sending storms towards the east coast.

[ssims45]

Hi all
I’m not sure if this is the best place to put this but I’m sure you guys and gals will show me to the right area.

We are planning a trip from Australia (a mate and I) to visit Oceana’s air show, then scoot through the museums one the way to Miramars air show the following weekend. Looking for some advice on itinerary please, and some details around Oceana. Mostly military aircraft nuts close approaching 50 and havin a bucket list that needs completing.

Basic itinerary is fly in Thursday the 19th of September to Washington, and visit both Air and Space museums in DC and Virginia on the 20th Driving from Washington to Oceana on the 21st and hopefully have good weather. Stay overnight somewhere in Virginia Beach or surrounds. Is the Sunday show a repeat of Saturday usually?
Possibly stay half a day at Oceana on the 22nd, then drive through to Dayton (probably staying at a hotel along the way). Two days at the airforce museum at Wright Patterson, then fly to Pima on Wednesday the 25th. Do Pima air museum in Tucson on Thursday, and drive through to San Diego Thursday night into Friday morning. See the Midway aircraft carrier, the possibly the Gillespie field air and space museum too. See Miramar air show on the Saturday, and drive to LA, visiting the Western Museum of Flight in Torrance so we see both YF-23’s

Head off to LAX then the long flight home to Australia.

Does this sound doable (other than we will be tired), and are we missing somewhere or could do with replacing a stop with another?
Thanks in advance

If you can add a day or find a way to shift some time around the Military Aviation Museum a short drive south of Virginia Beach is a top-notch facility. The real draw is that a majority of the collection is in flight-ready status. They hold an airshow most Octobers called Warbirds Over the Beach where many of the aircraft you see in the museum are in the air for the show!

https://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/

The Air and Space museum in "downtown" DC is still under construction and will be for several years as they fully renovate the entire building. It's open, but not everything is open yet. The museum at Dulles is good and you could easily spend a whole day there. Dayton is an AMAZING facility and to see it all in one day is tough. The same is true for Pima which is AMAZING for different reasons than Dayton but I HIGHLY recommend both museums.

I'd say if you both have a favorite aircraft look up some other US locations that have that aircraft and see if you can work it into your trip. Please create a separate thread afterwards and update us on your adventures!

[Top gun maverick]

Let's hope the Blue Angels fly Fat Albert again. Was awesome seeing a Bert demo again at Oceana last year

In general, Bert is a Saturday only performer. I wish shows did a better job advertising that. But yeah, it has flown at every show I've seen them at since they went to the C-130J.

Bert flew last year for the first time in like 6 years at Oceana. I only go to their Saturday show

[Richard H]

@ Pirate 24
I have just got back to the UK from visiting a number of aviation museums in California. If you have time en route from San Diego to LAX I would suggest stopping at Chino and visiting the Yanks Museum and Planes of Fame. They are next door to each other. I think you will get a lot more out of that than the Western Museum of Flight at Torrence. I went to Gillespie Field, and the Annex is fun, but not big at all. The main museum in Balboa Park is great!