report by : Thierry LETELLIER
In august 2008 ; i was lucky enough to spend a full journey on the beach near NAS North-Island in Coronado California . The local traffic was not really impressive but the visitors flow was constant and sustained The first one , under a completly overcast grey sky due to the maritime fog ; was a C-12 from MCAS Miramar , the other huge Air Base in the north-east suburbs of San-Diego
As the weather saw a constant improvement we had the arrival of an EA-6B from VAQ137 linked to CVW-1 Between local helicopters proceeding for IFR procédures , arrived a pair of FA-18E from VF14 at NAS Lemoore , then a C130J from California Air National Guard at Naval Base Ventura County ; better known as NAS Point Mugu . after this sequence a short break led us to wait for 3 VMFA121 Hornets from MCAS Miramar . two USN C-40A made a complete procedure before a full stop . The second Prowler for the day arrived in a glorious sunshine ( far better than the prevoius one )followed be some VMFA-121 ” KNIGHTS ” Hornets .
Then we had the first F-A18 from the CVW-5 . The Carrier-Wing was partially present due to the change of Air Carrier . They left the USS KITTYHAWK a few weeks before to join their new ” floating residence ” the USS G. WASHINGTON . we saw an FA-18E from VFA102 ; an FA–18C from VFA192 followed buy a last VFA195 Hornet . the C-2A from VRC-30 det5 made also some circuits …. After this came a single Hornet from VMFA 314 at MCAS Miramar followed by a single T-45A from TW-2 at NAS Kingsville , TEXAS .
From east coast came also a T-34c from TAW-4 from NAS Chorpus-Christi The last traffic i saw was a local Base Flight USN C-12 …. Some local reports said the traffic continued later after my departure . In conclusion a very pleasant day with a rich variety of traffic and good weather after the clouds .