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[tooslow]

Today we had an "Open House" for the Patriots Jet Demonstration Team at the Bryon Airport in California.  Byron is about 40 miles (65 km) East of San Francisco and the Byron Airport is about 10 miles (16 km) from my house.  They have seven L-39's (all flyable) and three Mig 17's (two flyable and one static) plus a number of other aircraft in their hanger.   The team has been in existence since the early 2000's and have performed all over the Western United States.   This year they will do a "warm up" event for the Blue Angels for the Annual "Fleet Week" in San Francisco.

I only heard about the Open House last night from a friend of mine.  My wife wanted to go too so we went out to the Byron Airport a little before noon today.   I'm guessing, but it looked to me that something over 500 people were at the event and there were a small army of volunteers to help and explain things.  About 12:30 two L-39s (one a visiting aircraft) took off and performed a formation takeoff and a couple of flyovers.  I got video of them heading out to the runway, their takeoff, and low altitude flyover.   

There was a lot of activity at the airport today and they had to fit in between a lot of civil aircraft taking off and landing, a T-6 Texan doing touch & go's, Several soar planes (gliders) being towed aloft and the occasional turbo prop leaving with skydivers ... It seemed very busy, especially for an airport with no tower.  One of the Patriot pilots told me that every one was on the same frequency and the pilots always seem able to coordinate their activities.  He had flown out of the airport for many years and had never heard of a problem or an accident caused by this informal system.  It seemed to work very well today. 

The Patriots Jet Demonstration Team website is  PJTF.org

If I'm successful getting my videos on youtube I'll add a couple of them later, but for now I've attached a few pictures from inside the hanger and of the L-39s that did the flyovers. 






Note that the Pitt's Special is in both pictures above and below.  I waited to take the pictures until most of the people were out of the hanger looking at the two planes about to start up.







First a warning I took these videos with a small hand held camera and I was trying to hold it over other peoples heads.  I got very shaky and off the target a few times!!

First video ... taxi out for takeoff.



Formation take off



Low Level (100feet or about 30 meters) flyover



Taxi in and shut down of L-39




Also you can see their promotional videos (some with a view of the San Francisco Bay) on their website at

http://www.pjtf.org/lets-fly-2/

[max_thehitman]

This is very cool  I just love seeing airshow photos and films.
Thanks good friend.

I notice you have a nice Mig-15 painted all red. Do you have any photos of it?
I want to paint that as a skin for our game. I already have one, which is an all red
Mig-15 from a museum on display in Spain, but that one is diferent from this one.

Thanks for the post!
Cheers
MAX

[tooslow]

Max,

The Red planes are Mig-17s not Mig-15s.  The two red Migs are fully flyable and go up once or twice a year ... per one of the volunteers  ....  She does aerobatics with the small biplane in the original photos (It looks like a Pitts Special to me, but I'm not sure).  They also have a 3rd Mig-17, but it is just a display model with folding wooden wings so they can transport it to events around the area.

The two Migs appear to be painted alike.  The exterior surfaces were all red except for the air brakes just ahead of the tail pipe.  They looked like very highly polished metal, almost like they had been chromed.   

Below are the only three additional pictures I have of the Migs.  Hope they help. 
[Since they are only about 10 miles from my house I could possibly get a additional pictures.  Their literature says you can arrange an appointment to visit them.] 


 







I still can't believe this group has been only 10 miles from my house for over 10 years and I just found out about them last week ... tooslow

[max_thehitman]

AH! Where are you ben hiding?  If they are just 10 miles away, you should visit them often. I would.
The closest aircraft I have around here to see up close is also about 25+ miles away.
It is an old 1960s Sabre-look-a-like Fiat airplane on display in a kiddie-garden!    Some one decided to place that
old airplane nearby in a kids playground. LOL
- https://ssl.panoramio.com/photo/595399

There used to be an old Junkers-52 airliner on display in another kids playground in a nearby city. Its not there anymore 
but I can still remember touching it many years ago... http://l.rapimg.com/upload_tmp/93/061/img_224106193_1424001222_abig.jpg

Thanks for the photos.
That Mig-17 looks cool. Red Baron style, with black star roundels  I want to fly that jet in my game! I will paint a skin for
our game for us to fly it.