Key West Fantasy Fest: Fighters and Freaks
November 4th, 2009 | Photography | Posted by Erik Hildebrandt
I had long heard about the wild scene on Duval Street during the week leading up to Halloween, but last week proved to me that the freaks really do come out at night! There are plenty of stills and video you can find if you search those key words, so I won’t bother posting any here. Instead, I have included images from the daylight action in the skies over Key West. Last week, I followed a full-up fighter Det for the current class of RP’s or replacement pilots going through their initial air-to-air training in VFA-106, the Gladiators based at NAS Oceana. There were three “GOs” each day with the first missions launching at 0800. Briefing for the 0800 event required rolling into the squadron by 05:45, meaning if you had any brains at all, you stayed away from Duval altogether the night before… a lesson I learned the hard way on day one.
These days, there is a full-time reserve adversary detachment on base operating under the historic WWII Sundowner squadron colors; VFC-111. These seasoned reserve aviators fly commercial jobs most of the time, but one week per month on average, they strap on the razor-sharp Northrop F-5 Tiger and go head-to head with the Navy’s youngest and brightest flying Rhinos and Charlies. While I was down there, I got my first F-5 backseat ride with Frogger Hughes chasing 3 other Tigers into the Bogey presentation for the students. After that, I had 2 Rhino flights to shoot multiple ‘merges” and a “Snap-shot” tail-chase. The images below show some of the results from each of those flights, which were all flown with epic Key West clouds as the background and perfect early morning light.
Enjoy the ride and CHECK-6!
EROK
