It was a very hot June day when my friend Stephen and I ventured to Travis AFB, near Sacramento, CA. We'd been in airshow withdrawl mode, and the previous week's Wings Over Moffett Airshow wasn't going to cut it.

As usual, I brought along one of my trusty digital cameras, this time being my Nikon Coolpix 950.

When we got there, the heat wasn't the first thing we noticed--the number of C-5 Galaxy aircraft was!

Above: One of the many (12?) C-5 Galaxys on the tarmac.

Left: We went through the back of this C-5B..
Right: And out from the front! Words cannot describe how huge these things are!

Above: Near the C-5 we walked through was this B-1B bomber! Stephen says it can carry a higher payload than a B-52!

Left: A E-3 Sentry (AWAC). I wasn't expecting to be able to go on this, but we did! It was straight out of the 60's! The plane's interior was filled with ancient looking computers! But there must be something classified on this plane, since it was the only large plane that was roped off and had the "Deadly Force Authorized" sign!
Right: An old P-51 Mustang.

Left: The very modern C-17 is almost as big as the C-5.
Right: The KC-10 Stratotanker. Two thoughts: Whomever created the inflight refueling model in Falcon 4.0 should come see how big these are, and fix the game! Also, this is the same as the DC-10 that I've flown on many times.. and I never realized just how big these were until I walked underneath!

Above: One of my favorite planes, the F-15C. It was great to see one fly, too! Note how small the Toyota station wagon looks next to it!

The highlight of the day was seeing the USAF Thunderbirds fly... I'd never seen any flight demonstration squad other than the Blue Angels before. And although the two squads have pretty similar acts, the T-birds show was no less spectacular. Taking photos was really tough.. you've gotta be real quick.

I did manage to grab the one shot of the diamond formation (seen at the top of this page), and you can see a larger version if you'd like.

Below, the Thunderbirds F-16C's on the tarmac a few hours before showtime.

That's all, folks! Your comments are always welcome!

All photos are ©1999 Jeff Keller, and may not be reproduced for commercial purposes without the written consent of the owner.