Wings Over Camarillo returns to the Southern California skies

Sonny Mason performed at the airshow in his Pitts S-1S.

After 22 long months of home sheltering and pandemic-driven cancellations, airshows have finally returned to the skies over California.

Over the weekend of Aug 21-22, I journeyed to Southern California for an overdue repeat visit to the Wings Over Camarillo airshow. Sponsored by Oxnard Auto Center, 2021 marked the 40th year for this event, and I was very curious to see how the airshow experience might have changed.

This show has a loyal following and it certainly appeared that airshow fans were eager to come back. Being an outdoor event, masks weren’t required and social distancing was back to pre-pandemic norms. One obvious change was that tickets were only sold online this year, but that did not seem to affect the 16,000 fans attending the two-day event.

A Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet from NAS Lemoore enters stealth mode for an instant. With the right humidity, these ‘vapor cones’ appear at speeds just below the speed of sound.

The aerial activity kicked off with a roaring tactical demonstration by an F/A-18E Super Hornet. The overcast morning provided enough water content for the Super Hornet to extract, dramatically pulling vapor from the air on many of the maneuvers.

Next was a US Navy Legacy Flight, where the F/A-18 was joined by a USN T-28C Trojan for a series of formation flights.

The Legacy Flight included a North American T-28C Trojan and Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet.

The USAF Academy Wings of Blue parachute team then delivered the Stars and Stripes, jumping from “D-Day Doll,” a veteran C-53 Skytrooper operated by the Commemorative Air Force.

Helicopters were next, with the Ventura County Sheriffs using one of its Hueys for a rescue hoist demonstration.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office operates four of these Bell UH-1 Huey helicopters.

There were several aerobatic performers in the lineup, more so than previous years.

Judy Phelps brings her Pitts S-2B over show center during her performance at the 2021 Wings Over Camarillo airshow.

First to fly was local aerobatic pilot Judy Phelps in her Pitts Special.

Fellow Pitts pilot Sammy Mason followed later with a memorable performance thanks to a pyrotechnic fireball – courtesy Firewalkers International Pyro – that created a massive ring of smoke that Sammy proceeded to climb through, execute a hammerhead, and come back down before the ring dissipated.

Sammy Mason takes his Pitts S1S vertical through a smoke ring created from a pyro explosion.

John Collver put his SNJ Texan “War Dog” through her paces in a show honoring active duty military and veterans alike.

Vicky Benzing then took to the sky in a classic 1940 Stearman for her aerobatic demonstration.

Vicky Benzing stopped performing in her Extra 300 and now performs solely with her pristine 1940 Boeing Stearman.

New performers included the Undaunted Airshows Formation Team, made up of Todd Rudberg and Stephen Christopher flying their RV-7 and RV-8 aircraft doing formation maneuvers.

Coming over the top of a nice formation loop are Undaunted Air Shows pilots Stephen Christopher and Todd Rudberg in their Van’s aircraft.

One of the headline performers was Aaron Fitzgerald doing some amazing flying with the Red Bull BO-105 aerobatic helicopter. The “hingeless” rotor design of this German helicopter provides enhanced maneuverability and control, with every bit pushed to the limits by Aaron as he flung his rotorcraft around the airshow airspace.

Aaron Fitzgerald in a controlled inverted descent with the Red Bull MBB Bo-105 helicopter.

The flying schedule was dominated by a series of fly-bys with formations of the same type or era. The first group taking flight were light aircraft, represented by a Piper Cub, Viking Dragonfly, and a rare Culver Cadet.

World War II trainers were up next with a trio of polished Ryan PT-22 Recruits and a Ryan ST3KR.

The T-34 Mentor was a military adaptation of the Bonanza Model 35 design, capable of +10g and -4.5g loads.

Formation fly-overs of a half dozen Beechcraft T-34 Mentors took place, their colorful liveries memorializing their service with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force.

The Condor Squadron is a nonprofit group honoring veterans through flight demonstrations with their collection of AT-6/SNJ Texans.

The last flight performance was by the Condor Squadron, a group of T-6 Texan pilots that performed a Missing Man tribute to veterans.

Camarillo Airport is also the home of the Southern California chapter of the Commemorative Air Force, so there was no shortage of warbirds in the sky. The European Theater of Operations was represented by fly-bys of a B-25 Mitchell, P-51 Mustang, and P-38 Lightning.

A nice formation fly-by of World War II fighters during the 2021 Wings Over Camarillo airshow. Leading is the Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat “Minsi III,” a 1942 Mitsubishi A6M3 Reisen (Zero), Vought F4U-1 Corsair, and North American P-51D Mustang “Lady Alice.”

The corresponding Pacific tribute had Grumman’s F6F Hellcat, F4U Corsair, P-51 Mustang, a rare PBJ-1 Mitchell, and an even-rarer Mitsubishi Zero. The completion of the Pacific warbird segment was marked thunderously with the much-anticipated Wall of Fire.

An assortment of World War II fighters clear the Wall of Fire during the 2021 Wings Over Camarillo airshow. Leading is the Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat Minsi III’ a 1942 Mitsubishi A6M3 Reisen (Zero), Vought F4U-1 Corsair, and North American P-51D Mustang Lady Alice.

Bomber fans enjoyed the sight of the two B-25 Mitchells. Both are based at Camarillo. One, “Executive Sweet,” has been an airshow staple for almost 40 years, while the second is a U.S. Navy version designated PBJ-1 that returned to airworthiness in 2016 after 23 years of restoration. Both B-25 demonstrations were punctuated by pyrotechnics during simulated bomb runs.

Additional jet noise for the day was provided by Jason Somes and his scarlet MiG-17F (actually a Polish-built variant), sporting new underwing smoke generators. Jason recently acquired this former Red Bull performer and enjoys demonstrating the capabilities of this Cold War fighter jet. This MiG-17F was built in 1959 and served in the Polish Air Force for 25 years before it was parked in a Polish “boneyard” and acquired in 1994 by Bill Reesman.

Jason Somes makes a fly-by in his Polish-built MiG-17F.

The weekend airshow not only featured skydivers and aerial demonstrations, but there were also science, technology, engineering and math exhibits, as well as a classic car show and a World War II re-enactment camp, among the many displays and activities.

The airshow was hosted by the Camarillo Wings Association, an all-volunteer nonprofit corporation, in collaboration with the Commemorative Air Force SoCal Wing, Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 723, and Ventura County Ninety-Nines, and Department of Airports. The event benefits local non-profits involved in youth science and aviation programs, with more than $431,000 donated to date.