Sweet Sixteen for the California Capital Airshow

A budding F-22 Raptor pilot looks right at home in the cockpit.

Taking place in Sacramento, the capital of California, the California Capital Airshow is billed as one of the major airshows in the Golden State. The 16th year of this popular event drew more than 85,000 airshow fans to Sacramento Mather Airport (KMHR) in September 2022.

The theme of the show was the 75th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force, so the organizers decided to forego a flight demonstration team and instead filled the sky with warbirds and military flight demos.

A Curtiss P-40C Tomahawk passes show center during the 2022 California Capital Airshow.

Surprisingly there were no civilian performers either, making for a lean flight schedule almost 90 minutes shorter than a typical airshow. Most of that was due to Hurricane Ian, drawing West Coast USAF and Coast Guard rescue assets down to Florida.

Lockheed P-38L Lightning “Thoughts of Midnite” is a locally based warbird, part of the Charles Somers collection.

Piston-powered warbirds included a pair of Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, a Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk, a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, a Goodyear FG-1 Corsair, and a pair of North American P-51 Mustangs.

This Republic P-47G Thunderbolt is one of only two Curtiss-built examples left in the world. Curtiss-Wright built 354 P-47Gs before production ended in March 1944.

The Korean War era was represented by the iconic F-86 Sabre and MiG-15 jets that demonstrated some dogfighting along with formation fly-bys.

The Korean War comes alive with this formation fly-by of a North American F-86F Sabre and Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15. The better-trained Sabre pilots of the U.S. Air Force scored a kill ratio of about 8:1 against the MiGs.

Fly-bys of modern military aircraft began with the iconic Lockheed U-2 spyplane followed by the T-38 Talon, F-15 Eagle, and F-22 Raptor.

First flown in 1955, newer versions of the classic U-2 (like this U-2S) operate from nearby Beale AFB.

Nothing quite like afterburner flame to accentuate the McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle flight demo. Introduced in 1976, it is among the most successful modern fighters, with over 100 air combat victories and zero losses.

A highly anticipated attraction was the “Parade of Heavies,” a trail formation fly-by of a McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender aerial refueling tanker, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, and Lockheed Martin C-5M Super Galaxy cargo aircraft.

Having operated the cavernous C-5 since 1969, the C-5M Super Galaxy is an upgraded version with new engines and modernized avionics designed to extend its service life beyond 2040. 52 are currently in USAF service.

A Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker participates in an aerial refueling demonstration with a McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle. A KC-135 can refuel an F-15 in three to five minutes.

One flight demo that you don’t see everyday was an Air National Guard Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules outfitted with an onboard system holding 2,700 gallons of fire retardant for fighting wildfires. With several bad years of wildfires recently, there has been a trend in airshows to incorporate water drop demos and the C-130 was happy to oblige, performing a water drop along the runway.

A Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules from the Channel Islands ANG performs a water drop demonstration. The aircraft wears temporary firefighting markings when equipped with the Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS), allowing these military aircraft to help combat wildfires.

The U.S. Navy was not left out as a pair of EF-18 Growlers did a high speed demo, then formed up with the Corsair for several naval aviation heritage fly-bys.

This Boeing E/A-18F Growler tickles supersonic flight with transonic shock waves condensing water vapor in the air, also known as a vapor cone. A crowd favorite, vapor cones indicate parts of the airflow may be supersonic while other parts remain subsonic.

A pair of Boeing E/A-18F Growler electronic warfare aircraft form up with a vintage Goodyear FG-1D Corsair for a U.S. Navy tailhook heritage flight.

A USAF heritage flight with the F-22 and P-38 was the planned finale for the day’s flying but technical issues caused the Lightning to declare an in-flight emergency and land safely, bringing an awkward close to the airshow.

A Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor performs a high-speed pass. First flown 25 years ago, only 187 are in operational service.

Sacramento Mather Airport is on the site of Mather Air Force Base which closed in 1993. This former Strategic Air Command B-52 base is now mainly a cargo hub for UPS and DHL.