[MilCom] 2005 Jacksonville Sea & Sky Spectacular report

[Mike Riffle]

Location: Jacksonville Beach, FL
Dates: 4-6 November 2005

[FREQUENCIES]
030.000  LAV-LAV comms (FM)
040.400  BPT-LCAC and LCAC-LCAC comms (FM)
118.750  NS Mayport tower
119.700  air boss victor
123.150  discrete common
123.425  Red Eagles air-air enroute back to NS Mayport
142.625  Blue Angels ground (FM)
148.250  BPT ramp marshalers (FM)
149.350  NS Mayport EOD/Friday night 21-gun salute (FM)
157.050  USCG HITRON interdiction demo (FM)
157.150  USCG Ch23a (FM)
157.175  USCG Ch83a (FM)
227.025  86FTS air-air
251.600  Blue Angels solos
265.800  NS Mayport tower
273.000  VS-31 air-air
275.350  Blue Angels outside show box
283.700  Texan II discrete
284.250  Blue Angels inside show box
305.500  Blue Angels Fat Albert
313.650  LSD-LCAC comms
355.600  air boss uniform
384.550  F-16 discrete

[AIRSHOW]
A-10         (#80-0194) 23FG East Coast Demo {HAWG}, Sunday
                         Sunday 4-ship Heritage flight
?AS350?      (N#29LA)   carried opening flag jumper - it looked like a
                         Eurocopter and there is a registration for a N229LA
                         belonging to the City of Los Angeles - air boss did
                         ask where he was from, I missed the response but
                         boss commented "man that was a long trip"
BELL 206B    (N312JP)   Jacksonville Police, Saturday crowd photos
Boeing A75   (N806RB)   Red Baron Squadron
Boeing PT-13 (N808RB)   Red Baron Squadron
Boeing PT-17 (N801RB)   Red Baron Squadron
              (N805RB)   Red Baron Squadron
B-2A         (#90-0040) 393BS "Spirit of Alaska" {DEATH 12}, Sunday
B-52H        (#60-0042) 93BS {SCALP 96}, Sunday
C172         (N8715U)   flag banner tow
CAP 232      (NX232MG)  Mike Goulian
CAP 580      (N580GP)   Matt Chapman
Cyclone      (N585MW)   Frank Ryder's Oreck XL
Extra 300    (N54NL)    Michael Mancuso
F-15A        (#75-0024) 159FS {FANG}, Saturday
              (#75-0052) 159FS {FANG}, Saturday
              (#75-0067) 159FS {FANG}, Saturday
              (#75-0072) 159FS {FANG}, Saturday
F-15C        (#81-0022) 71FS East Coast Demo {FIRST 11, EAGLE 1}, Sunday
                         Sunday 4-ship Heritage flight
F-16CJ       (#90-0806) 77FS East Coast Demo {VIPER}, Friday/Saturday
                         Friday/Saturday 3-ship Heritage flight
                         Sunday 4-ship Heritage flight
              (#91-0347) 77FS East Coast Demo {VIPER}, Sunday
F/A-18A      (#161959)  Blue Angel #5
              (#161960)  Blue Angel #6
              (#161963)  Blue Angel #4
              (#161967)  Blue Angel #1
              (#161975)  Blue Angel #2
              (#162897)  Blue Angel #3
F/A-18B      (#161746)  Blue Angel #7, flew in place of #3 Friday
F-86F        (NX86FR)   Dale "Snort" Snodgrass
                         Friday/Saturday 3-ship Heritage flight
                         Sunday 4-ship Heritage flight
G-164A       (NX7699)   Gene Soucy w/Teresa Stokes wingwalking
MH-68A       (#1095)    USCG HITRON interdiction demo, Saturday
              (#1109)    USCG HITRON interdiction demo, Sunday
P-51D        (NL351DT)  Lee Lauderback in "Crazy Horse" {MUSTANG 1}
                         Friday/Saturday 3-ship Heritage flight
Red Eagle    (N106BD)   Buck Roetman
S-3B         (#160152)  VS-31 #700 {TOPCAT 31}
              (#160147)  VS-31 #702 {TOPCAT 32}, Friday
              (#160134)  VS-31 #704 {TOPCAT 32}, Saturday/Sunday
SH-60B       (#162335)  HSL-60 #601 {JAGUAR 601}, Saturday
              (#162326)  HSL-60 #600 {JAGUAR 600}, Sunday
SNJ-4        (N934JT)   Jim Tobul, Texan Heritage flight
T-1A         (#93-0623) 86FTS {RAKE 31}
              (#93-0628) 86FTS {RAKE 32}
T-6A         (#00-3678) 12FTW East Coast Demo {TEXAN}, Texan Heritage flight
Talon Eagle  (N181DM)   Dan McClung
C-130T       (#164763)  Blue Angels {FAT ALBERT}

[AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT]
BMU TWO BPT  (Beachmaster Unit 2 Beach Party Team) {RED BEAT}
CH-53E       (#162005)  HMT-302 #08
              (#164539)  HMT-302 #11
              (#164790)  HMT-302 #13
F/A-18A      (#162862)  VFA-204 #411 {RIVER}
              (#162863)  VFA-204 #406 {RIVER}, Friday/Saturday
LAV-25       (#521385)
              (#521573)
              (#521595)
              (#521698)
LCAC         (50/84/89) {HOPPER ##}
USS Ashland  (LSD 48)   {VALIANT EAGLE} note this was the ship that had a
                         rocket sail over her bow in Jordan back in August
USS Hue City (CG 66)


[MISC SHIPS]
C-Tractor       (#12/13) show left/right markers
Mark V SOC      (#974/### USSOCOM) US Navy Seal demo
USCG ???-255007 (?) patrol
USCG ???-25545  (looked like a RHI w/enclosed cockpit) patrol
USCG ???-34112  (? USCG auxiliary) patrol
USCG WLM-562    (175ft Coastal Bouy Tender "Maria Bray") show center marker
USCG WPB-87322  (87ft Coastal Patrol Boat "Kingfisher") patrol
USCG WPB-87342  (87ft Coastal Patrol Boat "Shrike") patrol

[NOTES]
Wow, what a show! I had been looking forward to this show since the last
time I was there in 2003 (odd years are at the beach, even at NAS Jax). I
was so impressed with the 2003 show that I made a note of a Quality Suites
hotel located just south of show center. In early Nov 2004 when I found out
the dates for the 2005 show I made reservations, beating a significant price
hike by 1 week (by May 2005 this hotel was booked solid). Being able to look
down on some of the performers as they fly by adds a whole new perspective
to going to an airshow!

The amphibious assault is what draws me to this show (more than the Blues!).
This year was a little scaled back from the 2003 show. Instead of the LAVs
coming ashore on their own the LCACs brought them in. And there was less
aerial support this year (2003 had Cobras and Harriers in addition to the
Hornets). But the aerial support from the River Rattlers made up for all
that. Those guys rock!

As the Friday practice assault was kicking off I was following the CH-53's
with the camera when I thought I saw something in the water. Was that what
I thought it was!? I panned back and sure enough there was a boomer heading
south out of Kings Bay.

No P-3 flyby! What was up with that? There had to be at least 30 of them
sitting less than 20 miles away at NAS Jax.

I never did find the air-air for HMT-302 or VFA-204. The Close Call feature
on the BC396T did find the air-air for 86FTS and VS-31, the LSD-LCAC comms,
and the air boss uniform freq. Here's a couple of pics showing what my
mobile monitoring post looked like:
http://www.geocities.com/kc8mzm/photo/comm_01.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/kc8mzm/photo/comm_02.jpg

There was a bit of excitement Saturday morning with a swimmer in trouble
about 50-75 yards offshore. Thanks to the quick reaction by the Jax Beach
Ocean Rescue units the guy was rescued.

Just how low will Snodgrass go in the F-86? He was even with the top of the
pier! The Blue Angels comm cart crew had a real good look at him as they
were set up about half way out on the pier.

Blue Angel #5 was very close to having a vapor shock cone on his high speed
sneak pass on Sunday. As it was he did leave a nice wake in the water!

With beautiful weather all weekend long and a laptop just inside the door
to dump my memory cards to, I took an insane 3500 photos (25GB!). A few
of them are available at http://www.pbase.com/mriffle/2005_first_coast

Also with the laptop I was able to record some comms. Here's a recording
from Sunday between 1215-1251 during the amphibious assault (I forgot to
lockout the Sealord activity so you will hear some of that as well)
http://www.geocities.com/kc8mzm/sounds/1215-1251.mp3 (3.53MB)

Mike Riffle
Cataula, GA