Naval Air Station Oceana, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA, is the US Navy’s East Coast master jet base. Every year in September, an airshow is organized here. This year it took place on September 21 and 22. More than 300,000 spectators attended the airshow, which was held under changing weather conditions. On Saturday, the sky was clear blue all day and it was very warm. Sunday was clearly different — heavily overcast throughout the day and occasionally even a bit chilly. The show was virtually the same on both days. However, due to the low cloud cover on Sunday, the performances were somewhat less spectacular than the day before.

Airshow
The airshow began exactly at 10 a.m. with a parachute drop by the Skydive Suffolk Demonstration Team, followed by the “Star-Spangled Banner” blaring through the loudspeakers. Around 11 a.m., the first “real” performance was flown by the blue RCAF Centennial F-18. It was a beautiful display featuring an already somewhat aging aircraft.
After the Warbird Thunder Team, the local F/A-18s demonstrated their capabilities. Five “E” models and two “F” models delivered a kind of airpower demonstration, accompanied by many explosions and smoke effects. The Coast Guard’s HC-130J brought a bit of calm with several fly-bys. After that, the F-35 from VFA-125 showcased its performance, again with plenty of smoke and fire.
The next performer was the F/A-18F Rhino Demo Team, consisting of just a single F/A-18F. The show did not quite match that of the Canadian F-18. The highlight of the show followed: the F-22 Raptor demonstration. It was a truly magnificent 20-minute display, once again featuring explosions and fire. The men and women of “Firewalkers International Pyro” had two very busy days.
The grand finale of the show was, of course, reserved for the F-18s of the Blue Angels.

Static display
The aircraft on static display were spread around the grounds. There were still quite a few of them, but the variety left something to be desired. There were many Navy aircraft present. Among them were several Hornets, often the CAG birds of the units, as well as a T-34C, an MH-53E, an E-2D, and a P-3. There were also a few former Navy aircraft.
The USAF sent a C-17 from Charlotte and a C-5 from Dover, along with no fewer than four fighters. Unfortunately, they were all from the same unit, resulting in no fewer than four JZ Eagles on static display.

We wrote an article about this airshow and is was published in the April 2025 issue of Take-Off Magazine