Well, ehm, a ‘typical’ airshow would have one (or more) stunt teams. This one did not, and only lasted from 10:30am to 1pm or so. Oh well. The drive to and from Yuma, AZ, made more than up for it. Highlights where the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning demos. And there were four F-5’s taking off, but they did not do anything else than circling the runway three times. Too bad, as these F-5 fighter planes seemed to be part of a so-called ‘Agressor’ squadron. Squadrons like this are trained to act like an opposing force. As a result, their fighter jets are often painted in colors and have markings of the ‘enemy’.

Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor

This demonstration did not disappoint. The USAF originally envisioned ordering a total of 750 aircraft, unfortunately, the program was downgraded to a mere 187 aircraft.

F-35 Lightning

Not the first fighter jet to be nicknamed Lightning, it contains some technologies that are used within the F-22 Raptor. Also being cheaper and not restricted to export rules, this figher found its way to many US alliances.
This particular model of the F-35, the B variant, is capable in hovering in the air, although it does that with significantly less noise than the Hawker Siddeley Harrier (on this side of the atlantic better known as the AV-8B Harrier II, which was an improved version of the original Harrier).

Other

As said before, a flight of 4 F-5’s took off. Also, a fly-over of Fat Albert (a Lockheed C-130 Hercules that accompanies the Blue Angels) raised high hopes for the actual stunt team to come by. They were actually performing at an airshow at near-by El Centro. I just went to the wrong place…