Military Jets Photography: 2006 09 07 Spotting at KLFI and KNTU

From the moment that it was annouced that VF-31 Tomcatters would be in the flying display at the NAS Oceana Air Show, it was clear that I had to go to the US one more time to see my favorite jet. So, together with Jan, we looked to our options and booked our flight to Newark and drove to long distance to Virginia Beach.
For our first day, thursday 7 September, we had planned to do some spotting at Langley AFB and at NAS Oceana. First we went to NAS Oceana. This base is the sole East Coast Master Jet Base and home to all the east coast strike-fighter (VFA) units. All strike fighter squadrons are equipped with either the F/A-18 Hornets or the F/A-18 Super Hornets exept one, VF-31 is still flying the migthy F-14D Tomcat. Albeit they're flying only for a couple more weeks after the Air Show weekend.
Once we arrived at NAS Oceana we saw that the Blue Angels were flying a three ship for their orientation points. Not much later we had a pair of Tomcats returning from a local mission and also some legacy Hornets. We also tried another spot to have some banking shots. We found a nice spot but the problem was that we were shooting backlit now. After noon we decided to go to Langley AFB.
Langley is home of 1st Fighter Wing, which are currently flying the F-15C and F-15D as well as the new fifth generation jet, the F-22A Raptor. We were lucky to see both the Eagle and the Raptor but unfortunately we were quickly sent away.