2025 NAS Oceana Air Show

No better way to say “good morning” to an air show crowd on a US Navy base than flying the US Navy flag. A beautiful way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Navy btw. Welcome to NAS Ocena!

Oceana Naval Air Station is located near Virginia Beach, VA on the eastern seaboard of the continental U.S.A. The base is home to the US Navy’s Carrier Air Wings CVW-1, CVW-3, CVW-7 and CVW-8. Trust me, that’s a whole lotta F/A-18 Hornets that live there.

Before the US Navy and US Air Force jets took the stage, the US Coast Guard showed off their assets. They displayed their version of the C-130 Hercules. And the Sikorsky MH-60 Jayhawk, the coast guard version of the formidable Black Hawk helicopter. Both planes are seldom seen in the skies of Europe. Not even at air shows.

I had not seen a F-22 Raptor demo. But, wow, it met and exceeded my expectations. It was spectacular. The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is 5th generation fighter. Its powerful engines and trust vectoring nozzles make it powerfull and very maneuverable at the same time. And as a bonus for the demo, we got flares. Lots of it.

The Marines showed off their Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, the B version. And the Navy had their Rhino demo team present the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

I told you there’s a lot of Hornets at NAS Oceana. And we’re not done yet…

6 more Hornets flanked a Grumman E-2 Hawkeye for the fleet flyby. A personal highlight ’cause I think the Hawkeye is a very cool plane. You can imagine I enjoyed the Hawkeye demo to followed the fleet flyby a lot.

The absolute highlight of the day was the demonstration team of the US Navy: the Blue Angels. No air show on a naval air station would be complete without them. 6 Boeing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet planes flying only a mere 18 inches apart on some occasions. Simply breathtaking and jaw dropping! They turn flying an airplane into an art form.