Tag: aviation

Aviation enthusiasts spot planes in San Diego.

There’s a community of aviation enthusiasts in San Diego who love to spot airplanes. I met two of these spotters recently on top of downtown’s Cortez Hill. They were taking photographs of planes approaching San Diego International Airport.

The first spotter I spoke to is named Scott. He operates the SANspotter website. We spoke for a few moments about the many different aircraft I’ve seen while walking atop Cortez Hill–from huge airliners flying nonstop from London or Tokyo, to small, sleek business jets, to relatively tiny propeller-driven planes.

About a week later, I encountered a second friendly spotter whose smile and enthusiasm were infectious. He became excited when a shiny, colorful Southwest Airlines plane came into view. With his powerful telephoto lens, he took an amazing crisp photograph.

Both spotters found their ideal position at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Date Street, near the west end of Tweet Street city park, across Interstate 5 from Balboa Park’s Marston Point.

If you’re interested in joining this community of San Diego spotters, here’s the San Diego Spotters group page on Facebook.

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Drone Soccer coming soon to San Diego!

Something super cool is coming to San Diego! Drone Soccer will soon be rolled out to some of the City of San Diego’s Recreation Centers!

What is Drone Soccer? Check out the U.S. Drone Soccer explanatory video here. Flying “soccer balls” powered by drones are maneuvered strategically, as players strive to score goals by flying their ball through an elevated hoop. (Sounds a bit of like Harry Potter’s airborne game of quidditch to me!)

Kids playing Drone Soccer in San Diego will learn all sorts of great STEM knowledge, including robotics, engineering and drone piloting–all the while having lots of fun!

Parks and Recreation had a canopy set up in front of the Municipal Gymnasium today letting people know this is in development. It’s still in the early stages, so there’s no dedicated San Diego webpage or social media page that you can follow just yet. I was told that should be finished shortly.

The hope is that next year, during the U.S. Drone Soccer 2024 National Championships at the San Diego Convention Center, some local teams will be ready to compete! How cool is this!!!

Are there any schools in San Diego that already have Drone Soccer teams? Are you a teacher? You need to check this out! Spread the word!

Meanwhile keep your antennae up. If I learn more in the days ahead, I’ll provide an update here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Charles Lindbergh liked sandwiches in OB?

Did Charles Lindbergh, first aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, devour sandwiches in Ocean Beach? Historical information posted on the Kraft Building at Newport Avenue and Bacon Street suggests that!

A sign explains that the 1927 Kraft Building had a drug store and soda fountain downstairs, and that “local legend states Charles Lindbergh ate sandwiches at Kraft while waiting for his plane the Spirit of St. Louis to be finished at nearby Ryan Aviation (near the site later dedicated as Lindbergh Field).”

On May 10, 1927, after a series of test flights, Lindbergh took off from San Diego in the The Spirit of St. Louis.

On May 20, 1927, Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island and began the daring solo transatlantic flight that would make world history.

Public domain image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Walk under a famous San Diego flying boat!

Inside the central Pavilion of Flight at the San Diego Air and Space Museum you’ll find a gigantic airplane with a bottom that resembles the hull of a boat. This impressive amphibious airplane is a PBY-5A Catalina, one of the many PBY Catalinas that were built in San Diego by Consolidated Aircraft around the time of World War II.

During my last visit to the museum, I walked around and under the huge aircraft and found a nearby plaque that describes the history of this particular plane.

The PBY was the most successful flying boat ever designed, and it was in continuous production for over ten years. It was built in larger numbers that all other flying boats combined, and the majority of these planes were produced in San Diego… Early on the morning of August 8, 1988, the PBY was towed through the San Diego streets to Balboa Park…

Check out the impressive size of this famous flying boat and the span of its broad wings! Taking off from the broken ocean surface, where the attainable speed can be limited, requires a lot of lift!

Most of the PBY Catalinas were built at Consolidated Aircraft near Lindbergh Field, just a short distance from San Diego Bay where the flying boats were tested. Are there any old timers out there who recall seeing these flying boats out on the bay?

Here’s a Wikimedia Commons public domain image of a PBY-5AG in San Diego from 1948:

Also from Wikimedia Commons, here’s the PBY-5 production line at Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego from 1942:

These flying boats made important contributions to Allied victory in World War II, particularly in the Pacific. They were used in anti-submarine warfare, patrol bombing, convoy escort, search and rescue missions (especially air-sea rescue), and cargo transport.

If you love history or aviation, make sure to visit the world-class San Diego Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park. Your eyes will pop!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Meet pilots, crew of the Top Gun movies!

Do you love the movies Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick? Here’s an incredible opportunity for fans that will take place this May in San Diego!

Sign up for Top Gun Days San Diego 2023 and you’ll meet a veteran Blue Angel pilot, who flew the F-18 during scenes in Top Gun: Maverick. You’ll meet a TOPGUN graduate and former instructor, who played a vital role in making Top Gun. You’ll rub shoulders with other pilots from the movies, and get the inside scoop on the filming of these two epic blockbusters!

The three day Top Gun Days San Diego event ends at the USS Midway Museum, then Kansas City Barbeque, the nearby restaurant where the “sleazy bar” scene in the original Top Gun was filmed!

How cool is this?

I ran into the group while they toured the USS Midway last year, and it was apparent everyone was having a great time!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Honoring the first gliders at Torrey Pines.

An old historical marker at the Torrey Pines Gliderport honors the pioneering glider pilots who were the first to launch themselves into the sky here.

The side of the marker that faces the ocean features two bronze plaques. The opposite, facing the Gliderport’s parking lot, was made beautiful with a colorful tile mosaic. The 30-year-old abstract artwork depicts green trees atop the bluffs, sun, water, a sailboat and gliders in the blue sky.

TO HONOR THE SPIRIT, INGENUITY AND ENTHUSIASM OF THE PIONEERS WHO FLEW GLIDERS IN THE 1930’S AT TORREY PINES

AND TO THE FUTURE PILOTS WHO WILL SHARE THIS GLIDERPORT AND CONTINUE THIS TRADITION THROUGH ALL FORMS OF MOTORLESS FLIGHT

JUNE 6, 1992

THE NATIONAL SOARING MUSEUM

HARRIS HILL, ELMIRA, N.Y.

AN AFFILIATE OF THE SOARING SOCIETY OF AMERICA

HISTORICAL SITE NO. 315

THE TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT

THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO

Here’s a fascinating web page of the National Soaring Museum that concerns the Torrey Pines Gliderport. You can see some old photographs. The site is designated the museum’s Landmark No. 5.

I posted a blog concerning the Torrey Pines Gliderport many years ago. If you are curious, you can check that out by clicking here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Exhibit celebrates San Diego aviation pioneer.

Did you know the world’s first ever controlled glider flight took place in Otay Mesa? This important late 19th century breakthrough, which preceded the invention of motorized airplanes, was the achievement of John J. Montgomery.

There’s an exhibit at the San Diego Air and Space Museum that explores the life of Montgomery and his important contributions to aviation history. Photographs, ephemera, rare documents and a video tell his story. I noticed the display today when I visited the museum in Balboa Park.

I immediately took interest because I have visited the impressive monument to Montgomery’s first controlled heavier-than-air flight. It stands upon a hilltop south of Chula Vista in West Otay Mesa. A couple years ago I blogged about the Montgomery Memorial and posted information and photographs here.

One thing I was surprised to learn while watching the exhibit’s video is that a movie was made in 1946 about John J. Montgomery’s history-making flight. It’s titled Gallant Journey and stars Glenn Ford!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Rare airplane debuts on USS Midway!

Today a very rare airplane was transported across San Diego Bay. An enormous floating crane carried a restored Vought F7U Cutlass from Naval Air Station North Island and set it down onto the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum aircraft carrier.

Only seven Vought F7U Cutlass aircraft, built in the early years of the Cold War, are known to still exist. One of them was carefully restored at North Island. Today it joined many other historical aircraft on display at the USS Midway Museum.

I saw the tall crane as it was being pushed by a tugboat away from the museum. Then I observed an unusual plane perched on the flight deck by the aircraft carrier’s horns. A docent informed me what had just happened!

The Vought F7U Cutlass is a very odd looking airplane. Its design is unusual–there is no tail! See its Wikipedia page here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Top Gun fans vs. reality on USS Midway!

Yesterday a large group of dedicated Top Gun movie fans from a Facebook group visited the USS Midway Museum.

They all were having a blast, some wearing movie-inspired flight suits, checking out exhibits at San Diego’s popular aircraft carrier museum, taking photos near an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, before heading off to dine at Kansas City Barbeque, where the bar scenes in Top Gun were filmed.

It was interesting to watch their enthusiasm for the classic movie, whose sequel Top Gun: Maverick will be debuting in one week on May 24. I loved the original Top Gun when it came out in 1986, myself!

As I toured the USS Midway yesterday, I noticed a variety of connections the historic aircraft carrier and its present-day museum have to the actual TOPGUN aviator school and its pilots depicted in both the original and upcoming movie.

An F-14 Tomcat on the flight deck of USS Midway. These fighter jets co-starred in the original Top Gun movie, providing exciting, incredible visuals.
A fan group is photographed during their Top Gun Days event aboard USS Midway in San Diego. Three actual Navy pilots pose in front.
Nearby on the flight deck is an F/A-18 Hornet. This fighter jet was used as an adversary during the original Top Gun. The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet will be flown by the characters of Top Gun: Maverick.
One of the pilot ready rooms inside the USS Midway aircraft carrier. VFA-151 Ready Room One is where F-18 pilots gathered for briefing before and after flights.
A look inside USS Midway’s F-18 ready room. During Operation Desert Storm, F-18 Hornets were launched from this long-lived aircraft carrier, which was built at the end of World War II.
What it would have been like sitting in the F-18 ready room. The characters in Top Gun: Maverick are F/A-18E/F Super Hornet pilots, part of a special detachment aboard an aircraft carrier.
White board at front of the ready room, with mission and aircraft details.
An exhibit aboard the USS Midway Museum details the history of TOPGUN, originally the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School located at NAS Miramar, aka Fightertown USA.
Exhibit concerns TOPGUN – The Early Years.
The Navy Fighter Weapons School was established on March 3, 1969 at NAS Miramar in San Diego, California. TOPGUN’s objective was to develop, refine and teach air combat maneuvering tactics and techniques to selected fleet air crews…
Museum exhibit video shows the Tactical Aircrew Combat Training System TACTS in operation.
Visitors to the USS Midway Museum can climb into an F-14 Tomcat cockpit, located on the Hangar Deck.
Maverick call sign painted by the cockpit of the F-14 Tomcat.
The two-seated cockpit’s front seat, where an F-14 pilot sits facing his flight controls. The bubble canopy gives the pilot all-round visibility.
The rear seat of the F-14 cockpit, where Goose in the original Top Gun movie flew. This is where the fighter jet’s Radar Intercept Officer sat.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Four birds and an historic first flight!

I photographed several instances of great street art while walking along Coronado Avenue this weekend. As I headed west from Interstate 5 to Robert Egger, Sr. – South Bay Community Park, I discovered four birds and an historic first flight!

First up, two utility boxes just east of the freeway were painted with three raptors, including a bald eagle…

As I continued west down the sidewalk and passed in front of the City of San Diego’s Engine Co. 30 fire station, I noticed a unique box painted in honor of the world’s first controlled heavier-than-air flight, which took place about a mile east of where I stood.

I blogged about John J. Montgomery’s glider flights from a hilltop in Otay Mesa West and posted photos of the imposing wing monument that marks where aviation history was made here.

Finally, as I arrived at Robert Egger, Sr. – South Bay Community Park, I found a colorful work of street art featuring a beautiful nature scene and pink cockatoo!

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

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