SAN DIEGO — The Navy’s Blue Angels capped three days of aerial demonstrations at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar as the annual air show brought military aircraft, civilian performers and ground displays to the base over the weekend.
This year’s show, billed as “America’s Air Show,” marked the nation’s 250th anniversary. Visitors watched fighter jets, a Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey and a C-17 cargo plane take to the skies Sept. 25-27, along with aerobatic performers Vicky Benzing, Ed Hamill and Emma McDonald.
The Marine Air-Ground Task Force demonstration combined aircraft, troops and pyrotechnics — including a “wall of fire” — in a simulated battlefield assault. The Blue Angels closed each day’s flying schedule with their precision formations and aerial maneuvers.
The flight line offered a different view of aviation. Visitors could view aircraft on display, look inside some of them and talk with the crews who fly and maintain them. Among the displays was a B-52 Stratofortress from the Air Force Reserve’s 307th Bomb Wing.
On Sunday, Lt. Col. Nate Barnhart, commander of the 93rd Bomb Squadron, invited Air Force ROTC cadets from the University of Southern California to tour the bomber. Barnhart previously served as an operations officer for the USC detachment.
“Seeing a B-52 up close and talking to the people that fly and maintain them gives them a perspective that simply can’t be replicated in the classroom,” Lt. Col. Rene Terriquez, the detachment’s commander, told military media personnel.
The air show drew families and aviation enthusiasts to Miramar for a weekend that paired flying demonstrations with opportunities to meet service members on the ground.
Vladimir Medvinsky, an Oceanside photographer and aviation enthusiast who has covered the Miramar Air Show for decades, took the photographs accompanying this story.
Medvinsky, founder of the printing company PrintingCEO, said this year’s show seemed bigger than ever, particularly the Marine Air-Ground Task Force demonstration’s wall of fire.
“When that wall of fire exploded, you could feel the heat from the grandstands several hundred yards away,” Medvinsky said.
Medvinsky plans to offer some of his air show images for purchase and said people can contact him about any other photos he took. His photography is available at shop.tisvlad.com. The air show photos have not been posted there yet.
Photos from the 2026 Miramar Air Show
