Centennial of Naval Air - Whidbey NAS
7/30/2011

The Navy started its air wing back in 1911, so this year is the 100 year anniversary. Whidbey Naval Air Station, as part of its celebration, invited several car clubs to bring their cars to the event.

The Northwest Region of the Ferrari Club of America was one of those invited, so I drove the 330 to the event. It was an early start (6 AM in Seattle) as the Navy wanted all of the cars staged on the tarmac before the area got busy with guests. We were parked in front of the maintenance hangers in the tie down/taxi area.

The club had nineteen cars signed up, but the weather kept three from attending. They were on a ferry from Port Townsend on the Olympic peninsula to Keystone on the south end of Whidbey Island. But the winds were high enough that the captain couldn't safely dock the ferry at Keystone. That ferry terminal is quite exposed to winds. So they were taken back to Port Townsend. However the next ferry was already full and just like in the airlines, if your ferry/flight is cancelled, you end up on standby. They just gave up and went home. There were seventeen Ferraris as a lone 308 was there as part of the De Loren club.

There were plenty of aircraft on display though there was not a formal air show with a group like the Blue Angels. Here are a few of the aircraft.

F-18			FA-18C
EA-6B Prowler	And we think our cars are complicated		Canadian Army de Havilland Beaver
PT-13 Stearman	Insitu ScanEagle reconnaissance drone		Grumpy - B25D Mitchell
T-6A	Coast Guard C-130H Hercules		Coast Guard H-65 Dolphin
P-3 Orion	A-1 Skyraider		Curtiss P-40C Tomcat
P-51B Mustang		P-51B Mustang