Yuma, Arizona September 2023

day trip to Yuma from San Diego, which was quite the trek. Stopped enroute at El Centro but no activity there so quickly moved on to Yuma for an early morning start. Caught the Tigers take off but was quite far away. The Harrier made my day!

The Harrier is rapidly becoming a rare breed. The best catch was this VX-31 “Dust Devils” aircraft which is a USMC asset but flown by the US Navy test and evaluation squadron based at China Lake. Fantastic start of the day!

The US Marine Corps flies the F-5 Tiger in the adversary role. VMFT-401 “Snipers” are based at Yuma.

VMFT-401 flies a few different colour scheme F-5N Tigers.

F-18D of the US Marine Corps doing some missed approaches at Yuma. This one is operated by VMFAT-101 “Sharpshooters”, a training squadron which has been disbanded at Miramar late September 2023 as the USMC is transitioning to the F-35.

the same F-18D of VMFAT-101 going for another lap around the base.

Beautiful Snipers F-5N doing a low pass over Yuma in some really nice light.

the future of the USMC is the F-35B, of which four of them are coming back to land.