He was followed by a search and rescue demon‐
stration by Coasties from the local Coast Guard
Air Station Houston. They deployed a rescuer
from their hovering MH‐65D Dolphin helicopter,
then circled around, zeroed in on his smoke and
lowered a cable to winch him back on board.
The demonstration taking place under gorgeous
blue skies with calm winds may not have
seemed that impressive, but when one consid‐
ers that the Coast Guard will deploy during hur‐
ricanes to rescue boaters in distress their com‐
mitment to duty is worthy of respect. Semper
Paratus. Local legend Debby Rihn‐Harvey, one of
the highest ranked aerobatic competitors in the
United States, then showed the crowd the skills
that earned her the U.S. National Aerobatic
Champion title in 2006, 2008 & 2009. She flew
her CAP 232 known as “Hurricane 2” through a
routine that had many in the crowd gasping in
amazement. The Marines of VMM‐268 “Red
Dragons” from MCAS Miramar then combined
the best of both the airplane and helicopter
worlds by demonstrating the capabilities of the
MV‐22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. Matt Chapman
in the beautiful Embry‐Riddle Eagle 580 finished
out the morning’s aerobatic flying in style.
Just before noon the sounds of air‐raid warning
sirens filled the air as a wave of airplanes flew in
from behind the crowd. Sharp‐eyed observers
could see the bright red hinomarus on the fuse‐
lages and wings as the aircraft suddenly dove in
at steep angles and began their attack on the
airfield. Tora! Tora! Tora! The surprise was com‐
plete, just as it was on the morning of December
7, 1941 in Hawaii. Dive bombers, torpedo bomb‐
ers and fighter escorts made numerous passes