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I had an opportunity to attend the Flying Leatherneck Museum while I was in San Diego. It is considered part of MCAS Miramar, but it has a public entrance. Besides being a great museum dedicated to USMC aviation with about 35-40 aircraft on display, admission is free of charge.
A unique "night fighter" Corsair...
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7476/15956376358_d8d03cc27d_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qj1AMd)
The last production A-4 built...
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7490/15866612798_d23b8008e0_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qb5xcC)
'WE CONTROL VIOLENCE'
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/846/43494057612_a70ef4d7e7_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/29gqq23)
I spent a few days in San Diego at the end of May attending a reunion of Marine Corps aerial observers from the Vietnam War. These guys were all either infantry or artillery officers who typically did a six-month ground tour as a company or battery commander before getting trained as an AO and tasked out to the Marine observation squadrons to be backseaters in O-1 Bird Dogs or OV-10 Broncos. I just started work on my first book, and Vietnam-era AOs will factor into one of the chapters pretty heavily, so this was a very worthwhile visit. These Marines had some amazing stories to tell.
Nice capture Joe. Marine Corps reunions are lots of fun. I had the privilege of photographing the Marine TBS 1-77 reunion in 2015 (a four day event in Quantico and DC). They've invited me back to shoot their next reunion in Pensacola, Florida. This one will be at the National Museum of Naval Aviation. I'm really looking forward this opportunity. Two of the Marines in your photo look very familiar. I wonder if they were TBS 1-77 classmates. I'll be back in Arizona for a month during August. We leave next Friday.