“Spirit 11” over Pasadena.
On January 1, 2019, using radio callsign “Spirit 11”, a B-2 Spirit with the 509th Bomb Wing from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, performed the traditional Rose Parade flyover.
Our friend Mark Holtzman, a photographer and pilot, founder of West Coast Aerial Photography, a company specialising in aerial photography based in Los Angeles, was once again airborne over Pasadena and took the air-to-air images of the stealth bomber as it flew over Colorado Boulevard to kick off the 130th Rose Parade.
To get the vertical view, he has to angle his plane (a Cessna 206 usually flying some 2,500 feet above the B-2) so when he points the camera, the lens is looking down. Needless to say, he needs a co-pilot who can handle the plane as he shoots.
It’s a matter of a few seconds but Mark is always able to catch some impressive shots as those we have published last year, when the Spirit bomber was escorted by two F-35s.
The Goodyear blimp was also flying over Pasadena.
Take time to visit Mark’s galleries at www.markholtzman.com to find other fantastic images of the past flyovers: indeed, Mark has been able to take some fantastic shots of the Rose Bowl flyovers from a plane: here’s the November 2018 flyover of two VFA-2 F/A-18F Super Hornets at USC vs UCLA Game; here are 2011 Rose Bowl flyover performed by U.S. Navy F/A-18s out of Lemoore; here’s 2009 Rose Bowl flyover by another B-2; here you can see the 2016 flyover and here’s the one from 2017.
Stay tuned for the B-2 Rose Bowl flyover photos!!
