Catch U.S. Marine Corps Military Working Dogs in Action at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum This Weekend
Catch U.S. Marine Corps Military Working Dogs in Action at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum This Weekend
A military working dog (Astor) at MCAS Miramar.
If you’ll be joining us here at the Sofia Hotel this weekend—and of course we’d love it if you will be—we’d like to draw your attention to a pretty special way to spend your Saturday morning in San Diego.
From 9 to 10 AM on the grounds of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar—only a half-hour or so from the Sofia here in Downtown San Diego—the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum will present a demo of the MCAS Miramar K-9 unit’s military working dogs. It’ll be a fascinating opportunity to see some of the U.S. Marine Corps’ integral four-legged members in action!
The Military Working Dogs Demo & Exhibit at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum
Saturday’s demo will feature the MCAS Miramar’s resident “pack” going through their paces with the help of their equally highly trained handlers. You’ll get to ask the handlers questions, and, if you so desire, suit up in an attack sleeve and vest such are used in training exercises with working dogs.
The demo day is part of the Military Working Dogs of MSMC exhibit the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum is displaying through June of next year. The exhibit tells the story of the Marine Corps canine contingent, which has served in every deployment and military conflict since World War II.
The working dogs of MCAS Miramar’s kennel and fine-tuned training facility provide security services as presidential inaugurations, political conventions, and other important events around the country. They and their devoted handlers also compete against elite K-9 teams from other Southern California Marine Corps units at the annual “War Dawg Weekend,” which MCAS Miramar hosted this past June. During that showcase, dogs were tested on everything from odor-detection and tactical patrol to endurance running and bite force. This year’s War Dawg Weekend saw MCAS Miramar’s Cpl. Kaity Fishbough and dog Wando take top honors in overall points.
We imagine that seeing these intelligent, athletic, and loyal pooches do what they do best is going to be an awful lot of fun on Saturday. But even if you can’t make it to the December 15th demo, it’ll still be worth catching the Military Working Dogs of MSMC exhibit at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum, which happens to be one of the hidden gems of San Diego.
The Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum at MCAS Miramar
The Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum boasts the world’s biggest collection of historic U.S. Marine Corp aircraft, a majority of which are on display at any given time. These include such impressive flying machines as the North American Rockwell OV-10D Bronco (a light-attack and observation plane), the Boeing Vertol Sea Knight CH-46 (a tandem-rotor transport chopper), the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet (a combat jet of the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314’s “Black Knights”), and the Grumman A-6 Intruder (an attack aircraft shared by the Marines and the U.S. Navy).
Besides these history-steeped military aircraft, the museum includes absorbing exhibits on a variety of aviation and Marine Corps history topics. Along with the Military Working Dogs display, these include Aviation Art & NASA Logos as well as a forthcoming expose on the recovery of the SBD-1 Dauntless, a World War II-era bomber that spent about a half-century on the dark floor of Lake Michigan and is now under meticulous restoration at the museum.
Whether for this Saturday’s Military Working Dogs demo or an everyday visit to appreciate some remarkable warplanes, you definitely out to keep the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum in mind when you’re next enjoying our premier boutique hospitality here at the Sofia Hotel in Downtown San Diego—within very easy reach of MCAS Miramar to the north!