On a perfect day for flying, thousands of spectators traveled to suburban Washington to watch some of the world’s best pilots do just that.
The display in the sky Saturday was the highlight of the Joint Base Andrews Air & Space Expo, one of the largest air shows in the country. For seven hours the airspace above the base was a stage as military and civilian aircraft performed breathtaking aerial feats that seemed to defy physics, engineering and sanity.
Steve Kutalek, 68, and his son Harrison, 14, a Civil Air Patrol cadet, flew down from southern New Jersey in Kutalek’s single-engine Mooney airplane, which they landed at a nearby airfield to attend the expo.
“There’s just nothing like being at a show and hearing the roar of the planes flying by,” Kutalek said.
Moments later an F-35 flew overhead, approaching in near-silence and passing with a bone-rattling boom. At an air show the sound is thrilling. In war, one could only imagine the fear it would induce.
The plane put on a spectacular display, flying close to the ground and then shooting straight up like a rocket, looping upside down and screaming back toward the ground.
Held every two years, the expo was scheduled to take place last year but was canceled because of the pandemic. Having it this year meant that it coincided with the Air Force’s 75th anniversary, almost to the day. The Air Force was established as a separate branch of the military on Sept. 18, 1947, through the National Security Act of 1947.
There was plenty of top brass on hand to celebrate, though mostly in the VIP tent closest to the runway. Generals, colonels and majors hobnobbed with guests, including a number of their counterparts from other nations.
On the vast concrete parking area behind them, spectators at the free event were able to climb aboard or get up close to an alphabet-and-numbers soup of planes and helicopters including the UH-1N Huey helicopter, the F-22 Raptor, the KC-46A Pegasus and the HC-130J Combat King II.
Maj. Kory Cookson greeted visitors as they climbed aboard the C-5M Super Galaxy on the Andrews flight line. The cargo and troop transport plane is the largest aircraft in the Air Force and, at seven stories tall, the tallest aircraft in the world.
Cookson, 32, the aircraft commander, said that flying the monster plane is similar to flying other planes. “You lose sight of how big it is in the air.” But on the ground, he said, “it feels like you’re moving a building.”
For all of their awe-inspiring feats and thrilling aerobatics, these are, of course, weapons of war. And pricey ones. The Biden administration’s proposed 2023 budget for the U.S. Air Force and Space Force is $194 billion, up $12 billion from 2022, according to Defense News Weekly.
The event is a showcase for what much of that money has purchased — such as the B-2 stealth bomber — and is also a publicity tool for the military. In addition to the scores of hot dog, hamburger and ice cream stands at the expo, there were also recruiting stations for each branch of the military.
It is also a way for the Air Force to pay tribute to its history with flyovers by vintage planes including a World War II-era B-17 and a B-25.
Narongrit Dulsaeng, 19, a University of Maryland student enrolled in the Air Force ROTC program, brought his classmates Dinh Huynh, Veerapetch Petchger and Jeff Tran to the show with him.
“I wanted to bring my friends and share what I know with them,” Dulsaeng said. “Obviously, it’s cool to see the planes, but it’s also very powerful to see how far we’ve come with these technological advances.”
Tran noted that with the war in Ukraine and tensions in Eastern Europe, this year’s event will have a far-reaching effect.
“When we put up a display like this, definitely other countries are noticing,” he said.
If there was a star performer at the air show — and every show needs a star — it was the Thunderbirds, the U.S. Air Force’s F-16 demonstration squadron, which creates mind-bending aerial displays that demand a combination of exquisite precision and ice in the veins.
The planes fly at speeds up to 600 mph, generating closure rates of 1,200 mph as they head toward one another before veering off in designed passes.
In some formations, the F-16s roar through the air in precipitous proximity to each other. About 18 inches at points.
“It is extremely tight,” the team’s commander, Lt. Col. Justin J. Elliott, 40, observed in the cool-calm way pilots master when talking about situations others would find stomach-churning. “Significant wingtip overlap, which means if they miss — up, down — we will hit. So the challenge is not just the closeness of the formation but the stability of it.”
“I wouldn’t call it terrified, but I would call it 100 percent focused,” Elliott said in an interview last week with a laugh. “You can’t take your eye off the ball.”
The team, based at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, flies twice a day during training season to prepare for events such as Saturday’s exhibition.
Elliott said his squad hopes to leave the crowd watching the maneuvers with a sense of pride and belonging.
“This demo is meant to show you that we are your Air Force no matter where you come from or how many generations you’ve been in this country,” he said. “If we get this right, we unite in divided times and we encourage and inspire people to give the best version of themselves to something bigger than themselves. That’s what this is all about.”
Organizers said they expect about 75,000 visitors over the weekend for the free event, which continues Sunday at 9 a.m.