The Navy Blue Angels, a six-plane flying team intended to inspire future aviators and Navy and Marine recruiting, make their first trip to Dayton since the 2006 air show. Supporting the Blue Angels is the Marine Corps’ C-130 Hercules transport plane, dubbed “Fat Albert” for its squat appearance.
Returning also is Sean D. Tucker, the aerobatics pilot known for flying backward, tail-first and upside-down. Dayton is a special place for Tucker. In 2008, he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, the same weekend that he was in town to fly in the Dayton Air Show.
The ranks of the daring also include individual performer Greg Poe and the four-plane AeroShell Aerobatic Team.
The Air Force will be represented with demonstration flights of the F-16 fighter and the C-17 Globemaster III transport plane. A Navy F-18 Super Hornet fighter flight complements the Air Force’s firepower.
The air show will celebrate the 75th anniversaries of the Boeing B-17 bomber and the Douglas DC-3 passenger aircraft, with appearances of those planes. The show is to include a World War II bombing re-enactment involving B-17s and pyrotechnics.
Flying demonstrations also will feature planes of yesteryear, including a Wright “B” Flyer replica and the P-51 Mustang.
Ground-based displays include an array of Air Force, Navy, Army and Marine aircraft and the MQ-1 Predator, an unmanned aircraft whose program is managed from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Tickets for the air show are available through the air show’s website at www.daytonairshow.com., at discount rates at Kroger Co. supermarkets, or at the gate. Vectren Corp., Kroger and the Dayton Daily News are among the air show’s sponsors.
Information about the air show’s lineup is available through the website or by calling the event office at (937) 898-5901.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@coxohio.com.
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