‘Celebration of aviation culture’: F-35A demonstration team ‘star of the show,’ along with Army parachute team
The U.S. Air Force F-35 demonstration team will headline two days of aviation-related events and attractions to be held in August at Eielson Air Force Base.
The Air Force F-35A demo team pilots will display the capabilities of the advanced fighter jet during the Arctic Lightning Air Show and Open House, to be held Aug. 1 and 2 at Eielson.
“So the professional demonstration team is gonna come up and fly one of our F-35s around and show exactly what it can do,” says air show organizer Lt. Col. Lloyd Wright. “It's gonna be very impressive.”
Wright is the Operations Group deputy commander for the 354th Fighter Wing. That’s the unit that flies and maintains the F-35s that are assigned to Eielson. And he says the base also will showcase other aircraft that operate out of there.
“It's hard to not call the F-35 the star of the show, but we have so many cool things going on,” he said.
“We've got our joint forces demonstration showing off not just the F-35, but our F-16 mission, our 168th Air Refueling Wing KC-135s here on base, as well.”
Wright says a variety of aircraft parked around the flight line will be on display, including vintage airplanes as well as personnel and equipment from Army installations.
“We've got the US Army's Golden Knights. The parachute demonstration team is the Army's version of our headliner,” he said. “And we’re doing our best to incorporate Fort Wainwright and other Alaskan Army folks into our joint forces demonstration and static displays.”
Airshow Deputy Director Major Billy Knox says the Golden Knights aren’t just expert parachutists. He says they’re more like aerial acrobats.
“It's always a fun time to see them do the crazy acrobatics with their parachutes,” he said.
Knox says Eielson’s air show planners worked with Army officials to coordinate their participation in the event. He says that’s the kind of teamwork between the armed forces is essential, during events like the air show, training exercises and real-world military operations.
It takes joint interoperability,” he said. “That's, you know, the buzzword in the military that basically means getting the branches of the service to work together.”
Wright says other air show attractions will include the big hangar that’ll be called the “Thunderdome,” which will be filled with displays and interactive exhibits on science, technology, engineering, aviation and math. It’ll also include demonstrations by bomb-disposal and law-enforcement personnel.
“We rely really heavily on our very advanced equipment,” he said, “and so, it’s really important for our ability to execute the missions. Like, everything we do is somehow based in one of those, you know, science, technology, engineering, aviation or math.”
That focus on STEAM, a variation of STEM, is one of the reasons Amanda Jones and her family plan to go to the air show.
“I'm a really big promoter of STEM, and air shows really display all of those characteristics,” she said. “I think it's really important to emerge our children in that and give them the exposure to different types of STEM activities that are both military and civilian.”
Jones served 21 years in the Air Force before retiring after her last tour of duty at Eielson. She’s been to many air shows over the years, but this will be the first time they’ll go the one at Eielson.
“They're family-friendly events,” she said. “You can celebrate aviation culture and heritage, which I think is really important. They're really great also for bringing the community together, because a lot of the civilian population don't have a good understanding of what the military do on a day-to-day basis.”
Admission to show is free. More information about the event is available online on the Eielson home page at eielson.af.mil.
