Fireworks, smoke shows, and continuous maneuvers might be anticipated within the action-packed and totally revamped performance by the Air Force Thunderbirds throughout the Owensboro Air Show this September.
While the Air Show isn’t till the weekend of Sept. 15-17, two Thunderbirds crew members have been in Owensboro Thursday for a website go to as they started preparations.
“It’s an opportunity for us to come and get boots on the ground, and do some coordination for the details that are gonna be going into the air show,” mentioned Major Jeffrey Simmer Downie, who flies Thunderbird 8. “As you can imagine, there’s tons of facets of information that go into producing and putting on an air show.”
The Thunderbirds haven’t flown within the Owensboro present since 2015, once they drew crowds of about 30,000 individuals based on native officers’ estimates.
When the Thunderbirds return with their iconic F-16 Fighting Falcons this September, viewers can be handled to a completely totally different expertise. With their 2020 season canceled resulting from COVID, the Thunderbirds took the time without work to overtake their routine.
“The team was very uniquely positioned in 2020 with COVID to redesign the show completely,” Downie mentioned. “You think about previous seasons where we go from having a show season that goes from March to November, and then we have to take November to March to train. There was never time to sit down and (redesign the show).”
Downie mentioned the group labored with Disney executives and turned the Thunderbirds air present “into a fireworks display.”Â
“There’s a big-bang, high-energy opening. There’s different changes in tempo, there’s crescendos, and there’s false finales before that to build up to the actual finale,” Downie mentioned. “It’s an incredible performance. We’ve changed the timing for maneuvers across show center. It’s less of doing one maneuver and then sitting and waiting for another jet to show up. It’s very in-your-face, action-packed, 20 seconds from smoke off to smoke on again.”
He added that the music “really plays to the emotional strings and just really makes you proud to be an American at the end of the day.”
The present solely takes 36 minutes.Â
A full lineup has not but been introduced for the 2023 present. However, City of Owensboro Public Events Director Tim Ross beforehand mentioned the Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport can be open for demonstrations and have a variety of plane on show.
The City has additionally introduced that the U.S. Navy Blue Angels will return to Owensboro for the 2024 Air Show.
“It is a real testament to the city of Owensboro to be able to attract two premiere U.S. military jet teams in back-to-back years with the Thunderbirds headlining our show in September 2023 and the Navy Blue Angels headlining again in September 2024,” Ross beforehand mentioned. “The Air Show is a signature event for the city that attracts fans from all over the country and I am excited to continue that tradition in the coming years.”
