Every seat was a good seat at the Wings Over Wayne air show. The two-day event attracted hundreds of thousands of people from around the U.S. to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro this weekend.
It was the first Wings Over Wayne air show in four years of cancellations and postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event included flight demonstrations of historic military aircraft, like the P-51 bomber that flew in WWII and the Korean War, reenactments of U.S. Air Force missions in Vietnam and Iraq, and modern military planes currently used overseas. Civilian acts included wing walkers, or people who stand on the wings of a biplane mid-flight, and an aerobatic comedy routine where the pilot acted like he didn't know how to fly the plane.
Nine-year-old Corbin from Winston-Salem looked forward to the F-22 Raptor demonstration. The single-seat stealth fighter plane is dubbed the world's best fighter plane because of its speed and ability to make tight turns.
"They do tricks with it, like loops and flat spins," Corbin said, about the F-22, which can cruise at supersonic speeds.
The F-22 demo pilots flew in from Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia to take part in a reenactment of an Operation Iraqi Freedom mission alongside pilots from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. As part of the simulation, pilots dropped flares to represent bombs and a corresponding explosive on the far side of the runway would go off. The demonstration is intended to show civilian audiences how pilots and ground forces coordinate to carry out missions.
"It's about getting a chance to show the American public these are the aircraft we're flying in defense of our nation," Senior Airman Michael Bowman, public affairs officer for the F-22 demo team, said. "Seeing the awe on people's faces that when they see the maneuvers our pilots pull off it never gets old."
The headliners this year for Wings Over Wayne was the Blue Angels, an elite seven-person flight demo team for the U.S. Navy. The Blues were founded in 1946.
"The Navy Marine Corps by design are expeditionary forces. Everything we do is not in the U.S.," Commander Alexander Armatas, who flies #1 and leads the Blue, said. "For people to get exposure to the Navy Marine Corps and see what its about, that is our job and that is why we are here."
The Blues showed off their signature diamond formation – four planes flying just feet apart, tucked together in a diamond shape – all the while travelling and turning at 400 miles per hour.
"It's all focus," Armatas said. "Focus on the task at hand. Our first priority is a safe flight demonstration."
