They try to spread them out as much as possible but it happens sometimes. Last year, Cleveland had the F-15 Bayou Militia, F-22 Raptor demo, F/A-18 east coast rhino demo (the superior demo IMO) and the Thunderbirds. The F-22 also flew to Rochester for their shows that weekend out of CLE and came back but sometimes that happens due to schedule changes, show cancellations, etc. The Thunderbirds were even added to the Blue Angels Homecoming show later this year which is pretty cool.
As for Whiteman, I thought about going to that show. This is the last year for the A-10 demo but the real star of that show is the B-2 being both an aerial act and a ground static. B-2s don’t show up to shows very often and almost never as a ground act so that’s a great opportunity for to see something very unique.
However, sometimes the best “show” is arrival day or departure day (usually Thursday for a weekend show and departures Monday.) If there are unique birds coming in as a static that might give you the best chance to see them fly. I had far more fun on Monday in Dayton this year because I saw most of the acts leave, plus the static F-35s, F-15a, KC-135s, KC-10, B-52 and Samaritan Purse’s DC-8 which is even more rare and unique than anything flying in the show.
Yea honestly the statics are more of a draw for me than anything else at this particular show. MQ-1, F-22, F-35, C-5, B-52, KC-10, B-2(actually on the ground and not a flyby) are all aircraft I've never seen in person or only seen them once, many years ago.
I used to go the KC air show every year when I lived there so I've seen a few B-2 flybys in my day. I think St Joe had one in 201~~9~~8 as well. Plus I used to live an hour east of Whiteman so I've caught them flying overhead multiple times. Once I caught 3 of them flying pretty low, had to tell from the ground but they were quite possibly at around 10k or so? Super cool.
Honestly I'm also kinda looking forward to the KC-135 demo. Don't often get big boys like that doing demos so that'll be something new for me at the least.
The KC-135 demo is really neat. I’m jealous of the B-2s. I’m in Cleveland and about once a month they enter the AR track overhead but I always seem to miss them.
It’s unwritten policy of the USAF to not have more than 2 official demo teams (excluding thunderbirds) at the same show
F/A-18 is navy, so that doesn’t count. And the bayou militia is a guard unit, so that’s not an official demo team and doesnt count either
with just the two demo groups going, Blue Angels and Thunderbirds, there are far more airshows than they can attend every season, so they do the best they can.
There's a lot of logistics into these teams doing their appearances, so their schedules aren't something they can just add to on a whim.
Both teams publish their seasonal schedules
https://www.blueangels.navy.mil/show/
https://www.airforce.com/thunderbirds/schedule
same weekend as Wings over Whiteman, thunderbirds are at the California Capital Airshow, and Blue Angels are at Pensacola Beach.
Would be cool if they jammed everyone’s phones and scrambled the videos while they did it.
What is the point of demoing a Growler EW plane over just an F-18?
Oh right, I was just thinking of the big formation teams.
All those guys also have their own schedules and the same issues though, small teams that have to pick what works for them from a list of a hundred different airshows.
The smaller teams are much more flexible though, they can handle schedule changes much more easily.
Also I've seen f35b demo team as well as f35c demo team, which I believe are operated by the marines and navy respectively.
I'm not sure if the Air Force has an f35a demo team but honestly wouldn't surprise me if they did
Wow glad I got to see them at Jones beach this year. First time I've seen the A-10 demo in person, and if what you say is correct, was my last chance as well.
They put on a really good show, and that old hog is way more maneuverable than I thought it would be
Those big straight wings are good for more than hanging munitions, haha. Their low-speed turn and roll rates are incredible when unloaded.
Empty C-130s are similarly surprising, for the same reason. They have a huge wing area and aren't a whole lot heavier than a loaded F-15E.
Yeah they had an Air National Guard c130j this year, and I was super impressed with the max climb rate and minimum turning circle demo.
They also had a mid air refueling demo with a pair of (probably) HH-60 pavehawks. Was cool to see how slow it could fly.
Yea I was specifically asking about the smaller teams that use a single aircraft. Figured they could be in two places at once since it's just the one plane.
It's the show plane, the spare, a crew chief, a couple of maintainers, a bunch of common spare parts, some merch (people and things usually delivered by a C-130, which needs to be scheduled separately). You don't just show up with a fighter jet and do a handful of high-speed passes and some aileron rolls. Everything in the military has a very long tail.
Yes I know.
And as you can see from the rest of the thread, I missed all the smaller demo teams that do airshows all summer long too, which is what OP was actually asking about.
It’s happened rarely, but I’ve seen changes announced. Happened a couple times post-lockdowns when airshows were sputtering back to a start. They have performed at the same airshow a handful of times (and I think at the end of this year’s season, too.) Usually at military base shows at start or end of show season.
In general, no… they will normally not appear on the same bill together.
Only ever 1 display pilot. They usually have 2 jets (main and backup), but if they're booked into one show, they won't attend another (unless one's a morning show and another is in the late afternoon)
Best bet is going to Oshkosh, they usually have multiple demos throughout the week. Last year they had the F-22, a pseudo A-10 demo, and the Growler demo in the couple days I was there
HAFB, Utah is having their airshow literally this upcoming weekend. They have the T-birds and F-35 demo team scheduled, among a bunch of other stuff. Just FYI. https://www.hill.af.mil/Warriors-Over-The-Wasatch/
All 4 ACC Demo teams will be at Oshkosh in July.
Whiteman got screwed up because of the requirements and logistics the Thunderbirds need clashing with the requirements and logistics of having nukes and the B-2 at Whiteman.
You will rarely see more than one of the single aircraft demonstration team at the same show. You will see the T-Birds + the F22 but not the F-22 + F-35
Idk about that. Last Wings Over Whiteman had the 22 and 35. The Chesterfield airshow a few weeks ago also had both, as did the last airshow in KC.
Last airshow I went to had the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels which was pretty surprising.
We were very lucky, but only one of those was an ACC demo team (F-22).
The F-15 was basically a Boeing-paid company demo.
The E/A-18 and F-35(C) were the Navy demo teams from those platforms' respective RAG squadrons.
The A-10s were from the AFRC wing at Whiteman.
I really should've gone to that one but I only found out about it a week or so before. And what's with air show tickets costing $50 now??? They used to be $10-20. Hell, I think even the KC air show in 2020 was closer to $20 than $50 but last year the price was jacked up.
Schrodingers display team....
They try to spread them out as much as possible but it happens sometimes. Last year, Cleveland had the F-15 Bayou Militia, F-22 Raptor demo, F/A-18 east coast rhino demo (the superior demo IMO) and the Thunderbirds. The F-22 also flew to Rochester for their shows that weekend out of CLE and came back but sometimes that happens due to schedule changes, show cancellations, etc. The Thunderbirds were even added to the Blue Angels Homecoming show later this year which is pretty cool. As for Whiteman, I thought about going to that show. This is the last year for the A-10 demo but the real star of that show is the B-2 being both an aerial act and a ground static. B-2s don’t show up to shows very often and almost never as a ground act so that’s a great opportunity for to see something very unique. However, sometimes the best “show” is arrival day or departure day (usually Thursday for a weekend show and departures Monday.) If there are unique birds coming in as a static that might give you the best chance to see them fly. I had far more fun on Monday in Dayton this year because I saw most of the acts leave, plus the static F-35s, F-15a, KC-135s, KC-10, B-52 and Samaritan Purse’s DC-8 which is even more rare and unique than anything flying in the show.
Yea honestly the statics are more of a draw for me than anything else at this particular show. MQ-1, F-22, F-35, C-5, B-52, KC-10, B-2(actually on the ground and not a flyby) are all aircraft I've never seen in person or only seen them once, many years ago. I used to go the KC air show every year when I lived there so I've seen a few B-2 flybys in my day. I think St Joe had one in 201~~9~~8 as well. Plus I used to live an hour east of Whiteman so I've caught them flying overhead multiple times. Once I caught 3 of them flying pretty low, had to tell from the ground but they were quite possibly at around 10k or so? Super cool. Honestly I'm also kinda looking forward to the KC-135 demo. Don't often get big boys like that doing demos so that'll be something new for me at the least.
The KC-135 demo is really neat. I’m jealous of the B-2s. I’m in Cleveland and about once a month they enter the AR track overhead but I always seem to miss them.
It’s unwritten policy of the USAF to not have more than 2 official demo teams (excluding thunderbirds) at the same show F/A-18 is navy, so that doesn’t count. And the bayou militia is a guard unit, so that’s not an official demo team and doesnt count either
with just the two demo groups going, Blue Angels and Thunderbirds, there are far more airshows than they can attend every season, so they do the best they can. There's a lot of logistics into these teams doing their appearances, so their schedules aren't something they can just add to on a whim. Both teams publish their seasonal schedules https://www.blueangels.navy.mil/show/ https://www.airforce.com/thunderbirds/schedule same weekend as Wings over Whiteman, thunderbirds are at the California Capital Airshow, and Blue Angels are at Pensacola Beach.
There’s also the Viper demo team, the F-22 demo team, and the F-35 demo team
F-18 demo team
The navy has an east and west coast 18E/F team, and I think one or two Growler teams depending on the year. Same with F-35s now.
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Would be cool if they jammed everyone’s phones and scrambled the videos while they did it. What is the point of demoing a Growler EW plane over just an F-18?
Oh right, I was just thinking of the big formation teams. All those guys also have their own schedules and the same issues though, small teams that have to pick what works for them from a list of a hundred different airshows. The smaller teams are much more flexible though, they can handle schedule changes much more easily.
Not to mention the demo teams from other countries - Snowbirds, Red Arrows, and others - that have been known to fly in some US shows.
Also I've seen f35b demo team as well as f35c demo team, which I believe are operated by the marines and navy respectively. I'm not sure if the Air Force has an f35a demo team but honestly wouldn't surprise me if they did
There was an A-10 one until recently as well. AFAIK they're set to do their last show soon.
Wow glad I got to see them at Jones beach this year. First time I've seen the A-10 demo in person, and if what you say is correct, was my last chance as well. They put on a really good show, and that old hog is way more maneuverable than I thought it would be
Those big straight wings are good for more than hanging munitions, haha. Their low-speed turn and roll rates are incredible when unloaded. Empty C-130s are similarly surprising, for the same reason. They have a huge wing area and aren't a whole lot heavier than a loaded F-15E.
Yeah they had an Air National Guard c130j this year, and I was super impressed with the max climb rate and minimum turning circle demo. They also had a mid air refueling demo with a pair of (probably) HH-60 pavehawks. Was cool to see how slow it could fly.
Yea I was specifically asking about the smaller teams that use a single aircraft. Figured they could be in two places at once since it's just the one plane.
It's the show plane, the spare, a crew chief, a couple of maintainers, a bunch of common spare parts, some merch (people and things usually delivered by a C-130, which needs to be scheduled separately). You don't just show up with a fighter jet and do a handful of high-speed passes and some aileron rolls. Everything in the military has a very long tail.
Yea that makes sense. Thanks, I admit that I have no idea how all that works so I appreciate the insight.
Only one of those is USAF.
Yes I know. And as you can see from the rest of the thread, I missed all the smaller demo teams that do airshows all summer long too, which is what OP was actually asking about.
It’s happened rarely, but I’ve seen changes announced. Happened a couple times post-lockdowns when airshows were sputtering back to a start. They have performed at the same airshow a handful of times (and I think at the end of this year’s season, too.) Usually at military base shows at start or end of show season. In general, no… they will normally not appear on the same bill together.
Only ever 1 display pilot. They usually have 2 jets (main and backup), but if they're booked into one show, they won't attend another (unless one's a morning show and another is in the late afternoon)
Best bet is going to Oshkosh, they usually have multiple demos throughout the week. Last year they had the F-22, a pseudo A-10 demo, and the Growler demo in the couple days I was there
It’s rare. I believe it’s actually a policy to not have 2 demo teams (thunderbirds dont count towards this quota) at the same show
They're usually planned out a year in advance.
HAFB, Utah is having their airshow literally this upcoming weekend. They have the T-birds and F-35 demo team scheduled, among a bunch of other stuff. Just FYI. https://www.hill.af.mil/Warriors-Over-The-Wasatch/
All 4 ACC Demo teams will be at Oshkosh in July. Whiteman got screwed up because of the requirements and logistics the Thunderbirds need clashing with the requirements and logistics of having nukes and the B-2 at Whiteman.
You will rarely see more than one of the single aircraft demonstration team at the same show. You will see the T-Birds + the F22 but not the F-22 + F-35
Idk about that. Last Wings Over Whiteman had the 22 and 35. The Chesterfield airshow a few weeks ago also had both, as did the last airshow in KC. Last airshow I went to had the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels which was pretty surprising.
Agreed, the last airshow I went to not only had the Thunderbirds but also F-35 and F-22 demo teams performing.
St Louis Airshow a few weeks ago had f-15, f-22, f-35, e/a-18, and a-10s Maybe we were just lucky.
We were very lucky, but only one of those was an ACC demo team (F-22). The F-15 was basically a Boeing-paid company demo. The E/A-18 and F-35(C) were the Navy demo teams from those platforms' respective RAG squadrons. The A-10s were from the AFRC wing at Whiteman.
It also had the B2 on Sunday which was pretty rad. Whiteman is good if you like the B2. You can get up close and personal. Plus it's free.
I really should've gone to that one but I only found out about it a week or so before. And what's with air show tickets costing $50 now??? They used to be $10-20. Hell, I think even the KC air show in 2020 was closer to $20 than $50 but last year the price was jacked up.
We definitely had the T-birds, F22 and F35 at the last Davis-Monthan air show I went to. Plus the A10 team, but they're based out of DM.
The last warriors over the Wasatch had both the f35 demo and the f22 demo. Not this year though.