Entertainment
Air Force Thunderbirds lead entertainment at annual New York Air Show
NY Air Show: Thunderbirds, Frecce Tricolori team up at Orange County Airport
The annual New York International Air Show at Orange County Airport in Montgomery, New York August 10, 2024.
MONTGOMERY – The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds were back in the mid-Hudson Saturday, and once again they enjoyed top billing as they entertained thousands of spectators at the 2024 New York Air Show at Orange County Airport.
The six F-16 Fighting Falcon jets who made up this team of Thunderbirds had the audience gasping as they passed, often within a few feet of each other, in their various formations.
But the Thunderbirds, who have frequently been the top act in the decade that the air show has been around, had some close competition this time.
This year’s air show also featured the Frecce Tricolori, an Italian Air Force precision team of jets who are making their first visit to the United States in more than 30 years.
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In addition to precision flying maneuvers, they also left trails of red, white or green smoke behind them, representing the flag of their native land.
Still, it was the Thunderbirds who capped off the more-than-three-hour show, and they dedicated some of those close-flying maneuvers to certain deserving groups.
One such pass was dedicated “to all the families here who have members deployed around the world” in support of freedom.
Another pass saluted “all the veterans whose sacrifice and success have given us the freedom we cherish.”
And their final pass was dedicated to “all the airmen and women who have gone before us,”
The show also opened on a patriotic note, as six members of the West Point parachute team, the Black Knights, did a skydive to the ground below, with the one leaving the helicopter last carrying a large American flag easily visible to all spectators.
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As they dived, stunt pilot Michael Goulian encircled them in his plane. Goulian, a former national aerobatic champion, also performed his own segment in the second half of the show, climbing to all the same heights in the clouds as the Thunderbirds and the Frecce Tricolori.
The show featured two World War II-era planes, the Quicksilver P51-D Mustang, and the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, a ground attack fighter like those that first flew in 1938.
Interviewed on stage after his flight, Scott “Scooter” Yoak, who piloted the P51-D Mustang, said he and others who do these shows see themselves as custodians of the nation’s military flying history.
“We bring military history to the people,” Yoak said. “You cannot get that same full experience in a museum.”
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com.
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