PENSACOLA, Fla. — The Nation’s Capitol, Baltimore, and Georgia will greet the Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds on Saturday as they continue their flyover salute of America’s healthcare professionals.
America’s two military flight demonstration teams completed a marathon set of flyovers across the northeast on Tuesday. They now turn their attention to a series of smoke-blazing joint flights in new regions of the country.
“We are honored to fly over these cities in a display of national unity and support for the men and women keeping our communities safe.” Thunderbirds commander Lt. Col. John Caldwell said. “These flyovers are a gesture of goodwill on behalf of the entire Department of Defense to the heroes of the COIVD-19 pandemic.”
Fourteen military jets will fly smoke-on during the first planned flyover beginning in Baltimore, Maryland. They are scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. EDT, and last around 15 minutes
The two squadrons will then fly the short route to Washington D.C. to begin a 20 minute flight formation at 11:45 a.m. Expect to see several awe inspiring photographs as they fly across the White House, Capitol Building, and the National Mall.
The fourteen formation jets and a chase jet will then aerial refuel as they track southwest toward north Georgia. The flyovers in Atlanta will begin at about 1:35 p.m. and last for 25 minutes.
“America Strong is a way for both teams to show appreciation to the thousands of doctors, nurses, first responders, and essential workers out there serving on the frontline day-in and day-out,” Blue Angels Boss Brian Kesselring said on Thursday. “This is an extraordinary and unprecedented time but we will get through this. We are all in this together.”
The Blue Angels and Thunderbirds will then return back to NAS Pensacola, and prepare for their next set of flyovers as early as Monday.
The Thunderbirds remain on track to perform during the Wings Over North Georgia airshow near Atlanta in October. The two-day event will be one of the few air shows in which the Air Force squadron publicly performs.
“The past several weeks have been filled with changes most of us have never seen in our lives,” Airshow President John Cowman stated on Thursday. “As we look to the future, careful consideration has been given to incorporating procedures and guidelines to host a safe and exciting event. We will continue to make adjustments to our plans as new guidelines are issued by local, state, and national authorities.”
Editor’s Note: The military will release their aerial track maps on Friday. We will update this story once they are released.
(Charles A. Atkeison reports on aerospace and technology. Follow his updates via social media @Military_Flight.)
