F-16s and B-52 Added as Flyovers at the 2012 Vectren Dayton Air Show

Dayton, Ohio – This weekend the Vectren Dayton Air Show Presented by Kroger takes to the sky on July 7 & 8 at the Dayton International Airport.  Today Air Show officials announced the addition of two flyovers at the 38th annual event that will headline the US Navy Blue Angels.  Each day, two F-16 Fighting Falcons will perform a flyover and the mammoth B-52 Stratofortress will flyover on Saturday only.

The highly maneuverable F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multi-role fighter aircraft that has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack.  While sleek in size, the F-16 is no light-weight in strength. Being fully loaded with fuel, the Fighting Falcon can withstand 9 G’s (9 times the force of gravity), which exceeds the capability of other current fighter aircraft.  The F-16s appearing at the Vectren Dayton Air Show hail from the 112th Fighter Squadron of the 180th Fighter Wing at the Toledo Air National Guard Base. 

The longest-serving bomber in U.S. military history, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress will be hard to miss in the Air Show sky.  First flying in 1952, the massive B-52 sports a 185-foot wingspan complete with eight jet engines.  With a gross weight of more than 480,000 pounds, the Stratofortress is affectionately called “BUFF”, short for Big Ugly Fat Fellow.  Interestingly, the concept for the B-52 was developed in Dayton during an October weekend in 1948.  After an exhaustive weekend of work at the Hotel Van Cleve in Dayton, the Boeing engineers presented a plan that Monday which is essentially the same B-52 spectators will see at the air show.  With its long lineage, some of the B-52’s flown by Air Force pilots today are the grandchildren of early B-52 pilots. The Saturday B-52 flyover in Dayton will come from the 93rd Bomb Squadron, of the 307th Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana.

Other Air Show performers include the USAF Heritage Flight,  a historic formation flight with an F-4 Phantom and a P51 Mustang; the Sea Harrier, a vertical takeoff and landing jet aircraft; TORA TORA TORA, an emotional reenactment of the bombing of Pearl Harbor complete with pyrotechnics; Michael Goulian, an acclaimed, high-energy aerobatic performer; P51 Quick Silver, a beautifully restored WWII fighter; Gene Soucy Air Shows, barnstorming and wing walking at its best; the Misty Blues, the world’s only all-woman skydiving team; and the A-4B Skyhawk, a Vietnam-era jet fighter.

Get discount general admission tickets now for the Saturday or Sunday show at over 100 Kroger stores in the Dayton-Cincinnati region.  Specialty seating available at www.daytonairshow.com.