The Dayton Air Show has long been able to reliably showcase either the Air Force Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels every summer, alternating the nation’s top two military aerobatic demonstration squadrons.
Flying F/A-18 Super Hornet jets, the Blue Angels have been air show favorites for decades. The team says that since 1946, it has performed for more than 500 million people.
Part of the team in 2026 will be Capt. Olivia Bair, from Findlay, Ohio, who will be the team’s C-130J demonstration pilot. She graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2018.
Kevin Franklin, the show’s executive director and president of aviation services company Wright Brothers Aero Inc. at Dayton International Airport, noted that next summer will mark the nation’s 250th birthday, and the Blue Angels expect to have an especially busy summer next year.
Initially, the team wanted to perform above Dayton in May, but Franklin said he was able to convince the Navy to fly here in June. The show relies on more than 2,000 volunteers, many of whom are college and high school students.
“The kids aren’t even out of school yet,” he said. “They agreed to move it back.”
Franklin also said the show also expects to have a Tora, Tora Tora! performance at next year’s show. The performance aims to recreate the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, using replica aircraft and pyrotechnics.
“Those guys are fantastic,” Franklin said. “If you’ve never seen the reenactment of Pearl Harbor, they do a great job with all the pyrotechnics. It’s really exciting.”
Franklin also said there have been no discussions with CenterPoint Energy about continued sponsorship of the show.
The natural gas distributor announced plans earlier this summer to sell its Ohio gas business. The company has said Ohio customers should see no impact during the sales process.
After the sale, Texas will constitute about 70% of Houston-based CenterPoint’s portfolio, Texas news reports have said.
“I know they’ve been in the news a lot,” Franklin said.
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