“But we were very happy to fly both days, and we were able to put on the show that we’ve put on for the last 47, 48 years,” he added. “Now, we’ve missed one.”
Last year, show organizers reluctantly cancelled the two-day event as COVID took hold across the nation.
Initially, show organizers intended to have the 2021 show offered for the first time in a drive-in style tailgating event, with guests expected to stay in or close to parked automobiles.
Such an arrangement would have been limited to about 4,000 cars a day. With six passengers per car, that would have meant perhaps 24,000 guests a day — a far cry from the average 60,000 to 70,000 guests milling about on foot in previous years.
But the lifting of public health orders across the state paved the way for the show’s traditional format, and plans are already underway for the 2022 show, which will feature the U.S. Navy Blue Angels on July 30 and 31.
The hope is that holding the show in the latter half of July will lower the chances of rain. While Miami Valley weather can change quickly, drier conditions often start to prevail as summer approaches August and September, compared to May and June’s precipitation.
“Usually, that part of July is a little drier,” Buchanan said. “This wasn’t bad. Even though it rained quite a bit, the ground was dry enough for us this year that it didn’t cause any issues. That’s why we moved from June back to July.”
In late 2019, organizers pushed the event back one month because July can have better weather, organizers said at the time.
“We’ve had much worse weather, rain and mud in June than we had when the show was in July, therefore the change,” air show spokeswoman Sheila Wallace told the Associated Press in December 2019.
Not every air show lands top-tier military flight demonstration teams like the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.
“We’re very, very fortunate to have that,” Buchanan said Monday. “And a lot of that is handled by the team, together with Terry (Grevious, the show’s executive director) and his team putting such a good show on.”
Entertaining those flight teams and their crews takes hospitability and work. “As soon as those teams hit the ground, there’s a lot of hospitality for them, so they like coming here. It’s a good release for them, as well.”
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