An F-35A, P-51Ds Bald Eagle and Wee Willy II, and the Sabre "HELL-ER BUST X" fly in formation during the Heritage Flight Training Course at Davis-Monthan AFB.[USAF photo by Staff Sgt. Abbey Rieves]
If you have attended an air show in the USA any time in the past couple of decades, the chances are pretty high that you witnessed a formation flight featuring both civilian-owned warbirds and active-duty examples of modern U.S. Air Force combat jets. These ‘Heritage Flights’ started taking place officially in the buildup to the USAF 50th Anniversary celebrations in 1997, and they proved to be extremely popular with the public. As a result, these performances continued in subsequent years, with literally hundreds of appearances having now taken place across the country. Despite the seemingly effortless manner in which these aircraft arc gracefully across the sky, it requires tremendous skill to place aircraft with dramatically different performance characteristics in such tight formations; it also requires a lot of practice. Only a handful of pilots, both active military and civilian, are approved to take part in these formations, and each year they get together before the air show season begins to work up their routines and practice them in flight. The 2024 training clinic, officially known as the Heritage Flight Training and Certification Course, took place this past weekend, hosted by Air Combat Command at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Indeed Davis-Monthan AFB has held these aerial demonstration training events every year since 2001. The Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation nonprofit organization helps to fund civilian participation in these air show collaborations.
P-38 Lightning Skidoo flies alongside an F-22 Raptor and two P-51 Mustangs during the Heritage Flight Training Course at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base on March 2nd, 2024. [USAF photo by Staff Sgt. Nathan Call]By Casey Asher
Spring has officially sprung in the airshow world, with the commencement of the 2024 USAF Heritage Flight Conference at Davis-Monthan AFB in sunny Tucson, AZ. This marks the 23rd year in a row that Davis-Monthan has hosted the Conference, which has become a yearly favorite for base personnel and their families. Aircraft gathered from February 28th through March 3rd to practice and obtain currencies and certifications to perform the awe-inspiring and difficult legacy formations. The USAF Heritage Flight organization is a highly elite group that is limited to a few selected civilian pilots (frequently retired military), specially trained to fly these mixed-era flights. The complexity lies in the different flight characteristics between the early piston-engine warbirds and the modern supersonic-capable fighter aircraft. These differences are visible during the flybys as the aged warbirds must keep their speed towards the upper end of their envelope, while the modern fighter aircraft maintain a higher angle of attack to maintain an even speed with the older aircraft.
A four-ship of active service USAF aircraft – A-10, F-16 and two F-35s – practice their formation flying skills over Davis-Monthan. [USAF photo by Staff Sgt. Nathan Call]
This year’s attendees included six North American P-51D Mustangs, one Lockheed P-38J Lightning, one Canadair Sabre Mk.6 (standing in for a North American F-86), and three Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighters, in addition to the Air Combat Command (ACC) contingent of two Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptors, two Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning IIs, two Republic A-10C Thunderbolt IIs, and two Lockheed Martin F-16Cs. The warbirds, brought in by both Planes of Fame Air Museum and Comanche Fighters, comprised:
P-51D Mustang 44-73856 Double Trouble Two
P-51D Mustang 44-73029Bald Eagle
P-51D Mustang 44-84961 Wee Willy II
P-51D Mustang 44-12016 Fragile But Agile
P-51D Mustang 44-74452 Happy Jack’s Go Buggy
P-51D Mustang 44-12852 Frenesi
P-38J 42-66504 Skidoo
Sabre Mk.6 RCAF 23671 HELL-ER BUST X
F-5E ’74-01557′ Red 57 (two more F-5s were on the ramp, but I was unable to identify them)
Col. Amy Meier, acting deputy commander of 355th Wing USAF, gives an enthusiastic thumbs-up from the passenger seat of P-51D Mustang Fragile But Agile awaiting take off for her incentive flight. [USAF photo by Staff Sgt. Nathan Call]
Captain Samuel “RaZZ” Larson of the F-22A Raptor Demonstration Team, Captain Lindsay “Mad” Johnson of the A-10C Thunderbolt II Demonstration Team, Major Kristin “Beo” Wolfe of the F-35A Lighting II Demonstration Team, and Captain Aimee “Rebel” Fiedler of the F-16C Viper Demonstration Team all returned this year with their respective demo teams. The eight civilian pilots included: Lt. Col. Tommy “Limiter” Williams USAF (Ret), Lt. Col. Charlie “Tuna” Hainline USAF (Ret), Lt. Col. Greg “BA” Anders USAF (Ret), Steven Hinton Jr., Jim Beasley, Dan Friedkin, Dr. Bruce Winter, and Ed Shipley – all veterans of past years.
The unfortunate theme this year seemed to be maintenance issues and weather problems. Thirty-plus sorties were planned during this year’s conference, though several were canceled on Saturday due to cross-winds picking up and going out of limits for the smaller, lighter warbirds. During the latter three days, no flights were observed to take place by any of the F-5s or F-86s in attendance, and it is assumed that maintenance issues inhibited their participation even though they arrived safely. This is an unfortunate trend among the older civilian-owned fighter aircraft, which have much greater maintenance costs than their even older propeller-driven siblings.
An F-22 Raptor flies alongside the Mustangs Fragile But Agile and Wee Willy II and Sabre HELL-ER BUST X. [USAF photo by Staff Sgt. Nathan Call]
The first couple of days primarily consisted of two- and three-ship formations, likely giving the opportunity for participants to brush up on mixed-era formation skills before attempting the larger formations. By Saturday, however, nearly all sorties consisted of three- and four-ship formations, as the pilots increased the complexity of the flights.
Due to family commitments, I arrived late on Saturday, in time to see “Tuna” Hainline and Dr. Winter making passes by the show center with an F-16 in tow. Soon after, the “Davis” flight launched, consisting of Johnson in the A-10, Larson in the F-22, and Anders in the P-51 Fragile But Agile. This formation had originally been planned to include Dan Friedkin in the F-5, but the aircraft was sadly static on the ramp, with personnel being noted surrounding the aircraft as they seemed to attempt to diagnose some issues.
An F-22, the Demo Team A-10C and P-51D Fragile but Agile fly in formation. [USAF photo by Airman 1st Class Jasmyne Bridgers-Matos]
The highlight of my day, personally, was the “Dunn” flight, which consisted of a two-ship of F-35s led by “Beo” Wolfe along with Steven Hinton in P-38J Skidoo and Jim Beasley in P-51D Bald Eagle. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the P-38, ever since as a boy I read the 1945 boys’ adventure book A Yankee Flier in Normandy, wrote school reports on my favorite historical figures like “Dick” Bong, and watched Van Johnson gleefully down enemy aircraft with his P-38 in the movie A Guy Named Joe. So I was excited to see the P-38 join the mix this year, as it was missing last year. This flight seemed to go off without a hitch, and following the completion of the planned passes, Steven Hinton broke off to land the P-38 while Beasley continued to practice passes with the two-ship of F-35s.
Sadly, following this flight, the winds picked up and the schedule became a bit uncertain. “Mad” Johnson performed the A-10 demo, but the remainder of the planned flights that included the vintage aircraft were cancelled due to the direct cross-wind blowing across Runway 12/30 at Davis-Monthan, with gusts up to nearly 20 knots. Sunday’s weather was much improved, however, and most of the flights were flown as planned. The finale included Dan Friedkin and Ed Shipley flying the ever-impressive Horsemen routine in the P-51s Frenesi and Double Trouble Two.
These Heritage Flights are an important part of not just the airshow circuit, but also many other events throughout the year, as highlighted at the Super Bowl LVI flyover in 2022. They bring attention to our nation’s legacy of defending freedom, which aviation has been a key part of for over a century.
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