Jets will soon be roaring just a few hundred feet over a crowd of civilians and military personnel once again, as the Thunder Over Columbus air show is returning to the Columbus Air Force Base at the end of the summer.
The air show, featuring the United States Air Force Thunderbirds as the headliners, will come to the base Sept. 21-22. Commander of the 14th Flying Training Wing Col. James “Flash” Blech called the show a “celebration of air power,” along with a chance for the base to connect with the city.
“To me, the biggest piece of it is that we get to open our doors to the community,” Blech said. “We get to show the community what we do here, and then we get to give back a little bit. The community supports us year-round, all the time. That it gives us an opportunity to share our mission.”
Air Show Deputy Director Lt. Col. Simon “Jester” Kassemi told The Dispatch Thunder Over Columbus will include flight acts, static displays, a car show, a kids zone and concessions.
Besides the Thunderbirds, acts will include the F-35 Lightning II Demo Team and C-17 Globemaster Demonstration Team, and civilian acts like Tora Tora Tora — which recreates the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor through simulated dogfights.
“This wing’s mission is to train world class pilots. That’s what we do every single day. So the folks that drive around Columbus Air Force Base, they see the T1s, and the T38, and the T6s flying around,” Kassemi said. “But what they don’t often get the chance to see is where our students are going to go next. We’re going to be bringing in F16s, C17s. We’re going to have all of these military aircraft and civilian acts on display so they get to see what is it that we do, and where we’re sending them to.”
Blech told The Dispatch one of the pilots from the Columbus Air Force Base’s 49th Fighter Training Squadron was recently chosen to become Thunderbird 2 for his next assignment, giving the base an immediate connection to the show.
The aerobatics shows, Kassemi said, will bring some of the maneuvers 14th Flying Training Wing pilots learn in their training close to the crowd, as the specialized training of some of the flying acts allow them to showcase moves at a lower elevation.
“We teach student pilots how to do aerobatic maneuvers,” Kassemi said. “We’ll take them out to the military operating areas, and we’ll teach them how to do a loop and a barrel roll and an Immelmann (Turn) and a clover leaf, and those maneuvers, you will see showcased by the Thunderbirds during their aerial demonstration. The difference is, our floor is simulated at 8,000 feet, and the Thunderbirds are doing it a couple hundred feet above the surface.”
Kassemi said the team for the Thunder Over Columbus show has been preparing for more than a year, coordinating the shows and other activities for the public to enjoy. The air base is bringing in an air boss to make sure the air space is deconflicted and flights run smoothly throughout the show.
Kassemi said the air base is also hosting a STEM expo on Sept. 18-19 as a part of the event, bringing 2,100 middle and high school students to the base for 19 exhibitors, including a few from Mississippi State University and Mississippi University for Women, to display everything from robotics to simulators.
With the expo and the air show, Kassemi said he hopes the event can inspire the next generation, just like he was originally inspired to become an Air Force pilot by an air show at the Denver International Airport.
“As much as it’s inspiring those kids that are walking through our gates, maybe to go pursue a civilian aviation career or a military aviation career, it also inspires the lieutenants who are going through training, when they see that F35 ripping and tearing around,” Kassemi said. “It inspires us old hats who are so pumped up about seeing air power on display. So the chance to bring that all to the crowd, to hopefully tens of thousands of people who walk through these gates, it’s a tremendous opportunity for us.”
While the last show had some challenges when it came to civilians getting on base, Kassemi said his team has been working to mitigate traffic issues for the show.
Civilians can enter from the north and the south, he said, while acts and military personnel will enter through the main gate.
For more information and more details as they are released, go to thunderovercolumbus.com.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 39 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
