The celebrated March Air Reserve Base air show will be returning next year, following last year’s cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic, base officials announced Monday.
The MARB “Air & Space Expo 2022” is scheduled for the weekend of May 14-15, with the Air Force Thunderbirds set to take part.
In March 2020, the air fest was canceled just three weeks prior to its biennial return. Base command staff made the decision amid a raft of local, state and federal coronavirus public health emergency declarations that preceded the lockdowns.
The 2018 event, which was intended to recognize the base’s 100-year birthday, turned somewhat anticlimactic after the Thunderbirds were dropped from the schedule because one of the F-16 pilots had been killed during practice maneuvers in Nevada.
In addition to the famed Air Force precision aerobatics team, numerous other displays are typically featured during the show, including a mock dogfight between an F-86 Sabre and MiG-15, high-performance maneuvers by multiple pilots in Pitts, Stearman and other propeller-driven airplanes, and takeoffs and landings involving the base’s staple aircraft — KC-135 tankers, C-17 Globemasters and C-130 Hercules.
U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps aerial displays additionally make it onto the program and in the past have featured F/A-18 Hornets, F-22 Raptors, the Golden Knights parachute team and UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.
The shows generally draw more than 150,000 visitors over two days.
Base officials asked all vendors interested in setting up services during the show to send email requests well in advance to 452amw.paworkflow@us.af.mil.
More information is available at www.facebook.com/MarchFieldAirFest/.