Blue Angels and Golden Knights both headed to Dayton Air Show

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels at the Vectren Dayton Air Show in 2018.   TY GREENLEES / STAFF

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels at the Vectren Dayton Air Show in 2018. TY GREENLEES / STAFF

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels will soar above the 2022 Dayton Air Show while the U.S. Army Golden Knights are slated to drop by next summer, air show organizers announced Thursday.

2021 will be the 47th year for the show, which was cancelled last summer due to the pandemic.

The Blue Angels last appeared in Dayton in 2018, when good weather and the team’s appearance helped push event attendance to well above 60,000 visitors that summer.

“2022 will be a special year for the Blues and fans,” the show said in a release.

It will be the first year the team will be flying the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft. The Super Hornet is more powerful than the older C and D model Hornets the team has flown since the mid-1980s.

The Super Hornet is also larger, weighing 66,000 pounds, and louder due to two bigger General Electric F414-400 engines with afterburners.

The U. S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team with the opening flag jump in 2019 at the Vectren Dayton Air Show.  TY GREENLEES / STAFF

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The Blue Angels are known for flying six fighter jets in a tightly choreographed, high-energy demonstration —sometimes flying as little as 18 inches apart and speeds up to 700 mph, the show noted.

“Dayton fans will be in for a treat and will clearly notice (and hear) the upgrade to the Super Hornets,” show organizers said.

The Golden Knights are drawn from U.S. Army paratroopers based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

“The world-renowned Blue Angels and elite Golden Knights will be coming to Dayton, which is great news for our community,” Scott Buchanan, chairman of the U.S. Air & Trade Show board of trustees, the governing organization of the show, said in the release “We are looking forward to seeing our fans in July.”

The 2021 show is scheduled for July 10-11 at Dayton International Airport and will be headlined by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.

For information and to purchase tickets, visit daytonairshow.com.

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