Navy Fighter to Join Selfridge Air Show Schedule

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  • By 127th Public Affairs
SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Mich. --  The Super Hornet will be joining the Raptor in the skies over southeast Michigan this August.

Selfridge Air Show and Open House organizers announce that two Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets are scheduled to appear in the free Aug. 20-21 show at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. The Super Hornets, which are flown by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, will join the Air Force's F-22 Raptor and other military aircraft scheduled to fly and/or be on display at the show.

"The addition of these high-performance Navy aircraft also highlights the joint nature of the Selfridge community," said Lt. Col. Sean Campbell, director of the Selfridge Air Show. The Navy currently is represented at the joint-military service base by Naval Operations Support Center-Detroit and Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 26.

The original F-18 Hornet entered service with the Navy in the mid-1980s. The upgraded Super Hornet variant entered the fleet in 2002. The F-18 can operate from both land-based stations and is the attack and fighter aircraft onboard American aircraft carriers when they are at sea.

The F-22 is the newest fighter aircraft in the U.S. inventory, first formally being accepted by the Air Force in 2005. The 2011 Air Show will mark the first time the Raptor has appeared at the Selfridge show.

The appearance by the two high-performance aircraft at Selfridge is appropriate given the joint nature of the base, Campbell said.

In addition to the Navy's F-18s, a variety of Army armored vehicles, Dept. of Homeland Security aircraft and informational booths by all of the military services will help round-out the "open house" portion of the Air Show, Campbell said.

Military flying demonstrations will be conducted by the A-10 Thunderbolt II, also known as the Warthog, the KC-135 Stratotanker, Army CH-47 Chinook and the Coast Guard HH65 Dolphin, all of which are based at Selfridge. Other military aircraft scheduled to either fly in the show or to be on static display during the show include the F-15 Strike Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, KC-10 Extender, C-130 Hercules, B-52 Stratofortress, B-1 Lancer and the B-2 Spirit. The participation of all military aircraft is subject to availability and operational concerns.

Several former military aircraft - known in aviation circles as "warbirds" - will also participate in the show, including a Cold War-era Russian-built Mig-17, an F-86 Sabre, B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell and the P-51 Mustang.

More than a half-dozen civilian acrobatic aircraft will also be performing in the show.
The 2011 Selfridge Air Show and Open House will be 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 20-21. The air show, and parking for the show, is free. Additional information on the show is available at www.selfridgeairshow.org.

The 127th Wing of the Michigan Air National Guard is the host organization at Selfridge, flying the KC-135 Stratotanker, an aerial refueler, and the A-10 Thunderbolt II, also known as the Warthog, which is an air-to-ground attack fighter. In addition to the Wing, Selfridge is home to numerous other military and federal agencies, which fly a variety of helicopters and small, light fixed-wing aircraft.