Prose: Nick Moore
Photography: Nick Moore, Tom Crockett

The McConnell Air Force Base Frontiers in Flight Air Show and Open House returned to the Air Capital of the World, Wichita, KS after a four year hiatus this past weekend. Mother nature provided lots of sun for the entire weekend and many people took full advantage, as an estimated 70,000 attendees passed through the gates for the aerial demonstrations and static displays. The United States Air Force Thunderbirds were the headline act, but a solid lineup preceding them attempted to steal the show, including: Bill Stein, Matt Younkin, Randy Ball, A-10 Demo (Moody AFB), The Misty Blues, Tora Tora Tora, P-51 “Swamp Fox”, Adam “Shake and Bake” Baker, Mini Jet Airshows, Brian Correll, and the Aftershock Jet Firetruck.

McConnell is home to the 22nd Air Refueling Wing and the static displays made this very apparent. An aligned group of KC-135, KC-10, and KC-46 tankers were lined up for the public to visit and learn more about. Aside from the Saturday airshow temperatures hovering in the mid-90s and the Tora Bombsquad starting a large grassfire on base with the pyrotechnics (the fire department reacted quickly and got it extinguished), the event was very successful. With any luck, we hope that it will not be another four years before McConnell opens up its gates to do it again.