General Aviation News

Because flying is cool

2024 Wings Over Solano: A farewell to the KC-10

By · ·

Sammy Mason lines up his Edge 540 for the next maneuver during his performance at the 2024 Wings Over Solano air show.

Air show season has sprung forth in Northern California as I attended my first event of the 2024 season, Wings Over Solano at Travis Air Force Base.

Holding the show March 16-17 made for comfortable conditions for the more the 100,000 attendees who endured long traffic and security waits to watch the headliner Blue Angels perform.

The 60th Air Mobility Wing calls Travis home, the largest wing in the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, with a fleet of C-5 Super Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft, as well as KC-46 Pegasus and KC-10 Extender aerial refueling aircraft.

One last opportunity for air show fans to climb aboard a KC-10 Extender. The 60th AMW will send its remaining KC-10s to the Arizona boneyard in September 2024.

This year’s show was special in that it marked the first Travis air show appearance for the new KC-46 and the final air show performance for the KC-10. The 60th is home for the last KC-10 squadron in the Air Force, and all KC-10s will be retired by the end of September 2024.

A sight soon to be gone: By this September, the USAF fleet of KC-10 Extenders will be decommissioned and gradually replaced by the new KC-46 Pegasus.

One of the fan favorites of this show is the Parade of Heavies, comprised of a KC-10 doing a mock refueling of a C-5, and a KC-46 paired with a C-17. After a series of solo fly-bys by the heavies, the KC-10 performed its final air show photo passes. The 60th AMW has operated the KC-10 Extender since 1994.

A KC-10 Extender leads a C-5 Super Galaxy during an aerial refueling demo at the 2024 Wings Over Solano air show.

The F-22 Raptor demo is always a showstopper, with the fifth-generation fighter executing maneuvers in an unbelievable manner.

How can one make this flight demo even better? The answer is flares, lots of flares!

Capt. Samuel “RaZZ” Larson, F-22 Raptor Demo pilot, accented the incredible capabilities of the F-22A Raptor with a salvo of flares during the Raptor Power Loop.

Commonplace in European shows, the use of flares is seldom seen in U.S. Maybe it was the fact that it isn’t fire season in California yet, but seeing dozens of flares ejected throughout the performance made for a memorable sight indeed.

F-22 Demo pilot Capt. Samuel “RaZZ” Larson then formed up with Steve Hinton Jr. in a P-51 Mustang for a series of Heritage Flight fly-bys.

F-22A Demo pilot Capt. Samuel “RaZZ” Larson teamed up with Steve Hinton Jr in a P-51 Mustang “Wee Willy II” for a Heritage Flight fly-by.

There were quite a few Soviet aircraft in the lineup, starting with Red Thunder, an aerobatic duo with Karl Gashler and Barry Hancock flying Yak-50s.

The Red Thunder duo performing in their 1980s era Yak-50 aircraft. Designed solely to win aerobatic competitions, less than 60 Yak-50s are flying today. Note the partially exposed landing gear wheels in the retracted position, a design consideration for landing wheels-up.

Then there was the Sukhoi West Demo Team with Cory Lovell and Randy Howell piloting Sukhoi SU-26s.

The Sukhoi West Demo Team, featuring Randy Howell and Cory Lovell, flying their Sukhoi SU-26 aerobatic aircraft. Randy also founded the Patriots Jet Team.

Topping it off was Jason Somes with his beautiful scarlet MiG-17 jet.

Jason Somes roars by the Travis crowd during a high-speed afterburner fly-by in his Polish-built MiG-17F. Jason is type rated in 17 aircraft, many of them warbirds.

For fans of Western aircraft, Rob “Scratch” Mitchell put on a great demo with Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star “Ace Maker III.”

Rob “Scratch” Mitchell taxies by in the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star “Ace Maker III” after his performance. No stranger to air shows, Rob is a former Canadian Forces Snowbirds pilot.

I was really looking forward to seeing the British de Havilland Jet Vampire perform but technical issues kept it on the ground.

Sammy Mason is about to get inverted for a pass in his Edge 540. Sammy made history in 2010 when he became the youngest air show pilot in the world at the age of 16.

Sammy Mason with his Edge 540, Vicky Benzing and her classic red Stearman, and Kirby Chambliss in the Red Bull Edge 540 rounded out the performance lineup.

Vicky Benzing heads for show center in her pristine Stearman. Vicky recently started performing in her new P-51 Mustang.
Kirby Chambliss, former Red Bull Air Race champion, performs his world-famous 90° “Cobra” takeoff at the 2024 Wings Over Solano air show.

Finally it was the time everyone was waiting for: The Blue Angels.

They started things off with their Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules “Fat Albert” performing a flight demonstration. The Blues then took to the air in their Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets for their second air show of the season, taking advantage of the beautiful clear skies for a textbook routine.

The Blue Angels C-130J Super Hercules “Fat Albert” makes a low high-speed pass.
The Blue Angels finishing the Diamond Dirty Loop. Introduced in 1966, the Blues are the only jet demonstration team that performs this maneuver.
The Blue Angels shoot for the moon during the 2024 Wings Over Solano air show.

The selection of static aircraft on display were dominated by active duty military, joined by Cal Fire and California Highway Patrol assets. Surprisingly, only two warbirds were on the ramp and a handful of general aviation planes.

It was a great start to my air show season, seeing my first-ever live flare demo and my first KC-46 demo. Glad to have had the chance to see the KC-10 one last time, the aeronautical “circle of life” in action.

Located in Solano County 40 miles from Sacramento, Travis is the principal military airlift hub in the western United States. The base is named for Brigadier General Robert F. Travis, who died in 1950 in the crash of a B-29 Superfortress.

For more information: Travis.AF.mil, WingsOverSolano.com

More Photos From The Show

The venerable Lockheed P-3C Orion anti-submarine warfare patrol aircraft. Those remaining are now relegated to flight test support duties.
A U-28A Draco on display. This modified Pilatus PC-12 is operated by the USAF Special Operations Command for airborne surveillance and reconnaissance.
A colorful Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye carrier-based airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This is the CAG Bird of VAW-113 “Black Eagles,” specially painted aircraft flown by the commanding officer of Carrier Air Groups.
Introduced in 1956, the iconic Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker enters its 68th year of active duty service. Of the 800 produced from 1955 to 1965, half are still performing the mission.
A svelte Northrop T-38 Talon poses in front of the ponderous Lockheed Martin C-5M Super Galaxy.
One of the few warbirds at the Wings Over Solano air show, this Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero, from the Commemorative Air Force, is one of five flyable Zeros in the world.
This F/A-18B is one of three ex-Navy Hornets based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center for research support and pilot proficiency.
A family meeting, Travis AFB style. From the open nose of the C-5M Super Galaxy ramp is the new Boeing KC-46A Pegasus aerial refueling tanker (left), Boeing C-17A Globemaster III (center), and soon-to-be-retired McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extender (right).
This Cessna 208B Grand Caravan is a demonstrator for Xwing’s autonomous flight technology, which allows aircraft to taxi, take off, fly, and land without any human input.
A USMC Bell UH-1Y Venom displayed at the 2024 Wings Over Solano. The Venom is the latest version of the classic Huey, with a 50% increase in range and speed over the UH-1N.
The Beechcraft T-1A Jayhawk is a trainer used in undergraduate pilot training for students selected to fly airlift or tanker aircraft.
A Piper Archer III, part of the Travis Air Force Base Aero Club fleet, used for flight training and rental.
A Boeing WC-135 Constant Phoenix on display at Travis AFB. This is one of two atmospheric sample collection aircraft operated by the Air Force. (All Photos by Hayman Tam)

Reader Interactions

Share this story

Become better informed pilot.

Join 110,000 readers each month and get the latest news and entertainment from the world of general aviation direct to your inbox, daily.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Curious to know what fellow pilots think on random stories on the General Aviation News website? Click on our Recent Comments page to find out. Read our Comment Policy here.

Comments

  1. My father flew with General Travis mid-1945 as a B17 crewmember, radio operator, stationed at Grand Island, Nebraska. The General was kind to his enlisted men.

  2. Great collection of aircraft. Thanks to whoever took all and shared with those of us that couldn’t be there.