Sacramento, the capital of California, typically has triple-digit temperatures in the summer, which is why the California Capital Airshow is usually held in the fall.
So why was I at Sacramento Mather Airport (KMHR) baking in the mid-July heat for the 2024 show? The answer: The arrival of the Italians!
The Italian Air Force’s flight demonstration team, the “Frecce Tricolori,” is touring North America for the first time in 32 years. I saw them perform in 1985, their last West Coast appearance.
The opportunity to book the team for the 2024 show was a good enough reason for organizers to shift the date. In deference to the summer heat, the 18th annual California Capital Airshow was also a twilight show.
I haven’t attended many twilight shows and was looking forward to the experience. The gates opened at 3:30 p.m. with four hours of flight performances starting at 5:30.
Unlike your typical daylight show, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds performed near the start, followed by the Frecce Tricolori.
Sporting 10 aircraft, the Frecce Tricolori holds the Guinness World Record for the most jet aircraft in a military aerobatic display team. As awesome as seeing 10 aircraft in close formation can be, watching them trailing colored smoke brings the visual experience to a whole new level.
A U-2 Dragon Lady spyplane from nearby Beale Air Force Base was the first to fly, followed by a C-17 Globemaster III flight demo.
Following the two team performances, as the light began to fade, the U.S. Navy took to the sky for an F/A-18 Super Hornet demo which then morphed into a Navy Legacy Flight when a F8F Bearcat formed up for several passes.
One advantage of twilight shows is that jet afterburners really become a dramatic sight, as the F-35 Lightning II Demo Team clearly demonstrated with an afterburner takeoff to kick off a full performance in the dusky sky.
Piston-powered warbirds also took to the air, including a pair of Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, a Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk, and a trio of North American P-51 Mustangs.
One of the Mustangs, a beautiful early model P-51A, kept the crowd’s attention while the others assembled for a “Missing Man” tribute to honor the late Brig. Gen. Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson, who lived in near-by Auburn.
Civilian acts on the schedule included Jason Somes flying his after-burning MiG-17, Dennis Sanders with his lovely Hawker Sea Fury, and the Sukhoi West Demo Team, featuring Randy Howell and Cory Lovell, flying their Sukhoi SU-26 aerobatic aircraft.
The closer was Nathan Hammond in his heavily modified de Havilland Chipmunk, flying among bursting fireworks and 500 synchronized drones in the air show’s final act.
The static display lineup was dominated by the usual U.S. Air Force heavies like the C-5 Super Galaxy, KC-135 Stratotanker, C-17 Globemaster II, and a spiffy new KC-46 Pegasus tanker that replaced the now retired KC-10 Extender.
The U.S. Marine Corps brought one of its Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey, recently cleared for flight duty after a fleet-wide grounding.
The primary residents of KMHR, UPS and FedEx, had several of their aircraft opened up for visitors, along with a limited turnout of private aircraft on static display.
Taiwan-based airline EVA Air showed aircraft from its flight academy, which is based at Mather.
This show was deemed a huge success, drawing a weekend turnout of more than 90,000 air show fans. The twilight format was a welcome change of pace, though the photography became much more challenging as the light faded away to nothing. The drone show was very creative and entertaining, especially coupled with the fireworks and Nathan Hammond’s GhostWriter performance.
Sacramento Mather Airport is on the site of Mather Air Force Base, which closed in 1993. Established in 2004, the California Capital Airshow honors the region’s aviation heritage and veterans and supports the community through STEM scholarships, charitable group donations, and educational youth programs.
For more information: CaliforniaCapitalAirshow.com
More Photos From The Show
I was looking at the mirror image with the Thunderbirds and it looks to me that they are two different planes. One a training model, the lower one.
Maybe my old eyes are failing.
There is nothing wrong with your eyes. The one on top is a single seat F-16C while the inverted one is a two-seater F-16D model. The T-Birds have a few D-models that fill in as replacement aircraft as needed.
Flying a Lear35 crossing Rochester NY when I heard the controller say, “Delta 1234 you have the Italian Air Force at your 11 o’clock high.” The pilot replied, “ALL OF THEM!” The freq erupted in laughter. Controller said “its the frecce tricolori”.