Blog

Jul 29, 2023

STEM

EDWARDS AFB, Calif. — In a deafening, star-spangled 75th anniversary

EDWARDS AFB, Calif. — In a deafening, star-spangled 75th anniversary celebration of breaking the sound barrier, and the 75th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force, this birthplace of aerospace history firsts introduced a new way to see and understand how technology's past, present and future have combined in an effort to inspire and empower America's coming generations in aerospace.

Renamed after a 13-year absence, managed by people without air show experience, and faced by sweeping external change and challenges, the 2022 Aerospace Valley Open House and Air Show, was as much of a first flight and barrier buster as the Bell X-1 mission it celebrated.

Opening its Oct. 14-16 air show days with the traditional double-sonic boom, announcers reminded crowds that Edwards is the only air show in the United States where supersonic speed is permitted. But even that is expected to change because of flight research underway at the 412th Test Wing-managed base. Brig. Gen. Matthew Higer said the theme for this year's airshow was "Breaking Tomorrow's Barriers Today."

The reimagined, redesigned and in many ways reinvigorated three days made history by rolling out a series of news making reports on barriers smashed, and coming attractions, including:

* B-21 Raider rollout in December from Aerospace Valley's Northrop-Grumman factory at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, followed by planned first flight at Edwards by year's end and operational status soon after.

* The Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor, Edwards AFB was named on Oct. 14 in honor of the entire team that made possible the first Mach 1 flight.

* Live Streaming Video for the first time may have changed the concept of "air show audience." Where all previous air shows were limited to in-person visitors, the potential audience now on many platforms is incalculable. Analytics on the livestream audiences on YouTube and other platforms will arrive later. A base official told Aerotech News the livestreamed video wasn't expected to remain online after Sunday's final performance.

Given memories of freeway traffic nightmares at past air shows, and a legacy of errors in interim public/private shows at Fox Field in Lancaster, planners for the new in-person show at Edwards sought to reassure the public. In its peak years, the Open House and Airshow drew daily crowds topping 100,000.

Estimated and still unofficial attendance numbers for 2022 were given as 20,000 for Friday's Science Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Day. That included students, chaperones, base residents, media and volunteers.

Estimated unofficial attendance was purposely capped at 50,000 per day on both Saturday and Sunday to match on-base parking provisions.

With combined total attendance limited to 120,000, fears of traffic jams on the SR-14 freeway failed to materialize. Shortly after the base West Gate opened on Rosamond Boulevard, freeway traffic was moving at and above 70 mph. The California Highway Patrol diverted air show traffic to Sierra Highway at Kern County line's Avenue A. The first stop after that was behind a few cars waiting for the light to change at the corner of Rosamond Boulevard. Although base officials had announced that North and West gates to the base would be closed at 11:30 a.m., the unexpectedly light visitor traffic led officials to keep the gates open for an additional hour.

Once inside, there was visible evidence the Edwards team directed a limited budget into producing world quality attractions, both on the ramp and in the sky.

With the USAF Thunderbirds as the headliner, planners launched the show with crowd-pleasing simulations of real-world airpower combat challenges involving paratroop drops from a C-17 Globemaster III. Coordinated with high cover air superiority protection by F-35s and multi-role F-16s, bombing and strafing runs by fighter-bombers and a supersonic B-1B Lancer.

Many in the crowd were wowed by the fire, smoke and noise from ordnance exploding on imaginary enemy forces in a field just across the runway. Hollywood would have proud of the special effects. Pre-positioned fireworks were artfully triggered to let the public feel the heat in complete safety, because no dark and sinister objects were seen dropping from the jets.

Faithful also to keeping alive treasured traditions of aviation's barnstorming beginnings and the aviators and crews who later won on all the fronts of World War II, including the home front. In the air were an early Stearman PT-17 biplane trainer flown by Vickey Benzing. A later trainer, the T-6 Texan was flown by Wardog Airshow.

The Warbirds segment was capped by the most celebrated and successful American fighter of World War II, a P-51 Mustang from the Palm Springs Air Museum and piloted by Ken Gottschall. The Mustang achieved fame for protecting American bombers from the Luftwaffe on long range missions over Germany.

The early jet age was represented in the sky by pilot Greg Colyer in his T-33 Ace Maker.

The all-civilian precision formation flying team "Dawn Patrol RV-6 from Chino both impressed the crowd with its six-plane performance and was won over by narration from Call Sign "Pickles," the young son of a pilot in the group.

But in prelude to the Thunderbirds, the crowd was treated to a pinnacle solo aerobatics performance by 11-time U.S. National Aerobatics Champion and five-time World Free Style Aerobatics Champion Rob Holland flying his custom MXS-RH carbon-fiber monoplane powered by a 380 hp Lycoming engine. The 1,200-pound MXS-RH does everything a person could expect and more, from successive precision snap rolls, flat spins, incredibly tight high G inside and outside loops to tumbling that doesn't look like something an airplane can do.

On the earthbound patch, much of the attention focused on "celebrity" aircraft on static display, including the surprise guest exhibit, a lookalike replica of Lockheed's 1990s pioneering DarkStar unpiloted aircraft. The recreated fiberglass object co-starred in the Tom Cruz blockbuster TOP GUN Maverick. Also on display was an FA/18 fighter in the warpaint.

A surprise visitor on the ramp, a rare and still flying warbird from the Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force Museum, Camarillo, Calif., invited visitors to climb aboard for a hands-on experience. One of only a few twin-engine B-25 bombers specially modified for Marine Corps operations in the Pacific, the PBJ-1J carries the name Semper Fi, and bears the Globe & Anchor on its starboard nose. By appointment, it's available for paid rides in Camarillo.

But for all of that, and flight simulators galore, breaking the Boom Barrier to overland military and civilian flight at speeds above Mach 1 was the order of the day.

Two jets from NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards, an F-15 and an FA/18 Hornet, demonstrated how the hard boom shock wave at Mach 1 can be calmed to a low boom "bump" by changing an aircraft's maneuvering.

A NASA commentator delivered information on the collaborative effort to develop, and flight test the X-59 QuesstT supersonic demonstrator nearing completion in Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works in Palmdale. The X-59 is expected to enter flight testing in 2023, with the goal of rejuvenating the commercial aircraft industry and airlines by corralling and taming the sonic shockwave that wakes the baby, scares the horses, rattles windows and, as happened on Friday at Edwards, triggers the car alarms on a fleet of Chevy Corvettes parked on the ramp.

A big part of the charm in being there for an air show is watching and listening to the unscripted human comedy and drama taking place all around. Take for instance the perfectly sensible reaction from someone learning that the people jumping out of a C-17 are members of the 412th Test Parachute Team, who also test high speed ejection seats.

The comment: "That's one job I wouldn't volunteer for."

Official comment on video: "It is inherently dangerous Ö but safer than driving on the I-5 Freeway."

And there was the boy in a yellow t-shirt who heard two sonic booms and said to his schoolmates, "I never heard that before."

Like the Edwards AFB air shows of the past, the new Aerospace Valley brand opens a door to the future and discards yesterday's technology wonders. This year's airshow said farewell to NASA's SOFIA 747, a flying telescope to study the heavens and earth.

Many past technology stars in the Edwards archives go to honored retirement in museums, including such history platforms as the:

* XB-70 supersonic bomber;

* X-15 winged rocket research plane whose speed and altitude records remain unbroken;

* LLRV, the "flying bedsteads," NASA's wingless Lunar Lander Research Vehicles tested at Edwards taught Apollo Astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, how to land on the Moon, and, the

* Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis, the first vehicle to fly at supersonic speed now housed in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in the company of other Edwards barrier breakers;

* Voyager, the Mojave Airport Scaled Composites-built and Burt Rutan-designed aircraft to circle the globe non-stop and unrefueled, launching and landing at Edwards AFB.

Future aerospace barrier busters may now find a sheltered place in the sun at the new off-base museum being built by a coalition of partners in the non-profit, non-government funded Flight Test Historical Foundation. And many others are displayed in Palmdale at the Joe Davies Heritage Air Park and the adjacent Blackbird Air Park.

What comes next and how soon that may be is the eternal mystery in the Aerospace Valley. Maybe something from the Artemis Moon to Mars concept and airplanes moving at Mach 9?