Air shows hold a special place in my childhood memories. My dad, who had served in the military and worked on the space program, shared his passion for flying. As a result, I developed a fascination with aircraft and flying. My first job at Boeing further fueled this passion.
Patrick Air Force Base (now known as Space Force Base) is just south of where I now live and brings in a lot of great aircraft activity. As a young child, I remember going to open houses there to look at the aircraft. I loved doing this and still do.
Seems like the Cocoa Beach Air Show has been a regular occurrence ever since I moved back here. It’s now a major event with premium experiences for riding yourself off those cumbersome wads of cash! The best news is I can see a lot of it just from my backyard! Jets swooping a hundred feet overhead at 500 miles per hour! Yeah, baby!
This year, the special treat was a B-52 flyby. These iconic planes have been a constant presence since the Cold War era. Before the construction of Orlando International Airport, Orlando was home to McCoy Air Force Base, which housed a 52B squadron. When you drove by, you could see them all lined up on the tarmac. In the early days, commercial flights used to depart from there.
