It had been an absurdly hot week in the Mid Atlantic. Thursday hit 102, Friday topped out at 101, and this was looking to be the hottest day of them all, potentially reaching 104 degrees. There had been about 2 weeks of planning for me and a bunch of other people attending the show. We had gone through map after map, and search after search trying to find the best spot. Originally, I assumed the worst, that certain lenses would be restricted sue to their size. Fortunately, this was not the case. 

Due to event rules, coolers were not allowed into the restricted area, which encompassed the National Mall, the Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial. We had planned for a spot right outside the Jefferson Memorial, but still close enough that I wasn't sure if I could bring a cooler or backpack. I ended up bringing the bag with me, and it was fine because our spot was completely unrestricted. It really was the perfect spot, under the trees and right on the Tidal Basin next to the water (not to mention it was literally inside of the show box).

I got to the spot around 11:30, and by 12:15 we had about 10-12 people there and it was now just a waiting game for the flying to start at 1:15. The shade brought the apparent temperature down from 103 degrees at peak, to around 90-95 degrees under the trees. That's still hot but it is MUCH more manageable.  The most open spot was the Bridge on Ohio Dr SW, with a great 360 view, but it felt like nearly 110 degrees up there.

For the majority of flyovers, me and most of everyone else stayed down by the water and took photos from near the shade, but for the demos we were up on the bridge.  It filled up fast so we had to actually run to get up to the spot every time to make sure there was available space. There was SO much there that I won't be able to write about all of it here, but I will have photos down below (I'll go into details for the demos).

We had about 3 hours of flyovers before the first demo of the day, that being the F18 Rhino demo. "Slick" flew in with the Navy Fighter Review flyby and broke out of formation on full burner directly overhead to start the demo. One more important thing about the bridge is that it is directly underneath the flight path of the jets during the demos, so every reposition would put the jet straight above us at maybe 250-300 feet up. Instead of the typical side view, we all had a straight on view of the entire show.

This was by far the most aggressive Rhino demo I have ever seen. Constant max G turns and fast flying all while having a centerline fuel tank on. It felt incredible to hear the first afterburner of the day, and with no ear protection it definitely will make your ears ring after a little while. His demo only lasted around 15 minutes and before I knew it he was on his way back to Andrew's.

After a few more flyby's, next up was the F35B demo. While typically a solo demo, it was flown as a 2 ship for this event. "Braankles" was great as always, and with 43,000 pounds of thrust he can pretty much do whatever he wants and he'll have enough thrust to maintain control. The hover is always the most exciting part, and his low transition into STOVL genuinely had him directly overhead on full power with the nozzle pointed straight down at MAYBE 200 feet up. It was so powerful it shook the bridge for a few seconds. 

After he was done, we got the Tri Bomber flyover. A B1, B2, and B52, in that order left to right. This was my first time seeing a B1 or B52 fly, and only my second time seeing a B2. You could actually see the B52's dirty engines from miles away. This specific aircraft has not been re-engined yet. While they were going by, we had rain starting to pop up around us. This was a bit worrisome at first, but oh boy, as the clouds blocked the sun, it made for an INCREDIBLE next, and final single ship demo.

The F35C on its own is a very cool jet, but in this lighting, the afterburner was glowing like I had never seen before. There are a few events with similar lighting, such as the night airshows at Oshkosh and Sun N Fun, or Oceana Beach Blast, but this was better. What made it better was not necessarily the burner looking so much cooler than at those other shows, but the fact that it was completely unexpected. It was only about 6:00, so on any normal day, this would have been a regular looking demo. But the thunderstorm clouds to the west were so thick, they nearly blocked out all of the sunlight.

Watching "Corbi" light it up for the first time and seeing a 30 foot long orange diamond shoot out the back was one of the most incredible things I have ever witnessed. When I say there were at least 10 people on the bridge yelling and screaming, I am not lying. We were legitimately freaking out up there. Every single pass looked better than the last. And to add a cherry on top, he was pulling directly over us at ~250 feet with the glowing burner lit, at over 500 mph. This is currently at the very top of my all time list, as the greatest demo I have ever seen at an airshow. While the demo itself was no different from any other time he flies it, being able to lose it with 10 other people about the most unexpected twilight performance ever easily pushes this past anything else I have seen this year, and on par with, if not slightly more memorable than the twilight demo at Airventure.

The Thunderbirds were next and are always great. Like I mentioned before, we were underneath the flight path, so for certain maneuvers, like the calypso pass, we were able to see just how much separation the 2 pilots actually have. The F16 also has an insane afterburner, and it is nearly the length of the whole jet. I unfortunately sucked during this demo and missed every afterburner shot. It's ok thought because I still have plenty of the diamond and the solos on mil power.

The Huge 1 flyover was the last of the day (The Stealth Airpower flyby, Raptor demo, and B1 burner passes were canceled due to the weather, and the darkness). The old VC25 flew in first, with the new VC25-B "Bridge" behind it, along with 2 F22s on each wing. This was followed by 2 B2s, 2 B1s, a C17, a KC46, a KC135, and finally a formation of 3 F18s, 2 F35s, and a single F22 to round it out. 

While thousands of people stayed for the fireworks, I ended up heading out before to beat the traffic on the metro, and because I was ridiculously tired from the heat. A train pulled in at Smithsonian station just as we were going down the escalator, and the same thing happened at Metro Center with a red line train. I was able to make it from the spot onto a train, swap lines at metro center and get on a different train, walk to the car, and drive back home all in under 2 hours. And to be completely honest, I was passed out in bed at home before the fireworks had even started back in DC.

This was a once in a lifetime experience, and I'm so glad I was able to make it down and stick it out through the heat to see this amazing airshow. A full airshow on the mall will probably never happen again. I will never forget this day, and this is the second best airshow I have ever been to, not too far behind Oshkosh 2024.