Five aircraft representing the U.S. Air Force’s 75 years as a service will conduct a first-of-its-kind flyover during the National Anthem performance at Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals over SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
The Air Force Heritage Flight represents the service's history since its evolution from the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1947, said Maj. Haden “Gator” Fullam, an A-10C Thunderbolt II plot from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.
“I certainly never thought I’d get to attend a Super Bowl at all, and being able to be involved in this capacity, I don’t even have the words to say it.”
Fullam has been flying A-10’s for the better part of his 10-year career in the Air Force.
“A big motivation of mine for joining the Air Force, joining the military, was my family,” he said. “I’ve always had a very strong interest in aviation, fast jets, so I pursued that.”
Fullam’s paternal grandfather was a fighter pilot in the Air Force. His younger brother and sister-in-law are also currently A-10 pilots.
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“It’s a whole family business now,” he joked.
Fullam said the whole idea of the flyover is to make the performance look effortless to onlookers.
“It’s an astronomical undertaking, from everyone from the pilots who are fortunate enough to do the flyover all the way do to everyone who is maintaining the aircraft and our folks at public affairs that are doing all the outreach, all the folks who are organizing everything, the logistical planning is just a massive, massive undertaking,” he explained.
The nuts and bolts of the flight itself are also more intensive than the public may realize, Fullam said.
“A flyover of a football stadium is not a primary mission set of any of these aircraft or of the weapons systems you see in the Air Force,” he said. “There is a very strong value-added to our training, being able to be in the right place at the right time, as folks expect us to be.”
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Other aircraft participating in the flyover include:
- F-16 Fighting Falcon from Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina
- F-22 Raptor from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia
- F-35A Lightning II from Hill Air Force Base, Utah
- P-51 Mustang from the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation, Chino, California
The Air Force performs close to 1,000 flyovers a year which serve as a way to showcase the capabilities of its aircraft while also inspiring patriotism and future generations of aviation enthusiasts.
The flyovers done are at no additional cost to the taxpayer and serve as time-over-target training for our pilots, aircrew, and ground control teams.
The flyover will take place 30 minutes before the Rams square off against the Bengals at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
“I think the Bengals are going to take it,” predicted Fullam.
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