Date: May 12, 2007
Story By: Jim Froneberger
Photography by: Jim Froneberger

It was a quick turnaround for the folks at Seymour Johnson AFB. Their Wings Over Wayne 2006 airshow was held just last October, but the 2007 edition moved to the spring with a May 12 date, giving them only seven months to prepare for this year's event. Last fall they hosted the Thunderbirds and this spring they hosted the Navy's Blue Angels.

This was a significant show for the Blue Angels as Seymour Johnson represented their return to flight after the tragic accident on April 21 that claimed the life of Blue Angel #6, LCdr Kevin Davis. The Blue Angels recalled LCdr Craig "Merlin" Olson to the team to fill the #6 spot, and he reported to the team on May 5. Lcdr Olson had previously flown on the team for the 2003 to 2005 seasons. Obviously, flying a Blue Angel F/A-18 is something you don't really forget, because in less than a week, Merlin was flying all of the solo maneuvers for Friday's practice demo. Not yet back up to speed on the six-ship delta, he landed for the final few maneuvers of the practice. On Friday, we were led to believe that Merlin would not fly at all for the public show on Saturday, but to our surprise, Merlin flew Saturday's show in the same manner as on Friday. Quite a spectacular return for the Blues.

Wings Over Wayne 2007 was also the first show of 2007 for the Blue Angels C-130 support aircraft, Fat Albert. Bert had been undergoing routine maintenance in the early part of the season, and for the early-season shows, the Blues borrowed a regular grey USMC Hercules. Bert celebrated his return with his popular JATO takeoff on Saturday.

In addition to the Blue Angels, the home-based F-15E Strike Eagle demo team was a crowd favorite at Seymour Johnson. Major Al "Jewel" Kennedy and Capt Jack "Woody" Stallworth wowed the home fans with the performance of the F-15E. The massive wall-of-fire during their demo was also a real crowd pleaser.

But perhaps the most oohs and ahhs were reserved for the new F-22 Raptor demo flown by Maj Paul "Max" Moga. Max didn't base at Seymour for the one-day show; instead, he staged out of his home base at Langley AFB just a few Raptor-minutes up the road in Virginia. While Max started the season with a six-pass mini-demo, he has now expanded that to include a variety of aerobatic maneuvers, including a tail-slide and a miniature loop or back flip that utilizes the Raptor's thrust vectoring that give it extreme maneuverability. It was a very impressive demo, and the best news is, it isn't finished yet. There's more to come!

Also on hand was the F-4 Phantom from Tyndall AFB, and the F-4 teamed up with the the F-15E, the F-22, and Ed Shipley's F-86 for the USAF Heritage Flight. Shipley also flew a solo routine in his Sabre. The Air Mobility Command also got into the act with the massive C-17 from Charleston AFB. One of the highlights of any Seymour Johnson show is the Combined Arms Demonstration, a simulated attack on the Seymour Johnson airfield. This year, the demo began with a simulated air refueling with a KC-135 from the home-based 916 Air refueling Wing flying with four F-15Es and two F-16s in tow. The six fighters then proceded to attack the base, complete with pyrotechnics.

Speaking of pyro, the sky was filled with the sounds of 1941 as the Tora Tora Tora team from Texas simulated the attack on Pearl Harbor. With replica Zeroes, Vals, and Kates and enough pyro and smoke to make you think you were in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, those guys put on a very realistic show.

Patty Wagstaff and Rob Holland were on hand to give the crowd a good dose of hard-core aerobatics and Charlie Kulp did his Flying Farmer comedy routine. Also on hand was the USAF Reserve Jet Car and the USCG SAR demo.

Hugh Oldahm was the announcer and George Cline the Airboss for this, one of the best airshows ever staged in the state of North Carolina.

Photo captions left to right: (1) Fat Albert comes overhead one of the Blue Angel F/A-18s. (2) The Blue Angels Diamond. (3) LCdr Craig "Merlin" Olson flies #6 only a week after rejoining the team. (4) The Blue Angels Echelon. (5) Merlin and JB fly the section high-alpha. (6) Merlin greets the fans after his 2007 debut. (7) Maj Paul "Max" Moga turns and burns in the Raptor. (8) Raptor vapor. (9) A three-ship Heritage Flight during the Friday practice - F-86, F-15E, F-4. (10) The Raptor was added to the Heritage Flight for the public show on Saturday. (11) Ed Shipley in the F-86 Sabre. (12) Jewell and Woody in the F-15E. (13) Tora Tora Tora.