Blue Angels

I’m taking my dad to the Cleveland Air Show this weekend. You never know how many of those either of us have left in us so I didn’t want to miss it. A lot of people seem to dislike air shows. They think the shows glorify war or demonstrate our wasteful spending on military equipment. I completely disagree with those people.

I’ve gone to the air show probably 15 times in my life. That’s nearly half the time I’ve been alive. My first major in college was aerospace engineering. When people watch the Blue Angels, despite the fact that they fly fighter jets, no one is thinking first of war. The precision with which these people fly is unbelievable. And the aircraft are truly pieces of art.

I’m no war monger by any stretch. However, the U.S. has been involved in legitimate conflicts over the years our success in some of these conflicts, starting with World War II, has been in some part due to aviation. Two summers ago I flew in a WWII B-17 bomber with my father. It was a great experience and I know one of the best memories he’s had. More than that, flying in that plane really gave me a sense of the courage of the boys who flew those planes. Many of them were teenagers and young adults barely old enough to vote. They flew in planes that weren’t very sophisticated and didn’t offer much protection. As I flew in it, I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to be surrounded by German fighters and flak barrages.

Today’s planes are more sophisticated but the skill and courage involved to fly them is still the same. A mistake often results in death. And, whether we always like it or not, these people are protecting us. They serve the country when asked, even if the war is unpopular or unwarranted. Air shows are a chance for people to see some of what their taxes pay for and maybe even have a sense of pride in the men and women who take care of that equipment.

I have some good memories of the air shows. I will never forget when the cold war ended and I first got to see an SU-27 perform the “cobra” maneuver. Or the first time I got to see a MIG-29 or the F-117 stealth fighter. I don’t think about war and killing when I see these planes. I marvel at the engineering and the skill of the pilots. And I love the sound…