Tagged: Dayton Air Show

The Dayton Air Show that has to make do without military participation because of federal budget cuts has added a Tuskegee Airmen exhibit and a restored World War II fighter plane.

The Dayton Air Show says a traveling custom-trailer theater with a panoramic screen will be at the June 22-23 show at Dayton International Airport. It will tell the story of the black airmen who overcame many obstacles to become the heroic "Red Tail Squadron" of World War II. They flew in P-51 Mustang planes, and the air show says one will fly at the show.

Federal budget cuts mean there will be no military presence at the popular Dayton Air Show for the first time in the event's nearly four-decade history.

Military cuts already caused the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds to pull out of the show. Now the air show says there will be no other military fighter demonstrations or displays at all.

The Dayton Daily News reports there won't even be any of the typical personnel support from nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at the June 22-23 event.

Air Show General Manager Brenda Kerfoot called it "unprecedented."

The U.S. Air Force's grounding of its Thunderbirds jet demonstration team means the planes won't be headlining this summer's Dayton Air Show.

It's not a surprise. The Air Force earlier announced that it planned to ground the Thunderbirds April 1 if a federal budget deal wasn't reached.

Organizers of the popular Dayton Air Show made the Thunderbirds' cancelation official in a release Thursday.

The air show is scheduled to go on June 22 and 23 with 14 other aerial acts.