The show featured 14 aerial performers and more than 30 ground attractions. Country music artist Jordan Davis capped Saturday’s show with a free concert on the Cherry Point flight line. With all of these attractions, there was bound to be something for everybody.
The air show had a comprehensive lineup of military flight demonstrations featuring the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, the AV-8B Harrier and the F-35B Lightning II. Other combat aircraft such as the MV-22 Osprey and KC-130J Super Hercules wowed the crowds during the always popular Marine Air-Ground Task Force demonstration.
Alongside the current aircraft fighting all over the world today, the air show wouldn’t have been complete without having an impressive lineup of vintage warbirds and aerobatic aircraft flipping and twisting in front of the crowds and on display on the crowded flight line. The flight line’s static displays included historic aircraft such as the B-17 “Memphis Belle” and the B-25J “Miss Mitchell.”
The impressive aerial display of all the performers happened at show center, in front of the thousands of patrons who attended the largest air show in coastal North Carolina.
Some displays were of close formation flying such as the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, flying the F/A-18 Hornet; the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team, flying the T-6 Texan; and the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, flying the CT-114 Tutor. Other performers showed off their award-winning aerobatic skills such as New Bern, North Carolina, native Hubie Tolson, flying the Sukhoi SU31, and seven-time U.S. National Aerobatic Champion Rob Holland, flying the MXS-RH.
While exploring the flight line you might have noticed the equipment currently being used in today’s Marine Corps. This equipment ranged from the 7-ton truck, to the Abrams M1A1 Tank, to the AH-1W Super Cobra. The equipment may be for the air or ground specifically, but together they make up the Marine Air-Ground Task Force and can be deployed at a moment’s notice to fight our nation’s battles.
It takes months of planning and thousands of hours of work from hundreds of service members, civilian employees, volunteers, sponsors and the air show performance industry at large to make the air show happen. Despite rainy skies on Sunday morning, all of the hard work paid off as the 2018 MCAS Cherry Point Air Show joined a long line of successful public events at the Marine Corps’ largest air station.