AirVenture Crowds Treated To VERY Rare Sight

by ANN Correspondent Scott Wagner

Jaws dropped in awe as two of the US Air Force’s newest front line fighter aircraft, the F-22 Raptor, made their AirVenture debut Thursday afternoon.

The amazing machines, fresh from Langley Air Force Base, VA, arrived for their flyby demonstration at around 1445 to kick off the afternoon airshow. Although the F-22 made its public debut at Sun-N-Fun earlier this year, this was the first opportunity to showcase the Raptor’s capabilities in front of the aero-savy AirVenture crowd, and one of very few non-military show appearances to date.

For an audience that has seen just about everything over the years, it was a chance to see something different. And by different, we’re talking DIFFERENT!

Designed primarily as a replacement for the F-15 and F-16, the Raptor’s twin engines incorporate thrust vectoring, which allows the airplane to perform maneuvers undreamed of in other planes. This technology was demonstrated several times, as they made turns and changed directions in impossibly small radiuses.

Literally, it appeared that the Mach 2+ capable fighters were turning inside their own wingspan. As one of the Raptors performed both low and high speed fly-bys over the runway, the second Raptor loitered peacefully to the west, tracing lazy circles and loops that would be impossible in any other vehicle... like an aerial Kung Fu master rehearsing his beautiful but deadly dance.

The Raptors were accompanied by a KC-135 tanker flying high cover... waiting for his little friends to finish playing, so he could give them a much needed drink of fuel for the flight back to Langley.

"I’ve been waiting for this for years, but I want expecting anything like that. They’re a whole new breed of fighters," said Wes Raney. Wes was visting AirVenture from Vermont with his father, Scott, who added "I knew the high-speed capabilities, but I was amazed by the low-speed maneuverability."

One AirVenture vendor reported "Everyone bailed out of our exhibit and ran to see the F-22s."

FMI: www.airventure.org, www.f22fighter.com