Twice the airplanes will mean a ‘jam-packed ramp’ at McConnell base air show

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story was incorrect about the Dreamlifter.

If you’re someone who looks up in the sky every time you hear an airplane, you’re going to want to be at McConnell Air Force Base in three weeks.

That’s when the base’s first open house and air show in six years, Frontiers in Flight, will be held.

Headlining the free show, Sept. 8-9, is the Air Force’s aerial demonstration team, the Thunderbirds, as well as performances by the Army Golden Knights, eight different aerobatic performers and teams, and fly-bys from an A-10 Warthog, KC-135 tanker and C-17 Globemaster.

But unlike past open houses at McConnell there will be nearly double the number of airplanes on static display — almost 70 — than there were at its last show in 2012.

“There was a little bit of walking room in between airplanes in 2012,” said Maj. Pete Merrill, the air show’s director. “Don’t expect that this year.

“The ramp is going to be jam packed for viewing.”

Visitors will be able to walk up to many of the planes, and in some cases will be able to go inside the planes.

Among those aircraft making their first appearance at McConnell: Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter; an Airbus A220-300 passenger plane, renamed from the C Series in July after Airbus took majority control of the new airplane program from Bombardier; and the Wichita-built Textron Scorpion jet and Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine, which is expected to compete for what could be a big Air Force contract later this year.

Another aircraft of local interest that also will be making an appearance at the show is the Dreamlifter, a heavily modified Boeing 747 that carries large sections of the 787 Dreamliner — including the forward fuselage made by Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita — to Boeing in Seattle.

“The local community ... has committed tons of aircraft to the show,” Merrill said.

An almost full slate of Air Force fighters, bombers, cargo and surveillance planes will be on static display including the massive Lockheed C-5 Galaxy.

“Just about every single aircraft that’s in the Air Force inventory, minus maybe a couple, is going to be here,” he said.

Also making its first appearance at a McConnell show is a local favorite, the World War II-era Boeing B-29 Superfortress known as “Doc.”

“He’ll be show center for public viewing,” Merrill said.

Details about all the show’s airplanes are available on the website, www.frontiersinflight.com.

Merrill said it was last September when Col. Josh Olson, commander of McConnell’s 22nd Air Refueling Wing, informed him there would be an open house and air show at McConnell in 2018.

Since then, Merrill said he and his team — comprising Capt. Justin Lukso, Maj. Ryan Frost and Senior Master Sgt. Eric Kent — have been working full-time on pulling the show together. That included a trip last December to Las Vegas where the team attended an annual convention for air shows, where “a lot of our performers are signed up.”

“A lot of work has poured into it,” Merrill said. “It’s a lot of cold calling, all these units across the United States, a lot of these civilian folks that are scattered across the United States, to convince them our show is going to be worth coming to.”

“And it certainly is.”

Lukso told reporters Thursday because of the absence of an air show at McConnell for the past six years, officials there are expecting between 60,000 and 75,000 people each day.

“We’re anticipating some pretty high numbers,” said Lukso, who is the air show’s “ground boss.”

The six-year absence of an air show at McConnell is largely due to $267 million in construction projects at the southeast Wichita air base since 2012. Those projects were done to prepare the base to receive Boeing’s new KC-46A Pegasus air refueling tanker, the first one of which is planned to arrive at McConnell in October.

“Fiscal restraint” by the federal government also limited military air show activities in the past six years, Merrill said.

Merrill said one area McConnell officials hope to improve with this year’s show is parking for the event. He said there were “some concerns” about parking in 2012 that he thinks won’t be an issue for this year’s show.

“We’ve taken a serious look at all that, and I think our plan is going to be much better served to support the community this year,” he said.

Details on where the public will park are still being worked out, Merrill said, but should be completed soon.

The bottom line for Merrill and his team is to put together a show that area residents will enjoy, he said.

“Since I’ve been here for the last two years, and I’ve been told well prior to that, the community has always been integral to what the base does here,” Merrill said. “We couldn’t do it without them, and this is our chance to open our doors to the community and really let them come in and see what McConnell is all about.”

“Six years is a long time, and so the doors are going to be wide open, and we’re really excited to invite the community.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2018 at 4:54 PM.