USAFA gets roared up for Air Force vs. Navy rivalry game with flyover

The annual rivalry game for the Air Force Fighting Falcons is one the biggest events for cadets. To kick off the weekend is an airshow not many get to see. Just after 11:30 a.m. Friday, several aircraft flyover the academy’s courtyard where cadets and their family and friends watch in awe.

James Herold, a freshman cadet yelled, “let’s go!” He watched among his fellow students as an F-35 Lighting Jet went over the crowd.

The show started with Fort Carson soldiers running through a yellow cloud of smoke and simulating what an attack on the ground would look like. That’s when the Air Force aircraft comes in. The show is meant to simulate what their support would look like in a real attack.

The biggest crowd pleaser was a V-22 Osprey. It looks like a plane but lands like a helicopter. It started by landing and dropping off soldiers for the simulation. Next, two Osprey’s did a high-speed flyby. Their appearance made the crowd stop and watch the rare appearance.

A picturesque moment for the crowd was watching an A-10 Thunderbolt come around the historic cadet chapel.

Just as the event was finishing up, and cadets made their way back to their normal schedules, visitors who stuck around got a special treat. The V-22 Osprey’s landed once more in the courtyard allowing anyone to tour them.

Among the crowd was a veteran and USAFA alumni who graduated in 1966. Jim Roberts helped design the Osprey’s and was excited to see one that could fly. He said, “I just want to see which things that we were putting in the airplane in 1993-1994 came to fruition and how the aircrews like and what they dislike.”

You can catch another airshow before the rivalry game on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p. m.