AVIATION NATION 2025
Story and photos by Shawn Byers
Nellis Air Force Base held their 2025 airshow, “Aviation Nation” on April 5th and 6th. This was my first airshow of the season, a “fly and drive” birthday present to myself. Although I have visited for a number of Red Flag exercises through the years, this was the first time on base for an airshow since 2007.
Typically, the mostly annual show is in November, one of the last on the seasonal schedule. I read that there were a few major events occurring in the area during that time and it was decided to hold a Spring airshow. It is expected to return to the traditional November time frame.
Situated just north of Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada, Nellis is a large, historical and influential base in the United States Air Force. It is nicknamed “The Home of the Fighter Pilot”, where numerous advanced training exercises are held each year. Constructed in 1941, the Las Vegas Army Airfield first hosted Boeing B-17 Bombers and a gunnery school. A new class of co-pilots and gunners graduated every 5 weeks. After World War II, the base was deactivated for nearly two years before reopening in 1947 and later renamed Las Vegas Air Force Base. In 1950, the Base was renamed for 1st Lieutenant William Nellis, a Las Vegas High School Graduate who lost his life in a P-47 Thunderbolt over the Battle of the Bulge.
My own brief summation of base operations over the past 80 years is that a lot happens here. From active duty squadrons to advanced training to operational test and tactics, it all happens here.
The tenant organization is huge and in trying to research it, I was getting bogged down. Here is a high level view of it.
The largest tenant is the 57th Wing. All of the fighter aircraft from the test, aggressor, and Weapons School to include the Thunderbirds fall under the 57th. Red Flag and Green Flag exercises are managed by the 414th and 549th Combat Training Squadrons, respectively.
The U.S. Air Force Warfare Center is here and reports directly to Air Combat Command. It provides proven and tested technology, the most current tactics and training, and a unique opportunity to practice integrated force employment across services and airframes.
The 99th Base Wing is the host command, housing Medical, Support and Financial.
The Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) manages all the land and ranges under the purview of Nellis AFB, making it the largest land mass base in the entire Air Force at nearly 3 Million acres.
Nellis also has a deployable Red Horse Engineering Squadron.
The Show
I attended the Friday practice day and the Saturday public day with a redeye flight home Saturday night. The weather was mostly sunny but windy and required a fleece or sweatshirt for comfort.
Nellis has two parallel runways, 03L/21R (closer to the main ramp) at 10,120 feet long and 200 feet wide and 03R/21L at 10,051 feet long and 150 feet wide. The chocolate mountain across the way is called “Sunrise Mountain”. Once the sun is up, the east-southeast facing ramp makes for some challenging photography.
The Thunderbirds practiced twice on Friday, the first flight at 10am with the full 6 ship. In the afternoon demonstration, Number 3 was absent. I heard that there was a change and a former Thunderbird was asked to return to the team but was not ready for a public show.
The first performance Saturday was an HC-130T based out of Davis-Monthan AFB. The Misty Blues Parachute Team was onboard but due to winds, there was no jump and the HC-130 made a few passes.
The Undaunted Airshows Team of Stephen “Christo” Christopher and Todd “Woody” Rudberg flew their Vans Homebuilt RV7 and RV8 as a formation duo.
The first jet performance was from Jerry “Vlad” Conley in the De Havilland Vampire. This was the black one based out of Utah deemed “Vampy 5” and the third color I have seen of him. His Union Jack helmet is highly visible on a topside pass.
The Commemorative Air Force, Southern California Wing, brought four Warbirds to the show. Their PBJ-1J Bomber named “Semper Fi” is one of my favorite B-25s. It features the blue over blue over white scheme and I once won a ride on her that was canceled due to weather. Taking off with it and often in formation was a Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat, “Minsi III” in the scheme of Cmdr. David McCampbell, the Navy’s Ace of Aces. A Supermarine Spitfire Mk XIV with the 5 bladed Griffon engine was also brought. The final aircraft was supposed to be a rare Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero but I guess it had a mechanical issue. A yellow Navy SNJ was substituted. The PBJ and SNJ taxied back by the crowd but, frustratingly, the Hellcat and Spitfire did not.
The Navy West Coast Rhino Demonstration Team from Naval Air Station Lemoore performed in their color bird from VFA-122. We saw two consecutive practices on Friday as the other team also performed in the gray bird.The only heavy aircraft on the entire airfield was a performer in the KC-46A Pegasus. The demonstration featured a short field takeoff, boom down pass and a low pass just above the runway.
With the Combined Arms Demonstration (CAD) on deck, 10 aircraft were launched for an exciting few minutes. Two F-16 Aggressors from the 64th Aggressor Squadron, two F-16s from the 16th Weapons Squadron, two F-15Es from the 17th Weapons Squadron, two F-35As from the 6th Weapons Squadron and two A-10s from the 66th Weapons Squadron.
In the time slot prior to the CAD, Stephen Covington performed a high energy routine in his green Pitts.
The CAD began with a High Altitude, High Opening parachute jump by a team of four Pararescuemen (PJs) to rescue a simulated downed pilot. The large canopies allow for a slow speed and quiet insertion, but it took a long time for them to get down and the site was located far down on the ramp past the public crowd lines.
Bandits were in the area as the Aggressor F-16s were first over the site. Two F-22s from the 433rd Weapons Squadron were dispatched, lifting off the runway and dispensing flares into the vertical. The Raptors cleared the skies of Bandits.
On the ground, troops were in close contact and a call for air support was made. F-15Es and A-10s arrived from the North and suppressed the enemy positions. Additional assets arrived with F-16s and F-35s.
Once the area was safe, a pair of HH-60 Helicopters from the 66th Rescue Squadron landed to pick up the assets while the F-15Es and A-10s orbited above.
All aircraft returned for overhead breaks to land and taxied back in front of the crowd.
Bill Stein performed while all the other aircraft were recovering. His Edge 540 famously changes colors as he moves through the sky.
The F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team performed in a Nellis airframe which was interesting to see. This year’s demo pilot, Captain Nick “Laz” Le Tourneau, did everything you have come to expect from the Raptor Demo but there were no flares at this show. I heard that it was too late to get the waiver. There was also an all-jet Heritage Flight when a smartly aggressor of yesteryear painted F-5 joined the Raptor.
Vicky Benzing flew her P-51 Mustang, “Plum Crazy”, a purple former air racer that was National Champion in 1970.
In the final slot before the Thunderbirds, the Red Bull Air Force performed. The three part performance includes sky divers/windsuit, BO-105 Helicopter aerobatics by Aaron Fitzgerald and Edge 540 aerobatics by Kirby Chambliss.
The Thunderbirds closed the show at their home base with a 5-ship performance.
Notable static aircraft on the ramp included, on the south end, from the famed, Scaled Composites, the Model 281 Proteus and Model 401 Sierra. Additionally, there was a Wright Flyer, a Marine Osprey color bird, and examples of all the based tenants, F-15E, F-16, F-22, F-35, A-10 and MQ-9 Reaper Drone from Creech AFB. On the north end, aggressor aircraft from the 65th (F-35A), and Vipers from the 64th and the 706th (Reserve Squadron), an F-15EX from Oregon’s 142nd Fighter Squadron, a black T-38 from Langley and a Special Operations AT-802 (training version of the OA-1K Sky Warden) from Davis-Monthan.
Oh, and the Budweiser Clydesdales were there, walking the crowd line in the morning.
All in all, I had a great time coming west to windy Las Vegas. I wish to thank the Media Team for all their help and accommodation, in particular, SSgt Munguia, SrA Blades and Capt Roose.
