Less than two weeks after one of its darkest moments in recent history, the city of Louisville, Kentucky shined through for a much brighter moment on Saturday for Thunder Over Louisville, the annual airshow and fireworks spectacle that has kicked off the Kentucky Derby Festival since 1990.
Lighted drones flew in formation along the Ohio River near the city’s Waterfront Park, just before the fireworks, to spell out Louisville Strong, a solemn and sentimental message coming 12 days after a gunman opened fire in a downtown bank just a few blocks from the park, killing five and wounding eight, including two officers, before he was slain by police.
While almost every community on the map can be considered tight-knit when the chips are down, Louisville has always inscribed its own story, from Secretariat to Muhammad Ali, a city of towering champions constantly defying odds.
Known locally as Thunder, this event is the fruit of a 30-year quest to create one of the nation’s largest military air displays and pyrotechnics extravaganza, happening at the same time.
While cool weather likely capped the 2023 crowd below last year’s record of 851,000, it’s easy to estimate based on prior years that well over a half-million people gathered this past weekend to celebrate on the banks of the Ohio, soaking in all things aerial.
After last year’s Thunder Over Louisville airshow paid tribute to the 75th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force, the 2023 event theme was Thunder “Through the Decades,” with the music synced to the fireworks sampling from prior years, and many of the airshow acts being perennial favorites.
From the aircraft component, the show has always lent heavily on the military side, particularly the nearby Air National Guard unit based at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) and the U.S. Army’s Fort Knox, about a half-hour drive from the southwest corner of Louisville, as well as some of the vintage and performance aircraft based here at Bowman Field (LOU).
While Thunder Over Louisville cannot match the weekslong might of AirVenture or Sun ‘n Fun, it packs plenty of potency over the course of its six-hour airshow.
Looking for military demos? Both the Air Force and Navy sent F-35s. Piloting the Air Force’s F-35 was Major Kristin “Beo” Wolfe, fresh off her electrifying demo at Sun ‘n Fun three weeks ago.
RELATED STORY: F-35 wows crowds on opening day, Sun ‘n Fun TV interviews Demo Team commander
Four F-16 Vipers from the Ohio National Guard opened the show with the roar of their engines punctuating the last lines of the National Anthem.
The Army’s Golden Knights are a yearly favorite, and a pair of Blackhawks made serious waves on the Ohio with their prop wash, following a couple of passes by an HC-144 Ocean Sentry from an Alabama-based Coast Guard unit.
Even the Royal Canadian Air Force joined the show, with a pair of CT-155 Hawks performing maneuvers in unison. Later, a pair of A-10 Warthogs of the 122nd Fighter Wing in Fort Wayne, Indiana thrilled the crowds lined up along the Kentucky and Indiana sides of the river.
For those into larger planes, they also were represented at Thunder. The local Guard unit, 123rd Special Tactics Squadron Parachute Team, jumped from one of the base’s new C-130J Super Hercules, making its second appearance at the show.
RELATED STORY: Air National Guard wing gets pair of new C-130J aircraft ahead of Veterans Day
There were also flights by a C-17 Globemaster III, KC-46 Pegasus and KC-135 Stratotanker.
From the civilian side, UPS flew one of its Airbus A300s with gear down on a relatively low pass along the crowd. The company’s main air hub, Worldport, is based in Louisville at SDF.
And it wasn’t just an Air Force show. In addition to one of its F-35s, the Navy sent its EA-18 Growler Demo Team and a P-8 Poseidon.
For those demanding more warbird history, there was the P-51D Swamp Fox, which later joined the Air Force F-35 for a heritage flight, and there later was a Navy legacy flight. And for those seeking more of a vintage vibe, Matt Younkin performed both daytime and nighttime demos in his famous Twin Beech, a regular at Thunder Over Louisville, as is retired Kentucky Guard pilot Nick Coleman, who flew his Waco Taperwing, based here at LOU.
If small aircraft flying in tight formations shooting heaving smoke is more your thing, there was the group of Van’s RV-8 aircraft with the KC Flight Team, as well as a demo by Smoke on Aviation.
In all more than 60 aircraft took part in Thunder Over Louisville that, along with the drone show and fireworks, brought life back to a city in mourning. It couldn’t come at a better time, as we try to make sense of the senseless – and the eyes of the world shift here for the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports on the first Saturday in May.
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