Kirtland Air Force Base hosts airshow to mark 75th anniversary
Tens of thousands of New Mexicans turned out on Saturday and Sunday, June 4-5, to help Kirtland Air Force Base celebrate its 75th anniversary with an air show and ground displays. Aircraft on the field, many of which were opened to allow visitors to walk through and even sit in the pilot’s seats, included the latest, most modern planes in the Air Force inventory as well as vintage aircraft that earned a proud heritage of defending the nation during times of war and peace. KAFB has been the home of Sandia dating back to the days when the Labs was known as Z Division and was still part of Los Alamos Laboratory (as it was then called).
A member of the USAF’s elite Wings of Blue parachute demonstration team makes a dramatic entry onto the airfield.
A T-6 Texan trainer, introduced in the 1940s and in active service until the 1970s, performs aerobatic maneuvers during the Kirtland Air Force Base airshow.
Enthusiastic crowds of people explore the cavernous cargo space of a C-5 Galaxy, one of the world’s biggest planes.
TWO C-130s, which have been in the Air Force inventory since the 1960s, fly in close formation.
With oohs and aahhs from thousands of onlookers, a futuristic-looking B-2 stealth bomber makes a pass over the airfield.