Residents of the towns surrounding Hill Air Force Base, just north of Salt Lake City, Utah, are used to seeing U.S. Air Force F-35As cavorting overhead. But on Friday, July 4, they will be treated with organized overflights of several local communities, a tradition that dates back 37 years.
This year, it will be the USAF Reserve 419th Wing doing the honors. The flight of four Lightning IIs will be led by Lt. Col. Justin Cleveland. According to local news reports, members of the 419th are locals who serve part-time in the Air Force Reserves. The pilots, half of which have served on active duty, train one weekend a month and two weeks every year to prepare for possible deployment. For the Fourth of July overflight mission, their fighters are maintained by active-duty 388th Fighter Wing technicians and the mission is managed by operations personnel from the 75th Air Base Wing.
The flyovers will provide a brief airshow for 17 communities in the Salt Lake City area, starting with West Point at 9:05 a.m. local time and finishing off with Park City (site of the 2002 Winter Olympics and home to the annual Sundance Film Festival) at 11 a.m.
It’s fun to see the F-35’s doing their thing over our cities; flyovers on 4 Jul have been a long and welcome tradition. Minor correction: The Sundance Film Festival is no longer in Park City, it’s now in Denver area.