COCOA BEACH AIR SHOW BACK TO THE BEACH
APRIL 17-18 The Cocoa Beach Air Show will take place along roughly two miles of Cocoa Beach oceanfront, extending from Westgate Cocoa Beach Pier to Minutemen Causeway with Lori Wilson Park serving as show center.
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The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon and perform a combination of formation and solo maneuvers in an inspiring, patriotic, high energy demonstration. The four-jet diamond performs precision formation flight with the aircraft wingtips as close as four feet apart while performing loops, inverted rolls and even high-performance turns! The two solo jets perform high energy maneuvers together and from opposite directions closing in on each other as fast as 1,000 mph. The six jets come together in the delta formation as the finale for the show, flying difficult formations and signature breaks that fill the sky with speed, sound and smoke trails! The F-22 Raptor is the fastest and most maneuverable fighter jet in the world today. The F-22’s twin engines produce more thrust than any other fighter. Combined with its sleek aerodynamic design, this allows the F-22 to “Supercruise” at 1.5 times the speed of sound without using fuel-
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We’re glad to be bringing the show back to the beach at a time where it can help the ailing tourism industry that has been so badly impacted in the past year. Having the double headliner of the Thunderbirds and F-22 Raptor Demo will kick the destination appeal of the Cocoa Beach Air Show into afterburner.
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The 2021 Cocoa Beach Air Show will feature the U.S. Air Force’s top two demonstration teams when it returns to Florida’s Space Coast on April 17-18, 2021. The Air Force just announced that the F-22 Raptor Demo Team will join the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds to double headline the show. Cocoa Beach will be the kickoff of the Thunderbirds 2021 season.
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Bryan Lilley Chairman of the National Air, Sea and Space Foundation (organizer of the show)
Admission is free, with VIP and other ticket packages available at cocoabeachairshow.com
consuming afterburner. The F-22’s unique thrust vectoring and advanced flight controls allow it to outmaneuver any other aircraft. The F-22 Raptor demo puts thrust vectoring on full display during its demonstration defying imagination as it climbs straight up, stops in mid-air, then reverses towards the ground before flipping the nose around in a somersault at near zero forward speed. The F-22 makes sharp, sudden turns displacing and compressing air into vapor, and you often see the Raptor creating its own weather system with massive clouds that engulf the jet. The Valiant Air Command will be adding to the air show with four different warbird aircraft. Featured warbirds include their flagship, the C-47 “Tico Bell” — one of the hundreds of C-47s that flew across the English Channel on D-Day, dropping members of the 82nd Airborne behind enemy lines — as well as a TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, North American SNJ-4 trainer, and an N2S Steerman biplane. In March, air show officials announced a B-52 Stratofortress long-range bomber has been added to the lineup. Bryan Lilley, organizer of the Cocoa Beach Air Show, shared his excitement of adding continued on page 18 C ANAVER AL E X PLO RER .C O M | 13
