HAMPTON — This weekend’s AirPower Over Hampton Roads show at Langley Air Force Base provides the public a chance to get a close view of military aircraft and personnel.
But it’s also a chance for the military to reach out to the roughly 150,000 spectators expected for the three-day event.
“It is part of our responsibility to open our doors and let the American people know what we do. We certainly want to share our story,” said Jeff Hood, the media operations section chief at Langley. “It’s an all-volunteer force. You all pay for it and you have a right to know what’s going on, and to have folks out and come meet the wonderful soldiers and airmen that have chosen to serve our country.”
Programs like these are important to the military community, and are held throughout the country at other bases also, Hood said.
“Oceana (in Virginia Beach) has their airshow down there,” Hood said. “All across the country, every base, pretty much on a biennial cycle, will have either an airshow or … an open house or some kind of event to have the public on to say thank you and to build that community relation.”
These shows benefit everyone involved, Hood said.
“It’s just a win-win across the board, especially here in Hampton Roads because we are so much tied in (to the community),” he said. “We want everybody in the community to feel like a welcome neighbor.”
Hood has been at Langley less than two years, so he missed the 2016 event, which was hampered by bad weather. He and other event organizers stumbled across the origins of the show, which can be traced back almost 100 years.
“Nine or 10 months ago when we had our first meeting, we talked about (the event’s origins) and looked back and got with the Air Combat Command historian and he had a piece of paper from 1919 that talked about the Army Air Corps,” Hood said. “It authorized public displays of aviation or something like that at about 12 different fields around the United States, and Langley was one of them. So we are figuring that it was 99 years ago the first time we had some kind of a public aviation display here.”
Despite next year being the 100th anniversary of the show, there’s been almost no thought of a special event in 2019, mostly because of logistics.
“It does take a toll,” Hood said. “There’s some expense involved, and there’s a lot of manpower to put toward it, a lot of hours. So it does have some effect on some of our operations out here. So I think we find that every other year is a good balance.”
He noted that the Air Force Thunderbirds, the Navy Blue Angels and the Army Golden Knights, which are the main demonstration teams for the military, also work on two-year cycles.
However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any recognition of its origins in the show two years from now.
“They might roll something in for the 2020 (event),” he said. “It’s always nice to have a theme and arguably we can do something special with a historical note to it.”
Broad appeal
While the main attractions are the daily aerial shows and the aircraft on display (more than 20), one of the things Hood likes about the event is its broad appeal.
“I think it’s really across the board,” he said. “First and foremost, of course, is the people that have a love for aviation, and that can be anywhere from a 9-year-old to a 90-year-old. But we do have other things to attract folks.”
Among those are a kids zone, exhibits, performers and concerts. Food will be available, and craft breweries will be on hand. Admission is free, but special seating is available at a cost.
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