Salute to America Flyover

I'm a pilot. I'm a plane watcher. I'm a photographer. When I have a chance to photograph airplanes, I shoot. When I have a chance to photograph rare airplanes, I really shoot.

On July 4, 2020, in the middle of the worsening COVID-19 pandemic, the president wanted a military flyover of the White House prior to the fireworks show. Lots of rare airplanes were scheduled to make an appearance. I won't get a chance like this again (I don't think he'll be reelected). My family assessed the risks, and we decided to go to our preferred spot on the Virginia side of the Potomac River directly across from the capitol mall. We got our masks, hand sanitizer, and cold drinks. I lugged my camera with lenses: 300mm for the aircraft, 24-70mm for the fireworks, 70-200mm because I wasn't sure whether the 24-70 was the right focal length range. We parked at the Pentagon north lot, crossed Boundary Channel, and picked a spot on the river bank with gaps in the trees and a nice view of the opposite shore. Our plan was to turn around and go home if it was too crowded for social distancing. It turned out that the crowd was pretty sparse. But there were more boats than I remember from our trip to this spot 2 years ago.

Boats on the Potomac on July 4, 2020

Thankfully the weather was only hot and humid, not brutally hot and humid. We got there early to be sure we could get a decent spot, then waited for the flyover to begin. The VC-25, tail number SAM-28000, which has the call sign Air Force One when the president is aboard, flew over about 15 minutes early.

VC-25A

I've wanted to see this airplane ever since I moved to Virginia 25+ years ago but I was never in the right place at the right time. This airplane was surprisingly quiet. As the light faded and the hazy twilight started, more aircraft came over. It was tough to get good shots. Here's a B-17 Flying Fortress accompanied by 4 P-51 Mustangs.

B-17 and P-51s

Several C-47 Skytrains also flew over.

C-47

Several other WWII bombers flew over, but my photos of them are unremarkable. Then the BUFF came over. I remember seeing them when I went to an air show at Barksdale AFB in the 80s. This one was nowhere near as loud but just as smoky.

B-52 Stratofortress

There was a series of helicopters representing the Vietnam war. Then more cold war aircraft, and finally the BONE flew by.

B-1 Lancer

I've never seen a B-1 in flight until this event. I saw several in storage at Davis-Monthan (boneyard) and one at the Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton. But this was the first flyer for me. Another first (for me) was the KC-46.

KC-46 Pegasus

This tanker has an incredible history of production problems. I saw one on the ramp at the Boeing factory in Everett years ago, but this was a first time in flight sighting for me. Yet another lifer for me was the B-2. Its shape is odd, making for a very strange look in my photos. In this shot, the wingtip at the top of the photo is closer to me than the wingtip at the bottom of the photo, but this perspective makes that seem unclear.

B-2 Spirit

Then came the F-22s and then yet another lifer for me, F-35s, but (sadly) again the photos are bad. Finally, the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels came over together, passing over Arlington Cemetery, then over the White House, then they turned around, flew back over the White House again, and the Thunderbirds did their famous break maneuver while the Blue Angels stayed on a straight course. I almost missed this shot because I wasn't expecting them to come back and had changed lenses (for the fireworks show) in the meantime.

Blue Angels and Thunderbirds

This was a very cool set of aircraft, some of them incredibly rare, and I'm glad I took the time to go sweat in the heat and wait for them to go by. Then we stayed for the fireworks show, which I'll describe in a different post.