This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending two airshows, one of which was the Joint Services Open House held at Joint Base Andrews just outside of DC. It’s been a while since I’ve attended a more “modern” airshow, as lately I’ve focused more on the vintage shows seeing some of America’s most rare and noteworthy aircraft of yesteryear.

That said, I was excited to see some of the modern hardware I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to see in action. This included the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, and the Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey. While both of these unique aircraft have been controversial for a variety of reasons, they were certainly impressive in their displays.

The Osprey, a unique tilt-rotor aircraft used by the Marines, is essentially part plane, part helicopter. By literally changing the direction its rotor blades are facing, the Osprey provides the landing, take-off, and lift benefits of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional airplane. While the Osprey had a troubled safety record during its development, resulting in the tragic deaths of 30 service members, the aircraft has been widely lauded for its operational and combat record. Simultaneously, there are still those with concerns about how it’s performed.

The F-22 has been all over the news in recent weeks due to ongoing concerns about its oxygen system. In short, the most advanced air-superiority fighter in the world has been sometimes making its pilots incredibly sick in flight, resulting in loss of awareness or consciousness. It was grounded in 2011 for nearly 5 months in an attempt to find the solution to this problem, and ultimately returned to flight status without the issue being resolved. This runs the risk of making the aircraft combat-ineffective, despite how advanced is. But when the F-22 performs…it performs! It certainly did not disappoint, putting on the most impressive display I have ever seen from a jet aircraft.

I have also written before about the longevity of some of our military aircraft and hardware. The Blue Angels are always an amazing sight to see, and they have been continuously flying the F/A-18 Hornet since the 1980s. The question for me is, when will we see a switch to the F-35? Eventually, it looks as though both the Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds are destined to fly the F-35.

Airshows have been criticized by some as being wasteful in a time of economic hardship and fiscal restraint. I am a firm believer they are not. A short while ago, I wrote about how the Space Shuttle program inspired generations of Americans, and how it’s important to have something that Americans are proud of in tough times. I can personally trace back my entire interest in security, politics, and military affairs to my childhood fascination with airplanes.

Seeing these machines in action, in person, has an effect. For some, it may lead to a military service career, for others it may inspire another course of service to the nation. When you hear a kid under the age of 10 walk up to an airplane and excitedly yell, “Dad, come look at this B-24 Liberator!” you know something special and important is happening.

At these airshows, you see people of all types: men, women, old, young, and of every ethnicity. In a time when the public has been increasingly disconnected from the all-volunteer military, airshows provide the opportunity for all of these people to interact with our servicemen and women, and get a better understanding of some of the things they do.

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