Thunderbirds cancel air show over Las Vegas

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1999 | 11:10 a.m.

Key achievements in the 46-year history of the Thunderbirds:

The Nellis Air Force-based Thunderbirds aerial demonstration squadron will not perform its biennial Las Vegas show that had been scheduled for this year.

A squadron spokesman says the Thunderbirds were unable to reschedule their May 8 local show that was postponed after the team was grounded for two months following an April 25 "brush-by" incident at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.

In late May, a Nellis AFB spokesman had said that the Las Vegas Thunderbird show would be rescheduled for this year, probably in October or November.

"We're just booked through November," Thunderbird spokesman Sgt. Bob Purtiman said Monday. "We will reschedule Las Vegas for next year. It's unfortunate because Las Vegas is our hometown and has been real supportive of us year-in and year-out."

The Thunderbirds usually draw crowds of 250,000 or more for their Las Vegas performances.

The incident that caused the cancellation of shows, including the Las Vegas event that traditionally has been held in the spring of odd-numbered years, involved two of the team's F-16 jets bumping in midair, which is called a brush-by. There were no injuries.

Purtiman said he does not know when -- if ever -- the Thunderbirds last missed a year in which they were scheduled to perform in Las Vegas.

Not even the tragic "Diamond Crash" of Jan. 18, 1982, at Indian Springs stopped the Thunderbirds from keeping their 1983 Las Vegas date.

That crash, involving four T-38 Thunderbird jets flying in a diamond formation, took the lives of four pilots and grounded the Thunderbirds for 18 months. In the 17 years since the crash, there have been no Thunderbird fatalities.

A 1993 injury to a Thunderbird pilot cut short the 40th anniversary season, but that occurred after the Las Vegas show.

The last time the Thunderbirds performed in Las Vegas was in 1997 for the 50th anniversary of the Air Force.

The date for next year's Las Vegas make-up show won't be announced until the Thunderbird schedule for 2000 is released in December, Purtiman said.

The Thunderbirds were cleared to take off for the wild blue yonder on June 2 after being grounded as a safety precaution. They performed a fly-over that day at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., followed by a June 5 performance at a Mankato, Minn., air show.

The show season for the "Ambassadors in Blue" traditionally ends in mid-November at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, the birthplace of the Thunderbirds on June 1, 1953. The Thunderbirds were transferred to Nellis in 1956.

While the Thunderbirds will not perform a public Las Vegas show this year, they will hold their annual private show for their friends and family in November at Nellis.

At that time, five pilots -- including four of the six demonstration jet performers -- will leave the team for other assignments, Purtiman said.

The Thunderbirds consist of eight pilots, four support pilots and about 120 enlisted personnel.

The Thunderbirds practice from November to March at the range over Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, northwest of Las Vegas. Their season usually consists of 60 75-minute shows starting in late March. The performers and support staff are away from home about 220 days during the year.