MYRTLE BEACH, SC — Military aircraft and the nation’s top aerobatic performers took to the clear skies over Myrtle Beach for the coastal communities first air show in two decades.
The area known as the Grand Strand enjoyed the inaugural event under blue skies and seasonable temperatures on Saturday and Sunday. An estimated record crowd of 120,000 guests, not to mention another 20,000 air show fans located outside the airport’s perimeter and on the beach, viewed in awe the dizzying array of aerobatic performances, live music, and a top notch aviation themed kids zone.
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels and the Air Force F-16 Viper demonstration team headlined the military performers attending. The GEICO Skytypers and aerobatic pilots Michael Wiskus, Patty Wagstaff, and Rob Holland were a few of the civilian performers.
The high speed maneuvers and low passes of the Blue Angels and the Viper jet had guests standing and appauding during the final two hours. The audience in attendance let out huge awes as the Blues and the Skytypers performed their own bomb burst maneuvers each day.
“Are you kidding me, this is the coolest show,” Lucas Oil biplane pilot Mike Wiskus said on Sunday. “In my performances I do one of the lowest ribbon cuts — a 15-foot inverted ribbon cut — and I always like doing that one. I also do a forward summersult where I get the airplane to stop a thousand feet in the air and do a summersault.”
Air show organizers already have one eye on the future as they have begun preparing for the second annual Wings Over Myrtle Beach set for May 2019. Officially, the Air Force Thunderbirds is currently scheduled to headline the event.
