A dual Heritage Flight arrival took place at AirVenture 2017 on July 25th 2017. The fist Heritage Flight was a section of Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning IIs from the 61st Fighter Squadron (FS) of the 56th Fighter Wing (FW) based at Luke Air Force Base (AFB) in Arizona were escorted to the landing break by the P-51D-25NA Bald Eagle (44-73029 / N51JB) owned by Jim Beasley. The second Heritage Flight was composed of a section of Fairchild Republic A-10C Thunderbolt IIs from the 74th FS of the famed 23rd Fighter Group (FG) Flying Tigers based at Moody AFB in Georgia was escorted to the landing break by a second P-51D-25NA (44-73420 / N151AM) owned by Andrew McKenna. Thanks as always to our good friends at Airshowstuff for uploading the video.
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FYI the F-35As and A-10Cs were all adorned with tributes to the recently departed Vlado Lenoch on their nosegear doors (F-35As) or boarding ladder doors (A-10Cs). The pilots were wearing tribute patches as well. Vlado often flew the Heritage Flight displays with these Air Force pilots. Classy move!
