The same day the Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force’s Thunderbolts took the skies over New York and Philadelphia, aircraft from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri also performed their own flyover in Kansas City.
The Whiteman flyover team on Tuesday was composed of a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing, two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the U.S. Air Force Reserve’s 442nd Fighter Wing and four T-38 Talons assigned to the 13th Bomb Squadron.
“Growing up in Independence, Missouri, I know first-hand that we have some of the best hospitals and medical professionals in the country,” Col. Jeffrey Schreiner, the 509th Bomb Wing commander, said in an Air Force news release. “It is my honor to lead a three-ship formation of a B-2 Spirit, A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and T-38 Talons over the skies of Kansas City and our local community hospitals.”
The flyover was designed to honor healthcare personnel, essential employees and first-responders who are working during the COVID-19 pandemic, just like the mission of the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds’ flyovers dubbed America Strong.
Specifically, the aircraft flew over locations including Centerpoint Medical Center, Lee’s Summit Medical Center, St. Luke’s Hospital Plaza, and Bothwell Regional Health Center in Missouri.
“My daughter (a nurse practitioner in ICU) just sent me a video of the amazing flyover at St. Luke's Hospital and she had tears in her eyes," Barb Kremer, a Whiteman Salutes Kansas City spectator, said in an Air Force news release. "It was absolutely amazing and I wanted to thank [Whiteman AFB] so very much. It was just a beautiful tribute to all of our frontline caregivers."
Watch footage of the flyover below:
