Due to the retirement of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, this summer’s Wings Over Warren Air Show has been canceled, FE Warren Air Force Base announced Thursday.
Due to construction at Cheyenne Regional Airport, the Thunderbirds have flown their Cheyenne Frontier Days performances from Northern Colorado Regional Airport to Loveland since 2021 and were expected to do the same this year.
But after last year’s incident in which one of the F-16s had to make an emergency landing at Loveland due to a hydraulic leak, spilling fluids onto the runway and forcing the rest of the team to divert through the airspace of the Denver International Airport and landing at Buckley Space Force Base, the team determined it was too risky to fly without an approved emergency landing aerodrome nearby.
“The closure of the large Cheyenne runway is a key factor in this decision,” said Colonel Catherine Barrington, 90th Missile Wing commander. “After much discussion and consideration, canceling the show for 2023 is the best way to ensure the safety of our community and the Thunderbirds.”
“While we are sad to be disrupting our air show, we understand the risk that comes with performing and are grateful to the Thunderbirds for their many years of support.”
“While discouraged to part with this important tradition, we hope to see a fully constructed runway that will allow for our safe return to Wings Over Warren in the future,” said Lt. Col. Justin Elliott, Thunderbird 1 and Team Commander/Leader.
The Thunderbirds also pulled out of Wings Over Warren in 2020 after some of their team members tested positive for COVID-19, but that show went on.
LOOK: Vintage postcards showing Cheyenne frontier days through the years
Postcards have been a thing since the mid-1800s. Sending pictures and short messages on cardstock to friends and families took off in the first half of the 20th century. While not as popular today, they still exist, and collecting postcards even has a special name, Deltiology. Postcards have been created for many things, such as vacation destinations and events. Cheyenne Frontier Days has been the source of many. On auction site eBay, we found many vintage postcards with charming pictures of Cheyenne and ‘Em All’s dad.
