DAYTON — This weekend is a major celebration of half a century of air shows in Dayton.

It’s the 50th Dayton Air Show and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels are headlining the show.

What You Need To Know

  • U.S. Navy Blue Angels arrived in Dayton and will be the headliners for the 50th show

  • Two of the team members are from the Miami Valley

  • The Blue Angels travel to 32 show sites a year

  • Gates open at 9 a.m. and performances begin around 11:15 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday

“We’re extremely excited to be here. This team has the honor of representing over 800,000 members of the active duty Navy and Marine Corps, Reserves and Civilians included,” said Blue Angels Pilot CDR Alex Armatas.

Every move in the air and on the ground is carefully designed and practiced with safety as the top priority.

“Every single member of this team was hand-picked by the Navy and Marine Corps fleet. Every single member of this team is going to go back to the Navy and Marine Corps fleet, and for this little bit of time, I get to be on the team. It’s just an honor to be a part of it and be counted among these great folks,” Armatas said.

Lt. Junior Grade Mara Mason is from Tipp City and she serves as the Blue Angels Supply Officer.

Aviation Structural Mechanic Jordan James is from Xenia.

“It’s good to be back. We haven’t been here since 2022, so it’s always good to come home and see family and friends and show what the Navy and Marine Corps do,” Jordan said.

“Actually the last time I was here for the Dayton Air Show, I was just visiting and I got to observe the team. I wasn’t part of the team yet so I was just here as a patron. It was great to experience the team from that side of it and to be here two years later in a blue flight suit it really means a lot to me and my family so it’s incredible to be here,” Mason said.

There’s no feeling like being a part of the team and being in Dayton is a unique experience.

“It’s exciting to be anywhere where these is a lot of history and Dayton is no exception. The history of aviation here, the history of this air show, even just the air show itself, it’s certainly an honor to be here and just to be allowed to be a part of that and a little bit of that history is exciting,” Armatas said.

Last year, more than 80,000 people attended the two-day event.

On Saturday and Sunday, gates open at 9 a.m., performances start around 11:15 a.m., and gates close by 6 p.m.