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Returning pilot prepares for Ellsworth open house
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FarkRAPID CITY -- Major Brian Willits remembers watching air shows at Ellsworth Air Force Base as a kid and knowing he wanted to be a fighter pilot.
“It’s kind of where it all began,” he said.
This weekend, Willits will return to Rapid City, where he grew up and graduated from Stevens High School in 1992, as a demonstration pilot of the A-10 Thunderbolt jet at this weekend’s Dakota Thunder 2007 open house at Ellsworth AFB.
Willits is one of only two A-10 demonstration pilots in the Air Force and one of only 70 to 80 demonstration pilots for any aircraft in the Air Force.
Becoming a demonstration pilot is no easy task. Willits has been flying the A-10, known affectionately by many pilots as the “Warthog,” for almost 10 years and flew the A-10 in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Willits flew 60 patrol and ground escort missions while in the Middle East. Even though he didn’t fly in the most dangerous zones, the countries are still hazardous, Willits said. “It’s still a combat sortie and there are bad guys out there, and we’re ready to do what’s necessary.”
Now he travels the country from February to November performing more than 30 shows a year demonstrating the tactical capabilities of the ground attack jet.
Willits interviewed in 2005 for the job as the West Coast Demonstration Team pilot based out of Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Ariz., and then went through three months of training before beginning his two-year stint in February 2005. This October he will train his replacement, who will take over next spring.
Willits said he loves being able to travel the country and meet new people, but his true love will always be flying the A-10.
“I love flying the A-10 whether it’s in an air show or training another pilot,” he said. “I love flying the A-10, period.”
After Willits makes his initial demonstration flight on Saturday, he will perform in a heritage flight, where he will fly alongside a World War II-era P51 Mustang flown by a retired Air Force officer.
This weekend’s open house will feature 17 military aircraft and more than 100 civilian planes. Officials expect upward of 14,000 spectators for the event on Saturday.
The event is being billed as an open house this year and not an air show because there are fewer military planes than in years past.
Staff Sgt. Shanda De Anda, a public affairs official at Ellsworth, said the open house will feature more ground events but will still have flyovers and demonstrations.
One of the many planes being brought to the base specifically for the air show is the North American B-25 Mitchell, the plane used during the Doolittle Raid on Japan in 1942.
First produced in 1941, the attack bomber was heavily used during World War II, but most were retired by the early 1950s.
Other aircraft to be displayed at the open house include the B-2 Spirit, the B-52 Stratofortress, the T-37 Tweet, the T-38 Talon, the T-6 Texan II, the T-1A Jayhawk, the Blackhawk utility helicopter and the B-1 Lancer bomber.
For video from the event, click here.
Schedule for Dakota Thunder 2007 open house at Ellsworth AFB on Saturday, June 23.
9 a.m. Gates open
10:30 a.m. Two B-1s take off
11 a.m. K-9 demonstration
11 a.m. B-1 low altitude demonstration
11:30 a.m. B-1 close air support demonstration
1 p.m. A-10 demonstration and heritage flight with P-51 Mustang
2 p.m. B-25 flight
2 p.m. K-9 demonstration
2:15 p.m. B-2 flyby
3 p.m. Bomber composite flight (many types of bombers in a single formation)
4 p.m. Closing ceremonies
Maj. Brian Willits, formerly of Rapid City, will do a demonstration flight in his A-10 “Warthog” at this weekend’s Ellsworth open house. (Seth A. McConnell/Journal staff)
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