April 17, 2023. Louisville, KY. We’re counting down to the Kentucky Derby Festival’s Opening Ceremonies: Thunder Over Louisville! This year’s event, set for this Saturday, April 22, will include a packed air show, with non-stop military and civilian air acts.
Scheduled performances include: The U.S. Air Force F-35 Demo and Heritage Flight, Navy F-35 Demo and Growler Demo with Legacy Flight, U.S. Army Golden Knights, Matt Younkin’s “Magic by Moonlight” performance, as well as numerous warbirds taking to the skies, including the P-51 Mustang, F-86 Sabre, F4U Corsair and F8F Bearcat.
Here’s the full lineup* as of April 17, 2023 (in alphabetical order):
123rd Special Tactics Squadron Parachute Team (Louisville ANG Base, KY
A-10 Warthog (122nd Fighter Wing, Ft. Wayne, IN)
C-130J Super Hercules (Kentucky Air National Guard, Louisville ANG Base KY)
C-17 Globemaster III (167th Airlift Wing, ANG Base, Martinsburg, WV)
CT-155, (4 Wing Cold Lake, Royal Canadian Air Force, Alberta CA)
CT-142, (1 Wing, Royal Canadian Air Force, Winnipeg, CA)
E-2C Hawkeye, Naval Air Station Norfolk, VA
EA-18 Growler Demo Team, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, WA
F-8F Bearcat
F-16 Viper (180th FW, Toledo ANG, OH)
F-35A USAF Demo Team (Hill AFB, UT)
F-35C Navy Demo Team (Naval Air Station Lemoore, CA)
F-86 Saber, (Warbird Heritage Foundation, Waukegan IL)
HC-144 Ocean Sentry, (U.S. Coast Guard, Mobile AL)
KC-46 Pegasus, (Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst AFB, PA)
KC-135 Stratotanker (70th ARS, Grissom ARB, IN)
Navy Legacy Flight
P-8 Orion, (U.S. Navy Air Test and Eval Squadron 1, Pax River)
P-51D “Swamp Fox”
T-38A Talon (Beale AFB, CA)
Twin Beech Aerobatics Demo – Younkin Airshows
UH-60 Blackhawk, (8th Battalion, 229th Aviation Regiment, Ft. Knox KY)
UPS Airlines Airbus 300 (Louisville IAP, KY)
U.S. Army Golden Knights, Fort Bragg, NC
USAF Heritage Flight
Waco Taperwing (Nick Coleman, Louisville KY)
Yak 52 (Bowman Field, Louisville KY)
*PLEASE NOTE: Aircraft subject to change on show day.
Thunder Over Louisville is one of the more than 70 events produced by the Kentucky Derby Festival in the spring. It provides an estimated impact of $56 million to the area’s economy. The 2023 Thunder Over Louisville – themed “Through the Decades” – is set for Saturday, April 22. It will be the 34th production.
2023 Thunder Over Louisville Show Sponsors: Caesars Southern Indiana, Humana, LG&E, Meijer, and UPS. In addition to the Presenting Sponsors, AKIMA is the Military Zone Sponsor, UofL Health is the Official Health Care Provider and the Official Hotel is the Galt House Hotel. TEN20 Craft Brewery is the Official Craft Beer and High Noon is the Official Seltzer of Thunder Over Louisville. Thunder Over Louisville’s 2023 Official Broadcast Partners are WAVE and MIX 106.9.
