Air shows and the exhibition tradition

1925 — 2025

The crowd was there from the first year: Exhibition flying is the oldest layer of this whole record — it begins with the Curtiss team at the Driving Park in 1910 — and it has never quite left. In 1925, the year of its dedication, the new municipal airport hosted an airshow that drew 50,000 spectators, in AOPA's telling. The modern show tradition at the southwest field ran through the 1980s and 1990s under the Baer Field name, then stopped; after a thirteen-year hiatus the Fort Wayne Air Show returned in September 2012 at the Air National Guard base, drawing more than 84,000 spectators. It has run since on a roughly three-to-four-year cycle — 2016, with the Thunderbirds and the Navy's Super Hornet demonstration; 2019; 2022, when nearly 70,000 came; and 12–13 July 2025, the Thunderbirds headlining again while the host wing was mid-conversion from the A-10 to the F-16. The Thunderbirds named Fort Wayne their Military Show Site of the Year for both the 2019 and 2022 show seasons, back to back — the Air National Guard's announcement calls the repeat unprecedented. The show is run by Fort Wayne Air Show, Inc., the civic nonprofit, in partnership with the 122nd Fighter Wing and the airport authority; the wing's own aircraft and Heritage Park, outside the base fence on Ferguson Road, carry the static side of the tradition the rest of the time.

Sources:

1. AOPA, "Smith Field: Airport of dreams" (2014) — the 1925 dedication-year airshow and its 50,000 spectators.
2. The Waynedale News (September 2012) and Photo Recon's 2016 show report — the thirteen-year hiatus, the 2012 return and its 84,000 spectators, the 1980s–90s Baer Field shows.
3. Air National Guard, "122nd Fighter Wing brings home top Air Show award" — the Thunderbirds' Military Show Site of the Year awards for 2019 and 2022.
4. Whatzup and the Fort Wayne Air Show program record — the 2022 crowd of nearly 70,000 and the 12–13 July 2025 show.