The 2025 Great Tennessee Air Show was an event filled with a sense of patriotism and nostalgia. It was a celebration of the 20th year of the event being coordinated by the Smyrna Airport, the 79th year of the Blue Angels, the 81st anniversary of D-Day, and the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States Navy and Marine Corps.
“We are all humbled to be able to do this,” said Blue Angels Team Commander Adam Bryan.
In April 2024, Cdr. Bryan was selected to command the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, assuming the role in November 2024. A 2005 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he was recognized as the George Bush First Tour Naval Aviator of the Year in 2011 and as the Commander Naval Air Force Atlantic Pilot of the Year in 2016.
Performers Take to the Skies and Thousand Watch from Below 
In spite of cloudy skies on Saturday, June 7, the tarmac was filled with thousands of families enjoying the many activities and the show as the planes took to the air. There were Heritage flights by both the United States Air Force and the United States Navy, including a USAF F-35A, a US Navy Growler, and a P51 Mustang.
The P51 Mustang is especially significant because it, “dominated the skies over Western Europe after it was introduced during World War II,” says the Air Force Heritage Flight Demo Team website. “The single-seat aircraft had a maximum speed of 435 miles per hour and could escort heavy bombers into the heart of Germany. The P-52 and the pilots [who] flew them were crucial to turning the tide of the war in the Allies’ favor.”
Other acts included flight of the Fat Albert C-130J Hercules, an Acemaker T-33 demonstration, David Windmiller in his Extra 300L, and Rich Dawe of Jet Provost Aerobatics.
While the headlining Blue Angels performance was cancelled on Saturday due to weather, they took to the skies on Sunday, June 8, performing their newest coordinated maneuver.
“Our newest maneuver for the year is called the Delta L-Ron Roll, which is all six aircraft doing a 360 degree roll together while flying. We are always trying to perfect it throughout the year to make it look great.”
As soon as the event season is over this fall, they will be back at their headquarters in Florida working on creating the program for next year.
“Since 1946, it has been our honor to represent the hundreds of thousands of men and women who serve in the United States Navy and Marine Corps to audiences both at home and abroad, showcasing the excitement, precision, and power of Naval aviation,” says their website. “Our goal for 2025 is to continue to inspire young men and women, not just to pursue a career in Naval aviation or the military, but to excel in all areas of their lives.”
Smyrna Town Council Shares History of Air Show
A few days before the show, the Smyrna Town Council and County Mayor Joe Carr visited with the Blue Angels. Many of them grew up watching the Blue Angels fly over the skies of Smyrna.
“We just got to see them land,” said Carr. “It was way cool.”
“The Blues are back,” said Town Council member Steve Sullivan. “It is always exciting. I’ve been watching them for forty years and every time I see them I feel that pride. It’s just awesome.”
While the Smyrna Airport is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the show with the passing of management of the airport from retiring John Black to the new Executive Director Evan Lester, the airshow itself has a much longer history. The airport was once part of Seward Air Force Base, established during World War II as a training facility. During the war, it employed more than 6,000, and there were more than 200 buildings erected on the site.
Smyrna Town Council member H.G. Cole remembers shows in the late sixties and early seventies, before the base was decommissioned in 1971.
“In the 1960s, when I was a kid, when the base was still active, they had airshows down there then,” said Cole. “After the base closed, that is when the Smyrna Rotary Club started hosting this event. It was a big deal encompassing the entire town.”
“In those days it was a community event,” added Black, newly retired Executive Director of the Smyrna Airport Authority. “Everybody came out here, whether you were put in a tent cooking hamburgers or you were directing traffic…it was everybody in town, not just the Rotary. It was the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the Lions Club…everybody.”
“It was such an exciting time then,” said Smyrna Mayor Mary Ester Reed. “You could feel the excitement with them coming into town. Not just the Blues, but the aircraft in general. The thing that is so special to me, since they’ve been flying here since the 70s, is the multiple generations of families who have been able to see them.”
Nine-eleven changed all of that. There was a show scheduled that year, but it was cancelled in the aftermath of that terrible event.
“Nine-eleven was on a Tuesday,” explained Black, “and we had the airshow planned for that weekend. We had the performers here, but nobody else could even get here.”
The last two years the Smyrna Club worked with the Donelson Rotary Club because it had become such a huge event, but it became too much for the clubs and they re-evaluated after the cancelled show. Instead the Smyrna club took on the very successful Wings of Freedom Fish Fry. It ended up being a sort of trade. The airport had originally started the fish fry.
“We took over [the show] in 2005,” noted Black. “We went back to the jet teams. And our big thing is to treat them right. Plus, it is a great recruiting area.”
“Especially with the air wing unit coming back here,” added Sullivan.
The airport submits every year for the Blue Angels to fly in the bi-annual event. Usually, the group trades back and forth with the United States Airforce Thunderbirds, but this is the second time in a row that the Blue Angels have performed in Smyrna.
“No slight to the Thunderbirds, but the Blue Angels are the hometown [group].” Added Sullivan. “When I was in high school here in Smyrna they used to let us go outside and watch them practice … sitting on the grass…on Friday. They’ve been coming since the early 80s, so this is part of my life.”
On Saturday night, following the first day of the event, there is a reception for the performers and sponsors. It has been going on for as long as Mayor Reed can remember.
“The Blues are there,” said Reed. “We do a presentation to them. They give a presentation to us and to the airport. It is a very special night.”
Future of the Show
The Great Tennessee Air Show will take to the skies again in 202,6 bringing the excitement to more families.
As Cdr. Bryan said in an interview, “What we are really trying to do is inspire the next generation to reach for one of those goals that they might think is unattainable, but they can see for every person on this team, the goal at one time felt out of reach, but we worked hard to make that goal happen.”
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