2025 Duluth Airshow
Image Credit
Every year for the past quarter century, the weekend after the 4th of July, the Duluth International Airport in Duluth, Minnesota opens it’s doors for an airshow.
Duluth is home to a fair number of commercial operations, with multiple daily flights to both Minneapolis and Chicago, with seasonal flights with Sun Country to Fort Myers and Phoenix. Duluth also has a large military presence, with the Minnesota Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing operating out of there. The 148th Fighter Wing has a long history tracing back to the Second World War, where they flew P-38Js in both theaters of war. Today, they are equipped with F-16C Falcons, and in in September 2019, the wing won the National Guard Association “Spaatz trophy” and the Air Force Association’s Outstanding Air National Guard Flying Unit award for the most outstanding airmanship.
The 2025 Duluth Airshow, which happened to be the airshow’s 25th anniversary, had of a star studded lineup, including the Blue Angels and Snowbirds. Other military performers included the US Navy’s Leapfrogs, the US Army’s Golden Knights, a beautifully restored B-52, an Air Force F-22 Raptor demonstration, and a Navy F-35C demo.
Civilian performers included Erik Edgren, Susan Dacy, and Duluth native Jon Melby.
Without further ado, here are my pictures from Saturday, June 5th, the first of two days of the airshow.
The weather was rather poor when we arrived, with rainstorms and a low cloud deck. As a result, the Blue Angel’s show had to be pushed to the afternoon, meaning I unfortunately missed it. They did, however, have the aircraft lined up right in front of the spectators. Off to the side (not pictured) was the Blue Angel’s Lockheed C-130 Hercules nicknamed “Fat Albert.”
The RCAF’s Snowbirds had their Canadair CT-114 Tutor lined up as well. I actually got a chance to speak to one of the Snowbird’s pilots. They’re based in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and so this is the closest airshow to home they do.
The Minnesota Air National Guard kicked off the flying with a few low passes with an F-16. It was pretty incredible (and very loud). Though you couldn’t see it from the airport, they also did a few loops around the iconic Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge for a photo op.
The first civilian flyer of the day was Erik Edgren with a modified 1939 Taylorcraft. The performance revolved around a pilot’s “first flight,” where things go terribly wrong. A prerecorded soundtrack is played wherein someone is walking Erik through flying the plane as he does wild twists and turns and a lot of inverted flying. I didn’t get very much video, but you can see his whole skit from someone else who filmed his performance at the 2024 Westmoreland County Airshow here.
The ceiling dropped a little too low again, so we decided to check out some of the static displays while the flying was on hold. The first plane we saw was a beautifully restored B-25 “Miss Mitchell,” operated by the Commemorative Air Force out of South Saint Paul, Minnesota. The airframe served in the 310th Bomb Group, 57th Bomb Wing of the 12th Air Force in North Africa and Italy.
The B-25 took off an hour or so later to do some demonstration flying and extremely low (and loud passes). It was pretty cool that this aircraft was restored right here in Minnesota. The restoration process from beginning to end took an entire 12 years, according to the announcer.
The commemorative Air Force also had a couple of T-6 Texans out, as well as a Stinson L-5 Sentinel. There were a few WWII vets walking around the planes answering questions. It was really interesting to hear from the people who actually flew and worked on these planes.
The Minnesota Air National Guard had a Lockheed C-130 Hercules on static display from their 133rd Airlift Wing based at the Minneapolis - Saint Paul International Guard. You could go through the aircraft, but the line stretched at least 150 people long, so I chose not to spend 45 minutes in line for a 90 second tour.
Besides the military, Cirrus had the biggest presence at this airshow. Cirrus is headquartered in Duluth, and their factory is right at DLH. They had a couple hangars of aircraft on display, including SR-22s and VisionJets. I got a tour of one of the brand new G2+s, fresh off the assembly line. It’s a really cool aircraft, and the cabin is super comfortable. The cockpit is very modern, and the test pilot who was giving me the tour said it was a joy to fly.
Cirrus had a few aerial demonstrations with some of their aircraft which did steep banks and low passes as well as some formation flying.
The Navy had a trio of Boeing F/A-18 Hornets on display. It was really interesting to get up close and inspect the incredible design of this aircraft. Even my non-aviation enthusiast family members really appreciated the engineering marvel that is modern fighter jets.
Of course, no airshow trip would be complete without visiting the best stand of them all, Sun Country’s. They had some free merch and a few employees to talk to.