Hundreds of Military Aircraft Soar Over Washington, D.C. in USA 250th Anniversary Flyover

Every branch of the U.S. military took to the skies over Washington as America turned 250 — a multi-hour aerial armada organizers billed as “the most ambitious aviation spectacle in American history.”

WASHINGTON — Aircraft from every branch of the U.S. military and NASA flew over the National Mall for nearly nine hours Saturday in a marathon procession marking the nation’s 250th birthday.

The “Salute to America 250 Aviation Spectacle” was the centerpiece of a week of events commemorating July 4, 2026 — the 250th anniversary, or semiquincentennial, of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Aircraft formations crossed the Potomac River from Virginia, passed barges lined up for the evening’s fireworks and flew the length of the Mall past the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.

Organizers described the event as the most ambitious aviation display in the country’s history, bringing together the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and NASA for a single, sequenced parade of aircraft that began in early afternoon and continued until roughly 11 p.m. Aircraft passed overhead on average about once every 18 minutes.

The event featured two firsts: the Air Force Thunderbirds flew a full demonstration over the National Mall for the first time in the team’s 73-year history, and the newly commissioned VC-25B Bridge — a converted Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar — made its first major public appearance as Air Force One, just three days after its inaugural flight in that role.

Four privately owned F-5 Tiger II jets opened the afternoon program, one of them piloted by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. NASA’s own fleet followed, including F-15D and F/A-18B aircraft painted in special stars-and-stripes livery for the anniversary.

The Coast Guard flew MH-65E Dolphin and MH-60T Jayhawk helicopters alongside three fixed-wing aircraft: an HC-130J, a C-27J and an HC-144. The Army’s Golden Knights parachute team jumped onto the Mall together with the Navy’s “Leap Frogs” team, followed by an eight-ship Army helicopter formation of AH-64 Apaches, UH-60 Black Hawks and CH-47 Chinooks.

About an hour into the show, the Air Force sent up its “heavies” — a C-17 Globemaster III, KC-135 and KC-46 tankers and a C-5 Galaxy — followed by Special Operations Command aircraft from Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico: two AC-130J Ghost Riders, two CV-22 Ospreys and two OA-1K light attack planes. A formation of two F-15s and two F-16s followed.

The Marine Corps sent Marine Helicopter Squadron One, which normally carries the president, flying VH-3 Sea King, VH-60 White Hawk and VH-92 Patriot helicopters alongside UH-1N Hueys from the Air Force’s First Helicopter Squadron. Ten more Marine helicopters joined in, along with KC-130 tankers, F/A-18C Hornets and F-35C Lightning IIs. An MV-22 Osprey and an F-35B, the latter demonstrating its ability to hover in a short takeoff and vertical landing, rounded out the Marine segment.

Starting around 4 p.m., the Navy flew MH-60R and MH-60S helicopters, a P-8 Poseidon patrol plane, F/A-18 Super Hornets and F-35Cs, before the Blue Angels — the Navy’s aerobatic team and, founded in 1946, the oldest active flight demonstration squadron in the U.S. military — performed with six F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.

At about 6 p.m., all three of the Air Force’s active-duty strategic bomber types — the B-52 Stratofortress, B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit — flew together over the Mall in a rare simultaneous display of American strategic airpower. F-35Cs from the Navy and Marine Corps followed.

The Thunderbirds then flew their eight F-16C Fighting Falcons directly over the Mall’s monuments — something the team, founded in 1953 at Luke Air Force Base, had never done in 73 years of performances. Washington sits under some of the most heavily restricted airspace in the world, including a permanent no-fly zone protecting the Capitol and the White House, and the government issued a special one-time waiver to allow the demonstration.

“For the first time in their history, the Thunderbirds are flying a full demonstration directly over the National Mall, as part of the Salute to America celebration for the nation’s 250th birthday,” according to a social media post from AviationCircle, an aviation enthusiast account, which cited team officials. “The reason they’ve never done it before comes down to the airspace: Washington sits under some of the most restricted skies on Earth, with a permanent no-fly zone protecting the Capitol and the White House. For this once-in-a-lifetime occasion, the government granted a special waiver to let the team fly.”

Around 7:30 p.m., the VC-25B Bridge flew over the Mall escorted by four F-22 Raptors. The aircraft, a former Qatari 747-8 converted for presidential use, had completed its first mission as Air Force One on July 1. It arrived at Joint Base Andrews on June 18 following a 10-month conversion.

Severe thunderstorms moved in that evening, forcing the National Mall to be evacuated and cutting short part of the planned program, including a stealth aircraft flyover, an F-22 afterburner pass and a second Golden Knights jump. The Mall reopened at about 9:45 p.m., after which a lone B-1 bomber made a final afterburner pass before the evening closed with fireworks — 850,000 shells launched from 10 sites along the Potomac, which organizers said was an attempt at the largest Fourth of July fireworks display in American history. The heat also tied Washington’s hottest Independence Day on record, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees.

President Donald Trump delivered remarks after the Mall reopened, telling the crowd the 250th anniversary was “one of the most joyous and glorious milestones of all time.” He said he was determined to speak regardless of the delay: “I said, ‘There’s no way — if we have to speak in front of one person at 4 o’clock in the morning, I’m going to be here.'”

“For 250 years, the United States of America has been the hope, the promise, the light, and the glory among all of the nations of the world; all over the…no one can compare to us,” Trump told the crowd. He added: “This is only the dawn of the golden age of America, and on this 250th Fourth of July, we declare, just as they did two and a half centuries ago…”

The last time Washington hosted a celebration on this scale was the nation’s bicentennial in 1976. The VC-25A, the Air Force One variant now being phased out, has served presidents since the George H.W. Bush administration in the early 1990s.