The B-2 Spirit bomber will make its highly anticipated return to the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl Game in southern California on Jan. 1, 2024—the latest in a series of bomber flyovers of football games this fall and winter.
The stealth bomber will grace the skies of Pasadena, Calif., for the two events after missing out on the New Year’s festivities in January 2023, a 509th Bomb Wing spokesperson confirmed to Air & Space Forces Magazine.
The annual tradition of the B-2 at the Rose Bowl started in 2005, but a safety pause of the aircraft resulted in two B-1B Lancers swapping in for both the parade and the bowl game to start 2023. The safety pause was sparked by a Dec. 10, 2022 incident in which a bomber had an in-flight malfunction, prompting an emergency landing. The pause lasted roughly six months.
Even without the B-2 at the 2023 Rose Bowl, the Air Force conducted approximately 820 flyovers at public events in 2030, with about 370 in support of college and professional sports events, according to Air Force spokesperson Jennifer Bentley.
“All flyovers are accomplished using pre-planned training missions and assist in helping to train our pilots, aircrew, and ground control teams,” Bentley noted in an email statement to Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Contrary to popular belief, the flyovers do not cost any extra money to taxpayers. Bentley added that the crews benefit significantly from the training they receive, given the numerous variables associated with live public events.
The flyovers at sporting events feature a mix of aircraft, with bombers and fighters often taking center stage. Making the flyover successful requires meticulous planning and collaboration, noted Maj. Aaron Zarmbinski, assistant director of operations at the 96th Bomb Squadron.
“It all comes down to working equipment on the aircraft and precise and disciplined airmanship of the Aviators themselves to be able to accomplish this desired time over the point on the ground,” said Zarmbinski in a video release on Dec. 16.
“Some of the units that are required to make a flyover happen include the weather shop on base, as well as air traffic control, also the actual maintenance that needs to be accomplished on these aircraft to make them serviceable for the flight. Ultimately, it comes down to precise and deliberate action on the aircrew to make that desired time happen.”
The most recent bomber flyover was by the 2nd Wing stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.. A B-52 Stratofortress soared above the heads of around 33,000 football fans during the Independence Bowl held on Dec. 16 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, La.
Other notable flyovers in 2023 included a B-52 soaring over Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., a B-2 flying over Arrowhead Stadium, in Kansas City, Mo., on Sept. 9 to commemorate the start of the NFL season, F-35A and F-35C fighters over Annapolis, Md., for the Air Force-Navy game in October, and a quartet of A-10 Warthogs flying above Denver before the Army-Air Force rivalry game in November.
Perhaps the biggest flyover event will come in February 2024, however, as the Air Force Thunderbirds will lead the Super Bowl flyover on Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas, N.V. The Navy took the lead for the 2023 Super Bowl, and the Thunderbirds have not performed a Super Bowl flyover since 2019.