{"id":64592,"date":"2026-04-09T20:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T00:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64592"},"modified":"2026-04-12T22:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T02:01:14","slug":"sun-n-fun-2026-goes-red-white-blue-at-52-with-nasa-thunderbirds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/04\/09\/sun-n-fun-2026-goes-red-white-blue-at-52-with-nasa-thunderbirds\/","title":{"rendered":"SUN ‘n FUN 2026 goes ‘Red, White & Blue at 52’ with NASA, Thunderbirds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 52nd Annual SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo<\/strong> is officially themed “Red, White & Blue at 52,”<\/strong> scheduled for April 14\u201319, 2026<\/strong>, at Lakeland Linder International Airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s event features a heavy emphasis on American aerospace excellence, anchored by the return of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds<\/strong> and a significant presence from NASA<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Key Highlights for 2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • The Thunderbirds:<\/strong> The headline act will perform their precision flight demonstrations on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday<\/strong> (April 17\u201319).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • NASA Presence:<\/strong> * NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman<\/strong> is scheduled to speak on Wednesday at 12:00 PM at the Hangar, focusing on the Artemis Program<\/strong> and the mission to return humans to the Moon.\n
      \n
    • The Super Guppy:<\/strong> NASA\u2019s massive, bulbous cargo aircraft will be on static display from Wednesday through Saturday.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Research Pilot Insights:<\/strong> NASA pilot Sean “Shady” Brady will share stories from the cockpit on Friday evening, followed by a special screening of The Right Stuff<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Opening Night Concert:<\/strong> The expo kicks off on Tuesday, April 14, at 6:00 PM with country music rising stars Cooper Alan<\/strong> and Thomas Mac<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • New “Composite” Airshow:<\/strong> On Wednesday, April 15, the traditional separate day and night shows are replaced by a single Composite Show<\/strong> from 5:00 PM to 9:15 PM, blending sunset aerobatics with twilight pyrotechnics.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The Classics:<\/strong> The Lockheed Constellation<\/strong> (“Connie”) and Grumman Mallard<\/strong> are slated for featured flight performances throughout the week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Event Logistics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Cashless Campus:<\/strong> SUN ‘n FUN remains 100% cashless for 2026; all food, merchandise, and ticket purchases must be made via credit\/debit card or mobile payment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Drone Soccer World Cup:<\/strong> The event is hosting a major Drone Soccer tournament, with youth and professional rounds throughout the week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The 52nd Annual SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo is officially themed “Red, White & Blue at 52,” scheduled for April 14\u201319, 2026, at Lakeland Linder International Airport. This year\u2019s event… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"7254","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDRcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTItMi53ZWJwP2ZpdD0yNTElMkMyMDEmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJTVU4gJiM4MjE2O24gRlVOIDIwMjYgZ29lcyAmIzgyMTY7UmVkLCBXaGl0ZSAmYW1wOyBCbHVlIGF0IDUyJiM4MjE3OyB3aXRoIE5BU0EsIFRodW5kZXJiaXJkcyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.b8M0atsZOJQQIrGNT5gM8XpbmbwxvxGUFbyEn3f-QN4MQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA0XC9kb3dubG9hZC0yLTIud2VicCIsInR4dCI6IlN1biAnbiBGdW4gMjAyNiBnb2VzICdSZWQsIFdoaXRlICZhbXA7IEJsdWUgYXQgNTInIHdpdGggTkFTQSwgVGh1bmRlcmJpcmRzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.2xAg9VB5C6_Q8bnKAhLEFynQ429B-m4uufXkgAYTh5IMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[7254],"tags":[14338,14340,14339],"class_list":["post-64592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sun-n-fun","tag-sun-n-fun-2026-goes-red","tag-thunderbirds","tag-white-blue-at-52-with-nasa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64689,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64592\/revisions\/64689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}