{"id":64729,"date":"2026-04-14T20:22:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T00:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64729"},"modified":"2026-04-14T20:22:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T00:22:41","slug":"thunderbirds-arrive-back-in-lakeland-to-kick-off-sun-n-fun-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/04\/14\/thunderbirds-arrive-back-in-lakeland-to-kick-off-sun-n-fun-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunderbirds arrive back in Lakeland to kick off SUN ‘n FUN 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds<\/strong> have officially touched down at Lakeland Linder International Airport to headline the 2026 SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo<\/strong>, which begins today, April 14.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Their arrival marks a major highlight for this year’s “Red, White & Blue at 52” theme. If you’re planning to catch them in action, here is what the schedule looks like for the week:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thunderbirds Performance Schedule<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The team is scheduled to perform during the daily afternoon airshows. While exact “wheels up” times can vary slightly based on air traffic and weather, the primary windows are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Thursday, April 16 \u2013 Sunday, April 19:<\/strong> Full demonstration flights during the afternoon airshow sessions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Wednesday, April 15:<\/strong> Expected practice\/orientation flights over the airfield.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Event Highlights<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Dates:<\/strong> April 14\u201319, 2026.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Show Hours:<\/strong> 9:00 AM \u2013 6:00 PM (extended until 10:00 PM on Wednesday and Saturday for night shows).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Special Appearances:<\/strong> In addition to the Thunderbirds, keep an eye out for the NASA Super Guppy<\/strong>, which is a featured static display this year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds have officially touched down at Lakeland Linder International Airport to headline the 2026 SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo, which begins today, April 14. Their arrival… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64730,"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":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDRcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTEtNS53ZWJwP2ZpdD0yNzUlMkMxODMmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJUaHVuZGVyYmlyZHMgYXJyaXZlIGJhY2sgaW4gTGFrZWxhbmQgdG8ga2ljayBvZmYgU1VOICYjODIxNjtuIEZVTiAyMDI2IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.TkLAj6xr-jsQ2BVTccFQyTR3XZ5OZT_2BSA7ibXvqnEMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA0XC9kb3dubG9hZC0xLTUud2VicCIsInR4dCI6IlRodW5kZXJiaXJkcyBhcnJpdmUgYmFjayBpbiBMYWtlbGFuZCB0byBraWNrIG9mZiBTVU4gJ24gRlVOIDIwMjYiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.vK-z85eSDlT82drxOBlPYxFbEkGhR-NKBgNIrULa2bYMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[7254],"tags":[14381],"class_list":["post-64729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sun-n-fun","tag-thunderbirds-arrive-back-in-lakeland-to-kick-off-sun-n-fun-2026"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64729","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=64729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64731,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64729\/revisions\/64731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}