As daylight comes to an end at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield, things are just getting started. Crews at the TAC Air terminal are prepping the ramp, media is filing into the lobby and airport administration is racing around the airport in their operations vehicles getting ready for a special arrival. The Navy Blue Angels are inbound.

The Blue Angels are visiting St. Louis to not only provide publicity for the May airshow, but to coordinate with essential support organizations to make sure operations are set to go when it comes time for the performance. It’s not as simple as it seems to make the performance possible. Ground support for security, maintenance and publicity concerns has to be arranged in order to make the whole process go smoothly.

“For more than a century, St. Louis has been the birthplace and home of some of our nation’s greatest heroes of aviation and space,” Bales said. “The 2016 Spirit of St. Louis Air Show salutes not only those military veterans and pioneers of industry who founded that aerospace legacy, but also those who sustain it today and those who will carry it forward by leveraging the rich STEM resources that fuel our community. We believe they are tomorrow’s heroes.”

Martin Groves outlines where the Blue Angels will be traveling to in the 2016 show season.

“There’s so much to do for a show of this magnitude,” explained Capt. Mays of Marston Mills, Mass. “From all of the regional airports, the hotels, the police and fire departments. This is not a photo opp, this is a business trip.”

The airshow, held on May 14-15, isn’t just for aviation enthusiasts and spectators to gather and watch aircraft of all sorts buzz across the sky to entertain the crowd for a weekend. Named the Spirit of St. Louis Air Show and STEM Expo, the latter portion will be presented by Boeing and Mastercard, both large supporters of STEM.