The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds landed in Duluth yesterday afternoon. They’re headlining what organizers describe as the region’s marquee aviation event of the decade — and bringing something else notable: the first professional wingwalker to perform at the Duluth Airshow in 20 years.
The show runs July 11–12 at Duluth International Airport. Gates open at 9 a.m., with flying demonstrations starting at 10:30 a.m. The Thunderbirds will fly six F-16 Fighting Falcons in formation, holding just 18 inches between aircraft. But for aviation history buffs, the real draw is Carol Pilon and Third Strike Wingwalking — a 26-year veteran performer who will walk the exterior of a Stearman biplane mid-flight. It’s the airshow’s first wingwalking act since approximately 2006.
Thunderbirds Return With Local Command
This particular Thunderbirds visit carries extra weight because of who’s leading them. Lt. Col. Alexander Prevendar, the demonstration team’s commander, grew up in Esko, Minnesota — just down the road from Duluth. “This show is going to be really special to me because I grew up just down the street in Esko,” Prevendar said. In 26 years of managing the Duluth Airshow, President Ryan Kern said he’s never had a Thunderbirds commander with regional ties.
The Thunderbirds arrived after their “Salute to America 250” flyover of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. This weekend marks their only Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, or North Dakota appearance in 2026. Kern called the booking “the number one requested Airshow weekend in the country.”
Wingwalking Returns After Two Decades
Carol Pilon’s return to Duluth is a remarkable story. She became a professional wingwalker in 2000 — seven years after seeing a split-second clip of a wingwalker at a local airshow in 1993. “It took me seven years of begging, pleading and outright stalking every active wingwalking team in North America to secure mentorship,” Pilon recalled of her path into the field.
Since then, she’s performed on everything from a Quicksilver ultralight with just 45 horsepower to a jet Waco with 3,000 available horsepower. In 2015, Pilon and her team appeared in Discovery Channel’s Airshow, which reached 17 million viewers worldwide over twelve weeks. In 2016, she was featured in the History Channel’s 10-episode docu-drama Sky Gods.
The bright red Stearman biplane Pilon will fly this weekend is the same aircraft she bought after her wingwalking debut — the plane she’s been flying the airshow circuit with ever since. When asked how the performance works, Pilon described the choreography: “He pulls the power back and then he tells me to move, and I walk across the lower wing and then I crawl upstairs. And then when I’m upstairs, we do another series of aerobatic maneuvers.”
Infrastructure Investment Tied to Fighter Future
Beyond the aerial spectacle, the airshow highlights a critical modernization effort at the host unit — the Minnesota Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing. In May 2026, the Minnesota Legislature’s bonding bill allocated $3.5 million for a new hangar design project at the base. The 148th has operated out of the same metal hangar since the late 1950s, creating ongoing safety hazards for maintenance personnel.
The new facility will feature drive-through vertical lift fabric doors and be built to “universal fighter size” — a deliberate choice that signals state and Air Force interest in upgrading the wing’s current Block 50 F-16CMs to next-generation platforms. “It’s for future missions, and that’s what it comes down to,” Kern said. “What’s the future airplane? Does Duluth receive the F-35? Do they get F-22s?”
The 148th was excluded from the Air Force’s 2017 F-35 candidate list. Still, the infrastructure investment signals continued advocacy for basing decisions that could reshape the region’s largest single employer.
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