MIAMI - At the biggest sporting event of the year the Florida Air National Guard was the only thing that could make more noise than 75,000 screaming football fans.
Four F-15 Eagle fighter jets from the 125th Fighter Wing roared over Sun Life Stadium at the beginning of Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday, Feb. 7, flying in a perfect formation as singer Carrie Underwood finished her rendition of the National Anthem.
"It was awesome!" said Lt. Col. John "Homer" Black, lead F-15 pilot for the Super Bowl flyover. "It was an honor to even be chosen to do this."
This was the first time an Air National Guard unit performed the prestigious Super Bowl flyover.
Black and his wingmen - Col. Bill "Yogi" Bair, Col. Bob "Squirt" Branyon and Lt. Col. Mike "Speedo" Rouse - took off from their base at the Jacksonville International Airport in North Florida about an hour before kickoff and flew in a holding pattern above Miami until the beginning of the National Anthem. While keeping in constant radio contact with an Air Guard ground crew at the stadium, the jets blasted through the South Florida twilight high above the pre-game show.
"I was the only one looking forward so I'm the only one who had a pretty good view of what was going on," Black said, describing the approach over the stadium. "The other guys are just basically looking at me…At about a mile and a half out I could recognize Carrie Underwood on the big (screen)."
With afterburners glowing orange in the darkening sky, the jets brought a surge of applause and cheers from the crowd, and even drew a big smile from Carrie Underwood on the center stage.
"We just wanted to make the formation look perfect," said pilot Bair after the successful flyover.
"Representing the Air National Guard in one of the biggest venues in the world was awesome! As we were coming across the stadium we could hear the people screaming and see the flash bulbs going off. It was something I'll never forget."
After the jets landed safely at nearby Homestead Air Reserve Base, the pilots were brought back to the stadium by helicopter and invited onto the field to watch legendary rock band The Who perform the halftime show. Later in the third quarter the Florida Air National Guard pilots were officially recognized on the field - again drawing applause and cheers from the pumped-up football fans.
The Air Guardsmen were again present on the field after the game as Super Bowl winners the New Orleans Saints received the Vince Lombardi trophy amidst showers of confetti and shouts of "Who Dat!!" from jubilant Saints' fans. Following several photo-ops with players and cheerleaders, the Airmen left the stadium to a peppering of cheers and applause from lingering fans.
"I've had a pretty incredible 20 years between the Florida Air National Guard and my time in the active duty Air Force," Black said, "And to have this happen to me toward the twilight of my career is something that I'll carry with me forever."
While the pilots were joining in the Super Bowl spectacle, other members of the Florida National Guard were quietly working behind the scenes to keep the crowd and the event safe: about 40 members of the 44th and 48th Civil Support Teams (CST) were supporting law enforcement in scanning for chemical, biological, radiological and explosive materials.
The joint Army and Air Guard civil support teams worked under direction from the Department of Energy to augment hazardous interdiction teams staged in strategic locations around Sun Life Stadium. If any dangerous materials were found Guardsmen would test the samples in their onsite mobile laboratory.
"Our sole purpose is to lend our technical expertise on the ground for an event should it happen," said 1st Lt. Brian Thomas, operations officer with 44th CST. "It's one less thing for the patrons to worry about. They can sit, relax and enjoy the game. The (Weapons of Mass Destruction) response package - with civil, federal and state assets - should make everyone feel safe here in the state of Florida."
This was the fourth Super Bowl in Florida that the 44th CST has participated in, and after the Miami-event the Guardsmen hit the road north to support the Daytona 500 NASCAR race on February 14.
"We were poised to respond from February 3 to the Monday morning after the Super Bowl," Thomas said of his team's Super Bowl operations. "Everything went well and we feel confident in our mission and what we contributed to the entire operation. And we'll continue success in Daytona later this week."