HILL AFB — It may not be the Air Show, as private organizers had originally hoped, but the skies over Hill Air Force Base will still be filled with an appearance by the Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team, next June.

Officials at the base announced last week that the famed team will appear as part of Air Force Week Salt Lake City, which will include events along the Wasatch Front June 1-7, 2009.

Plans for a full-blown Air Show had seen several snags. The Air Force announced it couldn’t fund such an event due to needing funds for its core mission, which includes fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then, in a story which the Clipper first reported, a private group was ready to step forward to fill that void.

Air Force Week Salt Lake City was announced this fall as a way to showcase the impact of Hill AFB on the region.

“Air Force Week is an awesome way to share our Air Force story with the communities where our airmen work, live and play,” said Col. Linda Medler, 75th Air Base Wing commander. “It also serves as a forum to discuss the Air Force role in the nation’s defenses as part of a joint team alongside our soldiers, sailors, marines and coast guardsmen,” she said.

In addition to the appearance by the Air Force’s premier aerial demonstration team performing precision aerial maneuvers, many other events are planned for the week.

They include:

• Tops in Blue, an all-active duty Air Force special unit made up of talented amateur performers who entertain both military and civilian audiences

• The U.S. Air Force Academy Band, a musical group that provides musical programs and entertainment to audiences around the world

• The U.S. Air Force Academy falcon, trained and handled by cadet falconers, the falcon soars and dives, sometimes zooming low over the heads of spectators

• The U.S. Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team, a traveling component of the honor guard that performs to inspire awareness of the Air Force among military and civilian audiences through its complex drill routine

“This is not only an opportunity for the Air Force to build relationships and for us to expose people to the Air Force mission, but it’s an opportunity for the community to showcase its Air Force base as well,” Medler said.

Air Force Weeks were first started in 2006 to foster relationships and expose as many people as possible to the Air Force and its mission.

Next year, the Salt Lake area will join Hampton Roads, Va., and Sacramento, Calif., in such observances.

Hill AFB is the state’s single site largest employer, with about 25,000 people working on base, including some 4,000 military and 21,000 civilian personnel.

Davis County officials have long maintained a close relationship with the base. For example, the Utah Defense Alliance was organized more than a decade ago as a way to promote the base, including fighting hard to keep it open through various Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) proceedings.

tbusselberg@davisclipper.com