Defenders of Liberty Air Show

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Defenders of Liberty Air Show

The official page for the Defenders of Liberty Airshow at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana.

The Barksdale Air Force Base Air Show allows Shreveport-Bossier City to showcase the home of the B-52, grant access to tour the military installation, view military and aerobatic performers, and support the recruiting arm of our armed forces.

09/15/2026

A T-6 Texan sits at idle before its performance at the 2025 show. The T-6 features a classic tailwheel landing gear configuration as opposed to a more common tricycle gear configuration. The tailwheel gives the T-6 its strong ramp presence, with the nose held high and the big radial rumbling.

We guess this also passes for !

📸 Mindi Russell

09/14/2026

, September 14, 1939, Igor Sikorsky eased the controls of an ungainly experimental helicopter called the VS-300.

It did not climb into the open sky. Four cables held it close to the ground while a crew stood nearby in case it rolled over. The machine rose only a few inches, remained airborne for about ten seconds, and came back down.

The VS-300 was never a finished design in the usual sense. Sikorsky and his team flew it, studied its behavior, and returned to the shop to make changes. At one point, they discovered that the helicopter could move in nearly every direction except forward without encountering severe vibration and control problems. The aircraft was rebuilt repeatedly as the team worked through questions that fixed-wing aviation could not answer for them.

Their experiments eventually produced the now-familiar arrangement of one main rotor and a smaller tail rotor. Lessons from the VS-300 also informed the development of the Sikorsky R-4, the first helicopter produced in quantity for the U.S. military.

During World War II, the R-4 proved that a helicopter could reach people stranded where an airplane could not land. In April 1944, Lt. Carter Harman used one to evacuate four men from the jungle in Burma, carrying them out one at a time because of the heat, altitude, and limited power available.

Modern military helicopters bear little resemblance to Sikorsky’s exposed framework and 75-horsepower engine. Their ability to hover, land in confined spaces, move personnel, and recover the injured, however, can be traced through the work that began with experiments like this one.

09/12/2026

Fat Albert has a special role in the airshow world. For our newer followers, who can tell us more about this aircraft's purpose?

📸 Sector K Media

09/11/2026

Twenty-five years have passed since September 11, 2001. For the families who lost someone that morning, however, the passage of time does not make the absence any smaller.

There were 2,977 lives taken in New York City, at the Pentagon, and aboard Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.

They were
parents,
children,
spouses,
siblings,
friends,
coworkers.

Each left behind people whose lives were permanently changed.

What followed was an extraordinary willingness to help.

First responders walked into danger.
Volunteers searched through debris, treated the injured, donated blood,
prepared meals, and cared for families waiting for news.
In communities across the country, people gave whatever they could.

That response reached far beyond the United States. Other nations offered assistance and mourned alongside us.

Canadian communities welcomed thousands of stranded airline passengers into their homes, schools, and churches.

America’s NATO allies declared that the attack on the United States would be treated as an attack on them all.

September 11 is remembered in many different ways.

For some, it's history.
For others, it remains deeply personal.

Grief doesn't follow a calendar, and anniversaries can bring memories back with unexpected force.

Today, Defenders of Liberty Airshow remembers every life lost, everyone who stepped forward to help, and everyone who is still carrying the weight of that day.

09/10/2026

On World Su***de Prevention Day, we pause to remind Service Members, Veterans, and their families- or anyone who is struggling- that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, and no one has to face a crisis alone.

Defenders of Liberty is a weekend of excitement, education, and shared appreciation for military aviation. But the aircraft presented also represent something deeper: the stress, sacrifice, and dedication carried by the men and women who answer our nation’s call. That responsibility does not always end when a mission or military career is over.

If you are struggling, or if you are concerned about someone you love, the Veterans Crisis Line offers free, confidential support 24 hours a day. You do not need to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to connect.

Call 988, then press 1
Text 838255
Chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net

Please reach out. Support is available, and you do not have to carry this alone.

09/09/2026

This is definitely being brought up in the AAR....

09/07/2026

Long before Barksdale became home to the B-52, the 2nd Bomb Wing, Eighth Air Force, and Air Force Global Strike Command, it was a construction site.

Work began in 1931, transforming thousands of acres in Bossier Parish into a military airfield. Laborers cleared and graded the land, built roads and runways, raised hangars, barracks, offices, and a hospital, and installed the infrastructure required to support one of the largest airfields of its time. When Barksdale Field was formally dedicated on February 2, 1933, those workers had created the foundation for more than nine decades of military aviation.

The work never stopped. During World War II, Barksdale became a training center for aircrews and combat units. In the decades that followed, generations of military personnel, federal civilian employees, contractors, tradespeople, and local businesses kept the installation operating through the Cold War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and the missions of the present day.

A B-52 in the air represents far more than the crew aboard it. Maintainers inspect and repair the aircraft. Fuel specialists, weapons personnel, logisticians, engineers, firefighters, medical teams, security forces, airfield crews, and countless others provide the support that makes every sortie possible. Much of that work happens away from public view, but none of Barksdale’s history could have been written without it.

This Labor Day, we recognize the people who built Barksdale, those who sustained it through more than 90 years of service, and everyone whose work continues to support its mission today.

09/06/2026

On September 6, 1945, Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura of the Imperial Japanese Army formally signed the instrument of surrender aboard HMS Glory, anchored off Rabaul, New Britain. This ceremony marked the capitulation of over 100,000 Japanese troops stationed in the New Guinea and Solomon Islands area. Vice Admiral Junichi Kusaka of the Imperial Japanese Navy co-signed the document, while Lieutenant General Vernon Sturdee of the Australian Army accepted the surrender on behalf of the Allied forces.

In the final stages of World War II, Rabaul had become one of Japan's most fortified strongholds in the South Pacific. Following the Allied advances in 1943 and 1944, Japanese forces in the area were effectively isolated through a campaign of strategic bypassing, rendering Rabaul militarily impotent despite the large garrison. By August 1945, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan's subsequent announcement of surrender, Allied command moved to secure formal surrenders from scattered Japanese forces throughout the Pacific.

The surrender at Rabaul was significant due to the sheer number of personnel involved and the symbolic closure it provided to years of intense combat in the region. The event ensured a peaceful transition of control and allowed for the repatriation of Japanese troops and the restoration of civil governance in New Britain and surrounding territories.

📸 Australian War Memorial

09/05/2026

Things that are true for $500, Alex...😂

What's your favorite family-friendly aviation meme?

09/04/2026

On September 4, 1943, Texas-born fighter pilot Lt. Col. Neel E. Kearby opened his remarkable combat record over New Guinea with two aerial victories in a P-47 Thunderbolt.

Kearby was leading the 348th Fighter Group, the first P-47 unit sent to the Southwest Pacific. The Thunderbolt had been designed for high-altitude combat over Europe, and some doubted whether the large, heavy fighter could compete against the lighter and more maneuverable Japanese aircraft encountered in the Pacific.

Kearby understood that trying to turn with those fighters at low altitude wasted the P-47’s strengths. Instead, the 348th climbed high, used the Thunderbolt’s turbosupercharged engine to gain an altitude advantage, and attacked from above at high speed. After firing, the pilots used the energy from the dive to climb away and prepare for another pass.

During the fighting on September 4, Kearby was credited with destroying a Mitsubishi G4M bomber and a Nakajima Ki-43 fighter. They were the first two of the 22 aerial victories he would earn during his brief combat career.

Five weeks later, Kearby led four P-47s against a much larger Japanese formation near Wewak. He personally destroyed six aircraft during the October 11 engagement, becoming the first U.S. Army Air Forces fighter pilot credited with six victories on one mission. The action earned him the Medal of Honor.

Kearby became the highest-scoring P-47 pilot in the Pacific, but he did not survive the war. He was shot down and killed near Wewak on March 5, 1944.

Have you ever heard of him?

Address

109 Barksdale Boulevard E
Bossier City, LA
71110

Telephone

+13184561015

Website

http://www.defendersoflibertyairshow.com/

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