U.S. Air Force men and women fly planes, but they can also do many other things and do them well.
One of them is playing beautiful music, and singing beautifully, as the U.S. Air Force Band recently did — one by one, eventually “swelling to 120 musicians” — at the National Air and Space Museum’s “Milestones of Flight” gallery in Washington, D.C. on Dec 3.
Watch it here:
It was the first flash mob to be produced by one of the five military branches’ top bands, according to the U.S. Air Force Band Public Affairs:
The four-minute performance featured an original arrangement of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring/Joy to the World” led by the Band’s commander and conductor, Col. Larry H. Lang. Unsuspecting museum visitors were astonished as instrumentalists streamed into the gallery from behind airplanes and space capsules, and vocalists burst into song from the museum’s second floor balcony.
The surprise event kicked off the band’s “Spirit of the Season” holiday performances, 29 concerts in all, at various venues throughout the Washington, D.C. area including the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the National Museum of American History, local high schools and others.
For a complete listing, please visit www.usafband.af.mil.
Lead Image: U.S. Air Force MC-130J Commando IIs conduct low-level formation training over Clovis, N.M., Nov. 5, 2013. The New Mexico landscape provides an optimal training environment for aircrews to hone their skills to meet the needs of the 27th Special Operations Wing. The aircraft are from the 522nd Special Operations Squadron at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Matthew Plew)
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.