![]() “We want Coloradans to look up from their homes and enjoy the display of American resolve and pride while keeping frontline responders in their hearts.”Ĭoloradoan reporter Kelly Lyell can be reached by email at You can follow him on Twitter and find him on Facebook at Help support Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a subscription today.ARLINGTON, Va. John Caldwell, the Thunderbirds commander and leader, said in a news release. “Our team is honored to extend the heartfelt gratitude to the countless Coloradans working every day to support their communities during this difficult time in our nation,” Lt. ![]() The team is based at Nellis Air Force Base on the outskirts of Las Vegas. ![]() The flight path took them over the cities of Greeley, Windsor, Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder, the Denver metropolitan area, Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado Springs, Fort Carson and Pueblo. 7 jet and the rest of the Thunderbirds participating in the flyover. Soukup, Romero, Deal and dozens of others who know DiFalco and his parents, Carolyn and John, were looking up to the sky Saturday, a little after 1:30 p.m., to catch a glimpse of the No. He’s a great guy, one of those guys you always remember.” You could tell he just enjoyed life and music and having fun. They often gathered at DiFalco’s home, listening to the rap music DiFalco liked most, laughing and having fun. Romero and Soukup both started playing baseball with DiFalco as 11-year-olds on the Fort Collins Rockies, a competitive traveling team. To me, it’s not surprising he’s around something fun and loud and exciting and competitive. “He loved to just be in that moment, where it’s intense and the game’s on the line and you’ve got to dig deep and pull it out. “He loved to compete,” said teammate Martin Romero, now a Poudre Fire Authority firefighter. ![]() He was a bit of a prankster, assistant coach Keith Aragon said, and seemed to really enjoy life. View Gallery: Air Force Thunderbirds fly over Colorado SaturdayĭiFalco was a left-handed hitting second and third baseman in high school on a team that won a league title his senior year. He had an idea of what he wanted to do when he got out of high school and, obviously, he did it. “He was a bright and determined young man. “He knew what he was going to do when he was in high school,” Deal said. Air Force Weapons School and was a 2016 NASA astronaut nominee.īob Deal, his baseball coach at Fort Collins High, remembers DiFalco as a go-getter, He has logged more than 1,900 hours of flight time, including 297 hours as a combat pilot, according to biographical information on the Thunderbirds’ website.īefore joining the Air Force’s elite flying team, DiFalco served as the assistant director of operations for the 555th Fighter Squadron and director of operations for the 31st Operations Support Squadron at Aviano Air Base in Italy. More good news: Check out the Coloradoan's roundup of feel-good stories amid the coronavirus outbreakĭiFalco attended the University of Colorado on an Air Force ROTC scholarship and graduated in 2004 with an officer’s commission in and degree in aerospace engineering. He’s the example of what it looks like to do things the right way.” “… This is a neat thing today, but what he’s done to serve our country is unbelievable. “He’s as good a person as you could ever meet,” said Dan Soukup, who grew up playing baseball with DiFalco. The Air Force’s Air Demonstration Squadron, as the Thunderbirds are formally known, added flyovers of several Colorado cities to honor the health care workers and first responders who are on the front lines of the battle against the coronavirus or COVID-19. 7 jet in the flyover, which had six F-16s in formation, and two others trailing, that were in the area for the U.S. Kevin DiFalco had a lot of people from his hometown looking up to him Saturday, as he piloted one of the Air Force Thunderbirds jets during a flyover of Fort Collins and other cities along Colorado’s Front Range.ĭiFalco, a 2000 graduate of Fort Collins High School, was flying the No. Watch Video: Air Force Thunderbirds flyover of Fort Collins
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