New Mexico’s Spaceport America the backdrop of new Netflix documentary

Southern New Mexico’s Spaceport America is trading rocket launches for a different kind of takeoff.

An Obama-produced documentary about the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds premieres Friday on Netflix, “Air Force Elite: Thunderbirds,” and features footage of the team’s trainings at Spaceport America.

“The significance to me is showing the joint cooperation, I think, between Spaceport America and our Department of Defense partners,” said Allan Turk II, Spaceport America’s director of aerospace operations.

The Air Force Demonstration Squadron, more commonly known as the Thunderbirds, is a group of six aircraft — most famously the F-16 fighter jet — that performs air shows and flyovers around the world. The team is based in Nevada but also trains at Spaceport America.

The Thunderbirds’ involvement in New Mexico began with a phone call in 2020, when the Thunderbirds submitted a customer inquiry seeking to use the Spaceport America facilities for flying. Turk wasn’t sure if it was fake or not, and when a pilot followed up by phone, he asked to video call instead for verification.

“And sure enough, there he was in his Thunderbird outfit. I said, ‘I’ve got to take a screenshot, I’ve got to show my boss it’s legit,’” Turk said.

The Thunderbirds have deployed annually at Spaceport ever since, and Turk said the team is interested in staying on for at least the next five years.

Spaceport is typically the site where the squadron comes together for the first time to practice ahead of the nearly yearlong show season, Turk said. He added that Netflix shot about a week of the team’s early training sessions at Spaceport for the documentary, executive produced by former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.

And, Spaceport spokesperson Charles Hurley said, the new show allows the public a peek into DOD operations at Spaceport, which are generally kept secret.

“Hopefully there’s just a little bit more tangibility of our site — what it looks like, what goes on here — with something like this that appeals to a broad audience as well,” he said.