Americans pay hundreds of billions of dollars a year to maintain an impressive and intimidating military, and every now and then it’s fun to see some of the toys paid for by taxpayers up front. That’s at least one of the reasons for the annual Joint Service Open House and Air Show, which took place over the weekend at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

Much as they have since the 1950s, tens of thousands of visitors were treated to acrobatic flight routines, vintage aircraft and the military’s newest hardware during the show. But as the Post reported on Friday, the air show is suffering from many of the same budget realities faced by the rest of the government—in order to save money, the $2.1 million show will only be put on every other year.