LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- With less than a month until Thunder Over Louisville, pilots are getting ready at the Kentucky Air National Guard base, where many of the military planes for the air show will take off from.

A lot of work happens behind the scenes to put on the big show each April to kick off the Kentucky Derby Festival. 

"Watching the planes take off and land, it's still — it's just an awesome experience," said Major Nick Reinke.

Reinke is a C-130J pilot at the Kentucky Air National Guard base, located off Interstate 65 by taking exit 130.

"We serve as the host for all the military for Thunder, and then you will kind of see where normally we are operating eight C-130s in and out of here," he said. "We'll have over a dozen aircraft ranging in size, from small fighter to large cargo aircraft."

Outside of Thunder Over Louisville, the base is often busy sending aid and special tactics during natural disasters.

"We kind of use that with humanitarian airlift, personal airdrop worldwide, and the whole base works toward that, toward that goal," said Reinke.

On drill weekends, up to 1,000 airmen will be at the base taking care of all the planes and special equipment, such as parachutes.

"We turn these fans on and make sure everything is in good operational order before we repack them up and send them back out again," said Master Sgt. Charles Wilding, with the Logistics Readiness Squadron.

Inside the engine room, propellers are inspected and fixed. Several inspectors and aerospace craftsmen are meticulous when it comes to the eight $75 million planes.

"It's manufactured by Rolls Royce and all the grey that you see is manufactured by Lockheed Martin," Staff Sgt. Casey Gibson, aerospace propulsion craftsman, said about the plane's engine.

But one of the most impressive areas of the base is the maintenance room, where entire planes can be disassembled, panels inspected and rebuilt in just over a month.

"We know five years in advance the schedule really, to the ... I don't want to say to the day, but to the week when we are going to get an airplane in and what inspections is going to be due on it," Sr. Master Sgt. Hunter Hurd, Isochronal Inspections supervisor, said.

Inside, there is space to transport a wide range of things, from pallets of water, to Humvees, or even helicopters.

"We can even set up stanchions all the way down the middle, and we can fold these seats down, and you can have upwards of 120 plus troops in here, depending on how much gear they have," said Hurd.

The base knows all eyes will be on the skies ahead of Thunder, the culmination of six months of planning and preparations to make it the best show possible.

IMAGES | Air show soars above downtown for Thunder Over Louisville 2023

"Thunder is kind of our ability to advertise back to the community like, 'Hey, thanks for all of your support, enjoy Thunder,'" said Reinke.

WDRB is your home for Thunder Over Louisville this year. Crews will be live starting at noon on April 20. You'll be able to see the Air National Guard in action with coverage from before the airshow, all the way through the fireworks.

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