By Jeff Mullin, Senior Writer

Capt. Samuel Joplin can’t pinpoint a single moment that inspired him to pursue a career in aviation. He just knows that boyhood inspiration likely stemmed from his attending air shows with his father.

“I’m sure that really sparked my interest,” Joplin said.

Joplin is hoping to ignite that spark in the next generation of pilots Saturday when he leads the F-15 West Coast Demonstration Team during the 2008 Vance Air Force Base Partners in the Sky Open House and Air Show. Gates open at 9 a.m.

Joplin is the team’s pilot, and he will put an F-15 Eagle through its paces during Saturday’s show, part of the demo team’s nine-month performance schedule.

The F-15 demonstration, he said, is a “nice contrast to the Thunderbirds,” who also will appear at Saturday’s show.

“They are a big formation act, they have six airplanes and are magnificently choreographed,” Joplin said. “The Eagle demo is really aggressive, really loud and really in your face. This is what a fighter jet really looks like at the edge of its performance envelope.”

Despite its name, the F-15 West Coast Demonstration team is based at Eglin Air Force Base, in Florida. It was formerly based at Holloman Air Force Base, in New Mexico, but moved to Eglin in the early 1990s. The name used to delineate the West Coast team from the East Coast unit, which was based at Langley Air Force Base, in Virginia, until it was disbanded three years ago.

“It is kind of a heritage thing,” Joplin said.

Joplin will bring to Vance a team of four enlisted maintainers and another pilot who will fly a backup F-15 and act as safety observer. The maintenance personnel, Joplin said, will be part of the show.

“We put the maintenance guys out front,” Joplin said. “You will see them launch and recover the aircraft and if there is any maintenance needed you’ll see them do that as well. They are the unsung heroes. None of this is possible without those guys.”

Joplin deflects suggestions his role as demo team pilot makes him special.

“Any Eagle driver can do this,” he said. “Any of the guys who wear the wings and fly the fighters can do this. They do this every day in training. I am not anything special, I’m just a lucky guy.”

Joplin said he is looking forward to returning to an undergraduate pilot training base. He earned his silver wings at Laughlin Air Force Base, in Texas, and served as a First Assignment Instructor Pilot at that base.

“There’s a lot of great stuff done at Vance, like there is at Laughlin,” Joplin said. “We train and equip the best aviators in the world. That is not pride talking, that is the bottom line. It will be great to kind of get back to my roots.”

Being an F-15 demonstration team pilot has many benefits, Joplin said.

“I like the travel, I like the excitement of flying demonstration flights,” he said. “The best part of it is the people you meet. It is a recruiting job, a public relations job. You get to meet a lot of neat people, enthusiastic people, a lot of aspiring young kids.”

Joplin will be available in the Air Force recruiting booth prior to Saturday’s performance, then afterward he will “go from the jet to the crowd line,” handing out information about the Air Force and the demonstration team, signing autographs and handing out coloring books and stickers for children.

“People are what make this job great,” Joplin said, “We want to spend as much time interacting with them as we can.”