OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:49 AM – Tuesday, September 2, 2025
President Donald Trump welcomed Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, at the White House, with eight fighter jets conducting a flyover.
The flyover was done as a tribute to a top Polish pilot who was killed while training for an air show display on August 28th, as well as to symbolize the Polish-U.S. alliance.
Four National Guard F-16s flew in a ‘missing man’ formation to honor Major Maciej ‘Slab’ Krakowian, leader of the Polish Air Force’s F-16 Tiger Demo team. The formation is an aerial salute where one plane departs from the squadron to recognize a fallen service member.
Additionally, a group of four F-35s joined the display over the White House to symbolize the strong bond between the two nations, according to a Trump administration spokesperson.
The U.S. plays a crucial role in providing defense equipment and logistics to Poland. In August, the State Department approved the sale of $1.85 billion worth of F-35 equipment to Poland. Polish pilots began training in Arkansas on the fifth-generation fighters in May.
President Trump’s meeting with Nawrocki, whom he supported in the Polish elections earlier in 2025, occurs amid ongoing negotiations between Russia and Ukraine—Poland’s neighbors—to resolve their conflict.
“President Trump is looking forward to welcoming President Nawrocki to the White House, who recently won a historic election in Poland,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a Tuesday statement to Fox News Digital. The “spectacular flyover will honor the memory of a brave Polish fighter pilot whose life was tragically taken too soon and capture the special relationship between our two countries.”
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