SEATTLE — Before the University of Washington Huskies take on the University of Michigan Wolverines in a rematch of last season's National Championship Game on Saturday, two proud UW alums will take to the sky and fly over Husky Stadium in F35-Cs, the Navy's most stealth fighter jets.
Lt. Brian Cullinan and Lt. Andrew Quam are both graduates from UW's ROTC program and are now Naval aviators in the same squadron, VFA-97 based at NAS Lemoore in California.
Cullinan and Quam are set to fly the F35-C jets up to their home State of Washington on Friday to prepare for the flyover during the National Anthem before kickoff at Saturday's sold-out game. Kickoff is at 4:30 p.m.
"We graduated in the same class in 2018 and spent four years of our lives at University of Washington, so it's nice to come back and see it again. It's one of the first times we've seen it a couple years and do fly over a football game," Quam said. "It's kind of cool to pay that back to the school that taught us so much."
It is a dream come true for Cullinan and Quam to participate in a flyover for UW.
Cullinan grew up in Bothell. He attended Inglemoor High School and then UW. He graduated from the ROTC program in June 2018. He graduated from flight school in May 2021 and joined VFA-97 in August 2022.
Quam grew up in Silverdale. He attended Central Kitsap High School. He graduated from the ROTC program at UW in 2018 and began his primary flight training for the US Navy in 2019. He joined VFA-97 in September 2022.
Both Cullinan and Quam along with their squadron, the Warhawks, watched a recording of the National Championship Game while on deployment aboard the USS Carl Vinson in the South China Sea last January.
"We were in our ready room on the carrier watching this game from from inside. Luckily, we had the armed force network that was able to provide us the national championship, so we're able to watch it," Cullinan said.
Lieutenant Commander Joe Anderson also flew an F-35 up to Washington to help with the flyover. He will be at the stadium on the radio to coordinate the timing of the flyover.
"He's a pretty experienced guy. He was a previously FAC A qualified in the two-seat F-18, Foxtrot, so he has plenty of experience with timing problems and kind of talking us on to the timing that we're trying to hit," Cullinan said.
The lieutenants say they are grateful to their alma mater for allowing them to participate in the flyover and to cheer on the Huskies to a hopeful victory.
Editor's note: KING 5's Madison Wade is in a relationship with Lt. Brian Cullinan