Advertising the flyover of the US Air Force’s demonstration team during Sunday’s Super Bowl game, the California city of Santa Monica used a stock photo of a Russian MiG-29 jet, prompting widespread mockery on Twitter.
Military pageantry is part and parcel of National Football League (NFL) events, with the final game usually preceded by USAF or Navy jets parading in the sky.
Sunday’s game was played in Inglewood, where the home-field Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals on their home turf.
The nearby Santa Monica alerted its residents of the flyover about half an hour ahead of time. Unfortunately, the person in charge of the city’s Twitter account chose to illustrate the announcement with a stock photo of the MiG-29, a Russian fighter jet very much not in service with any branch of the US military.