Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The Blue Angels' Practice Session

As I mentioned yesterday, the Blues (as we Navy folk affectionately call the Blue Angles) practice for their air shows on Tuesday and Wednesday here at NAS Pensacola, which is their home.  We decided to pack a lunch and go over to the air field behind the Naval Aviation Museum and watch today.


The place was packed!!!  We had already done our hour walk so decided to take the truck.  Traffic was backed up as if it were a regular air show. After we got into the parking lot they directed us off to a side area of grass to park.  We were almost back to the RV park! There were school groups, there were families with lots of kids, there were geezers from the RV Park and Navy Lodge, and there were people everywhere! 

We did notice license plates were from all over but mostly from northern climates. We counted 40 from Michigan.  It must be Spring/Easter break and folks are ready to get out of the snow.   Next week we plan on just going out to our beach area and watching from there.  We won't see any of the low aerobatics but will be able to see them as they fly by to get back into position.  Still very impressive.





 I took my camera and shot 53 photos!  Mostly I just aimed it into the sky and hit the shutter button.  They were going so fast and I couldn't see them because of the glare on the screen.  I was lucky to get a couple of fairly decent, slightly fuzzy ones. Maybe next time I will get something really good.












U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels are back after 2013 budget cuts clipped wings




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    By Kellan Howell
    -
    The Washington Times
    Saturday, March 15, 2014


    Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/15/us-navys-blue-angels-are-back-after-2013-budget-cu/#ixzz2yR9xn8r8
    Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

    After U.S. military spending cuts grounded the Blue Angels for most of last year, the “Rolling Stones” of the skies are getting their wings back to appear at air shows this year.
    The U.S. Navy Flight Demonstrative Squadron, the famous fleet of blue and gold airplanes, will kick off the 2014 air show season with a fly over at the Naval Air Facility in El Centro, California on Saturday. The show will be the first of 68 performances schedules in 35 locations through November 8, CNN reported.
    The Blue Angels have been grounded since April 2013, which saved an estimated $28 million, reported NBC San Diego.
    However, each air show draws huge crowds and the cancellations have cost millions for the tourism industry.
    “The economic impact of the show for us more than $2 million,” said W.A. Buck Lee, president of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, the Daily Mail reported. “People are going to start cancelling their hotel rooms and will hurt businesses here.
    In order to return the grounded aircraft to mission ready status, additional funds will be needed, according to Air Force Officials.
    “Even a six-month stand down of units will have significant long-term, multi-year impacts on our operational readiness,” Air Combat Command spokesman Maj. Brandon Lingle told the Associated Press.
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