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Blue Angels

The Blue Angels, formally named the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, are a flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy.[1] Formed in 1946, the unit is the second oldest formal aerobatic team in the world, after the French Patrouille de France formed in 1931. The team, composed of six Navy and one Marine Corps demonstration pilot, fly Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets.

For other uses, see Blue Angels (disambiguation).

Blue Angels
U.S. Navy flight demonstration squadron

24 April 1946–present

Aerobatic flight demonstration team

Navy: 13 officers
Marine Corps: 4 officers
Navy & Marine Corps: 100+ enlisted personnel

NAS Pensacola, Florida
NAF El Centro, California (Winter Facility)

The Blues

"Blue Angel" blue
"Insignia" yellow

Navy
F/A-18E Super Hornets (single seat)
(Demonstrations use F/A-18Es #1 to 6; backup is a pair of F/A-18F #7)

The Blue Angels typically perform aerial displays in at least 60 shows annually at 30 locations throughout the United States and two shows at one location in Canada.[2] The "Blues" still employ many of the same practices and techniques used in the inaugural 1946 season. An estimated 11 million spectators view the squadron during air shows from March through November each year. Members of the Blue Angels team also visit more than 50,000 people in schools, hospitals, and community functions at air show cities.[3] Since 1946, the Blue Angels have flown for more than 505 million spectators.[4]


As of November 2011, the Blue Angels received $37 million annually from the annual Department of Defense budget.[5][6]

Mission[edit]

The mission of the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron is to showcase the pride and professionalism of the United States Navy and Marine Corps by inspiring a culture of excellence and service to the country through flight demonstrations and community outreach.[7]

Training and weekly routine[edit]

Annual winter training takes place at NAF El Centro, California, where new and returning pilots hone skills learned in the fleet. During winter training, the pilots fly two practice sessions per day, six days a week, to fly the 120 training missions needed to perform the demonstration safely. The separation between the formation of aircraft and their maneuver altitude is gradually reduced over the course of about two months in January and February. The team then returns to their home base in Pensacola, Florida, in March, and continues to practice throughout the show season. A typical week during the season has practices at NAS Pensacola on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. The team then flies to its show venue for the upcoming weekend on Thursday, conducting "circle and arrival" orientation maneuvers upon arrival. The team flies a "practice" airshow at the show site on Friday. This show is attended by invited guests but is often open to the general public. The main airshows are conducted on Saturdays and Sundays, with the team returning home to NAS Pensacola on Sunday evenings after the show. Monday is an off day for the Blues' demonstration pilots and road crew. Extensive aircraft maintenance is performed on Sunday evening and Monday by maintenance team members.


Pilots maneuver the flight stick with their right hand and operate the throttle with their left. They do not wear G-suits because the air bladders inside repeatedly deflate and inflate, increasing the risk of unintentional movement. To compensate for the lack of G-suits, Blue Angel pilots have developed a method for tensing their muscles to prevent blood from pooling in their lower extremities, possibly rendering them unconscious.[22]

– 1946, 1952

Roy Marlin Voris

John J. Magda – 1950, Killed in Action March 1951, [100]

Korean War

– 1952 to 1953[101]

Arthur Ray Hawkins

Richard Cormier – 1954 to 1956

[102]

– 1957 to 1958

Edward B. Holley

– 1959 to 1961[103]

Zebulon V. Knott

– 1962 to 1963[104]

Kenneth R. Wallace

– 1964 to 1966[105]

Robert F. Aumack

– 1967 to 1969[106]

William V. Wheat

– 1970 to 1971

Harley H. Hall

– 1972

Don Bently

– 1973[107]

Marvin F. "Skip" Umstead

– Oct 1973 to Jan 1976

Anthony A. Less

– 1976 to 1978[108]

Keith S. Jones

– 1978 to 1979[109]

William E. Newman

– Dec 1979 to 1982[110]

Hugh D. Wisely

– 1982 to 1983

David Carroll

– 1983 to 1985[111]

Larry Pearson

– Nov 1985 to Nov 1988[112]

Gilman E. Rud

– 1990 to 1992, 1996[113]

Gregory Wooldridge

Robert E. Stumpf – 1993 to 1994

[114]

– Nov 1994 to May 1996

Donnie Cochran

– Nov 1996 to Oct 1998[115]

George B. Dom

– Oct 1998 to 2000[116]

Patrick Driscoll

Notable Commanding Officers include;

World War II fighter ace and first Flight Leader

Capt Roy "Butch" Voris

Astronaut and physician

Charles "Chuck" Brady Jr.

First African-American Blue Angels aviator and commander

Donnie Cochran

World War II fighter ace and Lead Solo

Edward L. Feightner

World War II flying ace

Arthur Ray Hawkins

World War II fighter pilot and flight instructor, honorary Blue Angel member

Bob Hoover

First Commanding Officer of Blue Angels squadron, numerous other commands including Naval Air Forces Atlantic Fleet

Anthony A. Less

aviation artist

Robert L. Rasmussen

World War II and Korean War fighter pilot and third Flight Leader of the Blue Angels[123]

Raleigh Rhodes

Left Wingman and Slot Pilot who later commanded the U.S. Pacific Fleet and became Vice Chief of Naval Operations and a White House Fellow

Patrick M. Walsh

First female Blue Angels pilot

Katie Higgins Cook

First female Blue Angels demonstration pilot

Amanda Lee

Below are some of the more notable members of the Blue Angels squadron:

Lt. Ross "Robby" Robinson – 29 September 1946: killed during a performance when a wingtip broke off his F8F-1 Bearcat, sending him into an unrecoverable spin.

Lt. Bud Wood – 7 July 1952: killed when his F9F-5 Panther collided with another Panther jet during a demonstration in .[126] The team resumed performances two weeks later.

Corpus Christi, Texas

Cmdr. Robert Nicholls Glasgow – 14 October 1958: died during an orientation flight just days after reporting for duty as the new Blue Angels leader.

[127]

Lt. Anton M. Campanella (#3 Left Wing) – 14 June 1960: killed flying a that crashed into the water near Fort Morgan, Alabama during a test flight.[126]

Grumman F-11A Tiger

Lt. George L. Neale – 15 March 1964: killed during an attempted emergency landing at Apalach Airport near . Lt. Neale's F-11A Tiger had experienced mechanical difficulties during a flight from West Palm Beach, to Naval Air Station Pensacola, causing him to attempt the emergency landing. Failing to reach the airport, he ejected from the aircraft on final approach, but his parachute did not have sufficient time to fully deploy.[128]

Apalachicola, Florida

Lt. Cmdr. Dick Oliver – 2 September 1966: crashed his F-11A Tiger and was killed at the in Toronto.

Canadian International Air Show

Lt Frank Gallagher – 1 February 1967: killed when his F-11A Tiger stalled during a practice Half Cuban Eight maneuver and spun into the ground.

Capt. Ronald Thompson – 18 February 1967: killed when his F-11A Tiger struck the ground during a practice formation loop.

Lt. Bill Worley (Opposing Solo) – 14 January 1968: killed when his Tiger crashed during a practice double Immelmann.

Lt. Larry Watters – 14 February 1972: killed when his F-4J Phantom II struck the ground, upright, while practicing inverted flight, during winter training at NAF El Centro.

Lt. Cmdr. Skip Umstead (Team Leader), Capt. Mike Murphy, and ADJ1 Ron Thomas (Crew Chief) – 26 July 1973: all three were killed in a mid-air collision between two Phantoms over Lakehurst, New Jersey, during an arrival practice. The rest of the season was cancelled after this incident.

Lt. Nile Kraft (Opposing Solo) – 22 February 1977: killed when his Skyhawk struck the ground during practice.

Lt. Michael Curtin – 8 November 1978: one of the solo Skyhawks struck the ground after low roll during arrival maneuvers at , and Curtin was killed.

Naval Air Station Miramar

Lt. Cmdr. Stu Powrie (Lead Solo) – 22 February 1982: killed when his Skyhawk struck the ground during winter training at Naval Air Facility El Centro, California, just after a dirty loop.

Lt. Cmdr. Mike Gershon (Opposing Solo #6) – 13 July 1985: his Skyhawk collided with Lt. Andy Caputi (Lead Solo #5) during a show at Niagara Falls, Gershon was killed and Caputi ejected and parachuted to safety.

[129]

Lt. Cmdr. Kieron O'Connor and Lt. Kevin Colling – 28 October 1999: flying in the back seat and front seat of a Hornet, both were killed after striking the ground during circle and arrival maneuvers in .[130]

Valdosta, Georgia

Lt. Cmdr. Kevin J. Davis – 21 April 2007: near the end of the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort airshow in Beaufort, South Carolina, and was killed.[131]

crashed his Hornet

Capt. Jeff Kuss (Opposing Solo, #6) – 2 June 2016: died just after takeoff while performing the Split-S maneuver in his F/A-18 Hornet during a practice run for The Great Tennessee Air Show in .

Smyrna, Tennessee

Commander John Magda – 8 March 1951: Blue Angels (1949, 1950; Commander/Flight Leader 1950): Magda was killed after his F9F-2B Panther was hit by anti aircraft fire while leading a low-level strike mission against North Korean and Chinese communist positions at which earned him the Navy Cross during the Korean War.[137] He also was a fighter ace in World War II.

Tanchon

was a dramatic television series, starring Dennis Cross and Don Gordon, inspired by the team's exploits and filmed with the cooperation of the Navy. It aired in syndication from 26 September 1960 to 3 July 1961.[145]

The Blue Angels

is a 1975 documentary film, written by Dune author Frank Herbert, featuring the team in practice and performance during their F-4J Phantom era; many of the aerial photography techniques pioneered in Threshold were later used in the film Top Gun.[146]

Threshold: The Blue Angels Experience

, a short IMAX film featured at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum since its 1976 opening features footage from a camera on a Blue Angels A4 Skyhawk tail as the pilot performs in a show.[147]

To Fly!

In 1981, the Blue Angels along with the USAF were featured on a Laserdisc released in Japan called Blue Angels/Thunderbirds.[148]

Thunderbirds

The Blue Angels were featured in the 1986 music video [149] by rock artist Van Halen, flying the A-4 Skyhawk.

Dreams

In 1987, the Blue Angels were featured in Rolling in the Sky: F/A-18 Blue Angels.

[150]

In 1996, the Blue Angels appeared in the short film The Magic of Flight.[151] The Magic of Flight immerses viewers in the cockpit of a Blue Angels jet aircraft, allowing them to experience the thrill of high-performance flight. Narrated by Tom Selleck, the film traces the history of flight from the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kittyhawk in 1903 to today's supersonic maneuvers. This high-energy production emphasizes the importance of training and skill, while conveying the sheer joy of flight.

IMAX

In 2005, the aired a documentary miniseries, Blue Angels: A Year in the Life, focusing on the intricate day-to-day details of that year's training and performance schedule.[152][153]

Discovery Channel

In 2009, enlisted the aid of Blue Angels to help test the myth that a sonic boom could shatter glass.[154]

MythBusters

Blue Angels and the is a four-disc SkyTrax DVD set 2012 TOPICS Entertainment, Inc. It features highlights from airshows performed in the United States shot from inside and outside the cockpit including interviews of squadron aviators, plus aerial combat footage taken during Desert Storm, histories of the two flying squadrons from 1947 through 2008 including on-screen notes on changes in Congressional budgeting and research program funding, photo gallery slideshow, and two "forward-looking" sequences Into the 21st Century detailing developments of the F/A-18 Hornet's C and E and F models (10 min.) and footage of the F-22 with commentary (20 min.).

Thunderbirds

List of United States Navy aircraft squadrons

United States Air Force Thunderbirds

United States Marine Corps Aviation

(2012). Archived 16 January 2013 at archive.today

"My incredible flight aboard the Blue Angels" By Charles Atkeison

accessed 10 November 2005.

Blue Angels Timeline (1946–1980)

Archived 25 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine article by William C. Barto at the Grumman Memorial Park Archived 19 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine official website, accessed 15 October 2005.

"Grumman and the Blue Angels"

"First Blue: The story of World War II Ace Butch Voris and the Creation of the Blue Angels" by Robert K. Wilcox, Thomas Dunne Books/St.Martins Press, 2004,

robertkwilcox.com

Archived 2 March 2000 at the Wayback Machine

Blue Angels, official U.S. Navy web site

Complete Blue Angels History

Texas Archive of the Moving Image

The Navy’s Blue Angels (1966)

on Youtube.com

Blue Angels Sneak Pass video