And Finally...the Blue Angels

For many people the main attraction of the Air Show is the Blue Angels.  They are the flight demonstration team of the US Navy and represent the best of the best.  The Blue Angels were formed in 1946 and have wowed crowds ever since.  In a typical season, they will do 40 air shows plus all the training associated with that.

 Our announcer was Capt Jeff Kuss who is also known as Blue Angel #7. He is also a Marine.

 The Marines are represented by the C-130 affectionately known as Fat Albert.  Fat Albert is used to carry the support crew and other things for the shows.

 It is pretty amazing to watch a big plane like this being put through its paces.

 They used to do this with a jet assist but apparently the propellers are powerful enough without it.

 A nice photo pass.

 I was trying to get a low enough shutter speed to get some propeller blur but I think I got other blur too.

 Fat Albert coming in for a landing.

 I kind of like this shot with the out of focus plane in the background.

 The main body of the Blue Angels line up for take off.  The will take off and immediately form their diamond formation.

 Smoke on.

 They are soon followed by the two opposing solo aircraft.  These are two planes that do most of the really cool stuff.

 Fat Albert taxiing.

 The Blue Angels form up into there delta pattern.

 One of the solo aircraft about to make a pass.

 The main group fly by for a photo pass.

 And they fly off.

 It's kind of neat to watch the diamond go into a loop in formation.

 The two solo aircraft in a mirror formation.

 The diamond doing the same.

 An echelon formation.

 One of many passes.

 Another formation.

 One of the solo aircraft about to go into a pass.

 The burst.

 Another pass.  These are amazing to watch, especially when you consider the two planes are closing at about 900 miles (relative to each other).

 Another break off.

 This is called a high alpha pass and is almost all engine.

 Breaking off.

 One last diamond formation.

 Another burst.

Each of the Blue Angels peel off to enter a carrier approach pattern.