The Dayton Air Show - The Blue Angels

Over the years I have seen the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, Canadian Snowbirds and the Brazillian Smoke Squadron. Of all those groups, the Blue Angels are my favorites seeing that they are Naval Aviators and at one point in my life I wanted to be a Naval Aviator (glasses precluded that from happening). It is still neat to watch them fly.

The Blue Angels first performed in 1946 using the Hellcat. This makes them the oldest acrobatic team. They have transitioned through many aircraft (Hellcat, Bearcat, Panther, Cougar, Tiger, Phantom and Skyhawk) and they currently using the F/A-18 Hornet (which they have used for 23 years). They are composed of pilots from the Marines and Navy. The maneuvers they use are actual combat maneuvers.

This is the C-130 Hercules demonstrator affectionately known as "Fat Albert". They used to do a Jet Assisted Take Off but they stopped that in 2009. It was pretty neat when they did that because it was loud.

This is Fat Albert making a photo pass.

This is Fat Albert demonstrating a landing in a mountainous or dangerous area.

You can see Fat Albert taxiing in the back and the aviators getting ready to get into their aircraft.

Fat Albert coming in.

Blue Angel #1 getting into his aircraft. The ground demonstration of the Blue Angels is pretty neat to watch as well because there is a bit of ceremony to it. It's tough to get a spot though as you almost have to be right in front of them.

The crew chief and pilot going over the final checks.

One of the hand signals used by the ground crew.

The ground crew bringing the chocks from the wheels.

Blue Angels #1 and #2 preparing for takeoff.

They were having problems with one of the planes so the pilot had to get into one of the ready planes. The Blue Angels have never had to cancel a performance for maintenance issues (I guess this is one of the reasons why). The crew that work on the planes represent some of the best ground crew in the Navy.



I'm always happy when I can get this shot where the planes are passing by.

I'm even happier when I can get this shot.

The mirror pass in carrier landing configuration.

The inverted Blue Angel diamond.

An echelon pass.

The Blue Angel Diamond.

Another echelon formation.

The Blue Angels peeling off from formation.

The two slot aircraft in a low speed pass. They were at full power and barely moving. Sometimes slow speed is as good as high speed. It was also pretty neat to watch as they transitioned from this to high speed in a matter of seconds.

Peeling off from another formation.

The Delta Formation.

One of the Blue Angels coming in for a landing.

It was a bit windy so we didn't get to see the full range of the show but it was still pretty cool to watch.