Those who know me know how difficult this post will be. For those who don't...well, I'm a person who cannot help but look up every time I hear an airplane. I've been that way since a little boy so the chance to see the Blue Angels along with other cool airplanes is one of my highlights of 2016.
As I mentioned in the last post, we visited Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We like national parks and national forests so our next stop will be the Conecuh National Forest which is near the Alabama/Florida border. Opps, I forgot to take a photo of our campsite but it was a nice level site and there were clean restrooms and showers nearby. I'll give it 5 stars!
We traveled the rest of the way to Panama and joined friends to go to the air-show, the 70th anniversary of the Blue Angels. Even though we had reserved seats, we arrived early to avoid traffic. Oh boy, our seats were perfect near the center point of the runway and next to the flight line...this was going to be a good day!
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| Blue Angels maintenance shop. |
There were a number of aircraft on display. Here are a couple that are notable. Daron's battalion rode the CH-53 when inserted into Helmand Province in 2009. We were able to walk through...it's not that big inside.
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| Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion |
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| The inside can transport 24 Marines with combat gear. |
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F-22 Raptor - The most advanced fighter in the fleet.
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We moved to our seats near the flight line foe a day full of aerial acts and a couple sensational surprises on the ground. Several of the acts had morning performances with repeats in the early afternoon. As I mentioned earlier, there was a problem selecting which photos to post.
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| Formation of Stearman |
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| Team Aeroshell |
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| Team Redline |
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| T-6 Texan low pass |
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| Mig-15 in full after burner |
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| F-16 |
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| Tail Hook down |
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| Aeroshell |
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| Oh ya...a jet powered truck showed up too! |
And next ladies and gentlemen, we present the stars of the show...the amazing Navy Blue Angels! One in the air, the Blue Angels do most of their maneuvers is two groups – a group of four and a smaller group of two.
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| Taxi past the crowd – we had front row seats. |
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| Throttle up! |
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| Still going up. |
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| Diamond four formation. |
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| Two up – two down. |
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| You go that way...I'll go this way. |
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| One of the few formations with all six Blue Angels |
Meanwhile, Blue Angels 5 and 6 are busy doing their own thing.
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| All the STUFF hanging out. |
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| Wonder if these guys blink when they pass? |
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| Setting up for the finale. Thanks Kathy for getting us great seats. |
The last maneuver of the day.
“The Missing Man” formation was flown in honor of Capt. Kuss, who was killed when his Blue Angel jet crashed in June, just a day before the Great Tennessee Airshow in Smyrna, Tennessee.
What a great day! Thanks to our friends Kathy, Les, Vicki and Pogo who joined us at the show. It's always fun to share fun experiences with friends. It's just too bad that photos can't make noise nor make you shake as the jest roar by but we'll be back for another show...somewhere.
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