Blue Angels Return Home After Winter Training!

 

Every year the Blue Angels spend the first couple of months at NAF El Centro, CA, for winter training. Their return home is a much-anticipated event for their devoted fans here in the Pensacola area, of which I consider myself among the most fanatical! Today I was waiting for them on the Santa Rosa Sound and was lucky enough to catch a quick shot of them banking west to return to home base, NAS Pensacola:

Welcome Home, Blue Angels! You make us very proud to be Americans!

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  1. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    It was only about five years ago that I learned that my aunt and uncle had lived in El Centro many, many years ago and it was the winter home of the Blue Angels. She enjoyed getting to see them.

    I’ve driven through there a few times when we lived in Tucson and traveled to California. Somewhere I have a picture of the water tower and the sea level marking near the top.

    • #1
  2. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Sweet!

    • #2
  3. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    This is related to Thunderbirds rather than Blue Angels, but still pretty cool.   And there are some follow-up videos too.

     

    • #3
  4. navyjag Coolidge
    navyjag
    @navyjag

    Love those guys (any gals?). See them every October in San Fran. Fleet Week. Only the dog objects. And saw them in Sept. 2018 flying over just as we were putting my dad’s ashes in Pensacola Bay. 

    • #4
  5. BillJackson Inactive
    BillJackson
    @BillJackson

    So great! When I was a teenager — and very much into the idea of being a pilot — we took a trip along the area and got to see them fly out to sea for some practice. It was so long ago, I think they had just transitioned to a F-18 variant.

    And in Chicago, when they come for the Air and Water show, it’s a “must-see” event. Thanks for posting that!

    • #5
  6. Jim George Member
    Jim George
    @JimGeorge

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Love those guys (any gals?). See them every October in San Fran. Fleet Week. Only the dog objects. And saw them in Sept. 2018 flying over just as we were putting my dad’s ashes in Pensacola Bay.

    Yes! 

     

    LT Amanda Lee

    #3 | LT AMANDA LEE | USN

    // Left Wing

    Lieutenant Amanda Lee is a native of Mounds View, Minnesota. She graduated from Irondale High School in 2004, where she competed in soccer, ice hockey and swimming. While attending the University of Minnesota Duluth, Amanda enlisted in the U.S. Navy as an Aviation Electronics Technician (AT) and reported to her first command, VFA-136 “Knighthawks.” She was selected to commission as a Pilot through the Seaman-to-Admiral (STA-21) commissioning program in 2009. The following year, Lee attended the Naval Science Institute (NSI) for officer training in Newport, Rhode Island, and simultaneously began her studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where she received a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry.

    Amanda joined the Blue Angels in September 2022. She has accumulated more than 1,400 flight hours and over 225 carrier-arrested landings. Her decorations include four Navy Achievement medals and various personal and unit awards.

    Thank you for your service. Jim

    • #6
  7. navyjag Coolidge
    navyjag
    @navyjag

    Jim George (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Love those guys (any gals?). See them every October in San Fran. Fleet Week. Only the dog objects. And saw them in Sept. 2018 flying over just as we were putting my dad’s ashes in Pensacola Bay.

    Yes!

     

    LT Amanda Lee

    #3 | LT AMANDA LEE | USN

    // Left Wing

    Lieutenant Amanda Lee is a native of Mounds View, Minnesota. She graduated from Irondale High School in 2004, where she competed in soccer, ice hockey and swimming. While attending the University of Minnesota Duluth, Amanda enlisted in the U.S. Navy as an Aviation Electronics Technician (AT) and reported to her first command, VFA-136 “Knighthawks.” She was selected to commission as a Pilot through the Seaman-to-Admiral (STA-21) commissioning program in 2009. The following year, Lee attended the Naval Science Institute (NSI) for officer training in Newport, Rhode Island, and simultaneously began her studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where she received a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry.

    Amanda joined the Blue Angels in September 2022. She has accumulated more than 1,400 flight hours and over 225 carrier-arrested landings. Her decorations include four Navy Achievement medals and various personal and unit awards.

    Thank you for your service. Jim

    Wow! And a hot one too.  Wonder how the pilot’s  Officer Club crashes go after a hard day at work. 

    • #7
  8. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    The Blues came through MCAS El Toro every year for our annual air show.  It was a rather large air show.  My last year in El Toro my squadron had transitioned from the A-6E to the F/A-18D and we were selected to host them.  They got every thing they wanted, they are quite high priority in the supply world.

    I got to sit in on all their safety briefs to see how the show was organized and planned.  One thing that surprised me is that their flight path is not over the runway, it’s over a parallel line indicated by two white school buses offset from the runway.  I suppose if there is a crash then the runway won’t be fouled.  I don’t know if that was a Blues rule or an El Toro rule.

    They were the height of professionalism and I enjoyed the glimpse into their activities.  I don’t recall talking with any of the air crew, I would have worked more with their maintenance control officer, but he had his own sources of doing things and honestly didn’t need my cumshaw ways.

    I remember one year when I was still the power plants officer I climbed up on the top of the engine test cell exhaust tower to watch the show.  It was like they flew just within feet of me and my co-conspirator.  That probably wouldn’t be allowed nowadays, but in the 80’s rules were much looser.

    • #8
  9. Jim George Member
    Jim George
    @JimGeorge

    Skyler (View Comment):

    The Blues came through MCAS El Toro every year for our annual air show. It was a rather large air show. My last year in El Toro my squadron had transitioned from the A-6E to the F/A-18D and we were selected to host them. They got every thing they wanted, they are quite high priority in the supply world.

    I got to sit in on all their safety briefs to see how the show was organized and planned. One thing that surprised me is that their flight path is not over the runway, it’s over a parallel line indicated by two white school buses offset from the runway. I suppose if there is a crash then the runway won’t be fouled. I don’t know if that was a Blues rule or an El Toro rule.

    They were the height of professionalism and I enjoyed the glimpse into their activities. I don’t recall talking with any of the air crew, I would have worked more with their maintenance control officer, but he had his own sources of doing things and honestly didn’t need my cumshaw ways.

    I remember one year when I was still the power plants officer I climbed up on the top of the engine test cell exhaust tower to watch the show. It was like they flew just within feet of me and my co-conspirator. That probably wouldn’t be allowed nowadays, but in the 80’s rules were much looser.

    Thanks for this most interesting comment- if my assumption is correct, Semper Fi, from one who served in USAF long ago– SAC– but who has always been a great admirer of the organization which represents some of the last real men left in the USA, as much as it pains me to have to say that. I appreciated your comments about our Blues– here in the Pensacola area we are so spoiled as we get to go out many days during their performance season to watch practice, which is, in effect, the show every time. In the past I have tried to go out – NAS Pensacola is about a 45 minute drive from our new home here in Gulf Breeze- for at least one practice a week. As those of us who are a little “touched in the head” about the Blue Angels always say- it never gets old! I should also note with pride that the new Maintenance Officer of the Blues is our newest neighbor! In case it’s not obvious, I absolutely LOVE our Blue Angels and all they stand for! In a time when it is so sorely needed, they are a true beacon of great pride and they make us proud to be Americans! 

    Thanks again for your great comment. Jim

    • #9
  10. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Every year I am down there I watch them.  

    • #10
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