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2007-04-22 Home Front: WoT

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Posted by Spealing Chans4321 2007-04-22 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 God Bless.

Posted by RAMMER 2007-04-22 00:17|| 2007-04-22 00:17|| Front Page Top

#2 RIP. These Top Guns make our enemies think twice.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-04-22 00:58|| 2007-04-22 00:58|| Front Page Top

#3 Walley said the name of the pilot would not be released until relatives were notified of the death.

This says the family was there watching, but they're going to wait 24 hours anyway.

Fox had file tape of past Blue Angels maneuvers. Just amazing.

Posted by Angie Schultz 2007-04-22 01:15|| 2007-04-22 01:15|| Front Page Top

#4 Just amazing.

I've lost track of how many times I've seen the Blue Angels perform their marvels. In tight formation one of their pilots can reach out and strike a match on a fellow squad member's wingtip.

One of the few jet fighter aerial maneuvers I've ever seen that approach the Angel's for sheer balls-to-the-wall gutsiness was at Moffett Field's 50^th Anniversary celebration. Hanger #1 was open to the public back then (its asbestos contamination yet to be discovered). They even had a P-3 Orion doing aerobatics, fer cripes sake. Sorta like watching a hippo do ballet. A NASA STAL (Short Takeoff And Land) jet plane came in for a 100 yard landing. A Harrier Jump Jet arose from the tarmac and bowed to the audience. It was a grand day.

Numerous other flight teams from around the world showed up for the event. Among them were the "Frecce Tricolori", Italy's "Three-Colored Arrows". These maniacs actually did full vertical stalls and a tip-over with jets. For those unfamiliar with jet propelled aviation, allowing your plane to halt in mid-air during a pure vertical ascent opens it up to ingesting its own exhaust plume and smothering the engine through back-pressure. This was done at less than 2,000 feet where a restart was entirely out of the question. I've yet to see any other pilots perform this manuever.

My favorite Blue Angels stunt will always be one of their grand finale moves. After breaking formation, all them fly off to different compass points and then cooridnate their arrival times so that they pass above the assembled crowd within less than fifteen seconds of each other. This is all done at an altitude of less than 1,000 feet and is simply spectacular.

I invite fellow Rantburgers to please share their own airshow memories, especially those related to the Blue Angels. My first encounter with them was at five years old and I've never tired of their incredible antics.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-04-22 02:38|| 2007-04-22 02:38|| Front Page Top

#5 I believe it was the Thunderbirds I saw descend and do an almost stationary tailstand in an F-16 at about 100' off the ground less than an eighth of a mile in front of the crowd I was in. They weren't moving forward faster than an airplane's length every second or two. Does this count?

Posted by gorb 2007-04-22 02:46|| 2007-04-22 02:46|| Front Page Top

#6 Sure sounds like it, gorb. During the course of such a manuever, I'd bet the farm that you couldn't get a round toothpick up the pilot's asshole.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-04-22 03:37|| 2007-04-22 03:37|| Front Page Top

#7 Nor a greased BB up his a$$ with a jackhammer! :-)

Posted by gorb 2007-04-22 04:17|| 2007-04-22 04:17|| Front Page Top

#8 I saw them in the fall of 1979, when they were flying A-4s. The "bomb-burst" maneuver at the end of the show was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

Posted by Mike 2007-04-22 07:02|| 2007-04-22 07:02|| Front Page Top

#9 The Mrs. doesn't particularly care for it but the boys love it. About 2 years ago we took the kids for the first time and saw them at McGuire AFB, right at show center next to the VIP section, which was full of Iraq vets. Just awesome. I'll never forget the look on my boys faces when the first jet powered act, an F-15 screamed over head at about 500 feet or so, eyes bugged and the biggest smiles a 10 & 7 year old are capable of, they both started laughing because it was so loud and it took them by surprise. The incredible traffic snarl getting in and out of there was well worth it.
We used to attend the Sussex County air show every August before they discontinued it 2 or 3 years ago. The airport is too small for jets, it was mainly the prop planes. The last act at the last show was called Masters of Disaster. How those nut jobs didn't kill themselves I'll never figure out.

Posted by JerseyMike 2007-04-22 08:12|| 2007-04-22 08:12|| Front Page Top

#10 The Blue Angels show I remember the best (it's possibly the only one I've actually been to) was sometime in the 1960ies, at Pt. Mugu NAS. One of the members of the team at that time was the brother of one of my Dad's co-workers, so our family, and the brothers' family all went to Pt. Mugu to see the show. I remember we went to the visiting officers' quarters and hung out with the co-workers' brother before the show. I remember thinking that they were very down-to earth; there was a copy of MAD magazine laying around, and they went outside with the kids and tossed a football around. When we watched the show, we didn't have to sit in the grandstands; as sort of VIPs, Dad and his friend were allowed to park their cars on the green, opposite the grandstand, and we watched the show sitting on top of our cars, or on folding pation chairs on the grass. The show was magnificant, and we were watching from practically underneath! Afterwards when the team all were signing autographs, the mother of Dad's friend took my brother around to each one of them and had them autograph a program form him. She knew them all, of course.The commander at the time was LtC. Bill Wheat, but I can't remember any other names (Don't know why that one stuck in my head, but it did). One of the things that struck me during the autograph signing after the show wasseeing how all of them were absolutely drenched in sweat. Their flight suits were sopping wet. Very intense workout, flying wing-tip to wingtip.
Wasn't it the Frecci Tricolori who were performing at the Ramstein airshow when one of them clipped another and crashed into the crowd? They performed a couple of weeks later at the Zaragoza AB open house, and for some reason, we all preferred to watch that from a good distance.

Posted by Sgt. Mom 2007-04-22 08:53|| www.ncobrief.com]">[www.ncobrief.com] 2007-04-22 08:53|| Front Page Top

#11 RIP. A hero, even if he never fired a shot.

I've seen the Angels at least six times over the past decade, and I never tire of the shows. I've seen them in various conditions including their low-altitude show due to low clouds and rain. The first time I saw them was the best, though - not only because of the novelty, but the conditions were absolutely perfect: unlimited visibility in a cloudless summer sky.

When I saw them last summer we were sitting near where the planes were parked, and I got to see the careful choreography that goes into every aspect of the show: from marching out to the planes and climbing into the cockpits to opening the canopies and removing the helmets after the show.

I get chills and misty eyes every time I see them. Truly our best.

Posted by xbalanke 2007-04-22 09:05|| 2007-04-22 09:05|| Front Page Top

#12 RIP brave pilot. Apparently he went to low, hit a tree, went 300yards then crashed. Went over "5 houses before finally crashing". I'm no aviation expert, but there's supposed to be press conference soon about it. I can't help but wonder if the pilot didn't eject because he was over houses and was trying to save lives at the cost of his own. It wouldn't suprise me if that's the case, our pilots are second to none in both skill and character.

Posted by Charles 2007-04-22 09:12|| 2007-04-22 09:12|| Front Page Top

#13 At Quonset, I watched an F-14 (BIG airplane) and an F-16, about 10 feet between them (F-16 looked like a remora) do a VERY slow fly by at 25 ft or so, rotate to vertical very slowly, and then climb on thrust alone. Earsplitting, and produced ear to ear grins on all. Zenster, at Pope I watched C-130's do acrobatics. Crazy good airplane.

Posted by Whiskey Mike 2007-04-22 10:39|| 2007-04-22 10:39|| Front Page Top

#14 God Bless him.

For those of you that have never seen the Angels.

Posted by Icerigger">Icerigger 2007-04-22 11:09|| 2007-04-22 11:09|| Front Page Top

#15 I think it's the History channel that has a wonderful show (series?) on the Blue Angels, following them for a year... through selection process and including the training up to the first show.

Finally getting to a computer (outside work all day) I went to Neptunuslex

Never good news

April 21st, 2007 by lex

Its never good when you get a call on the weekend and the caller ID says Work

There are reports that a Blue Angels precision flight team member has crashed a plane during a show in South Carolina.

Local TV station WSAV reported that at least one plane crashed into a Beaufort, S.C., neighborhood. Several homes were reported to be on fire, according to the station. But there were conflicting reports. A state trooper told CNN that the crash site was not around any houses.There was no confirmed information about the pilots condition, but CNN said a state trooper said, I was told that he was alive.

I heard differently.

Damn it.

Posted by Sherry">Sherry 2007-04-22 12:36|| 2007-04-22 12:36|| Front Page Top

#16 I have had the privelge to see and work w/ the Blues several tiems, admitedly in a support role. First time was @ NAS Jax; they needed an engine and sent Fat Albert ( their C-130) in to pick it up. The crew was down to earth, and friendly, not a bit arrogant.
Years later @ NAS Whidbey they wer getting their last practice in and they turned it into a special show for seniors, shut-ints and others. The nursing homes in the areas brought those out that wanted to watch in the late August afternoon, and those of us working nights were on top of the cars, hangars, planes anything for a chance to watch.
From an earlier comment regarding the pilot and nearby houses, I would bet the ranch that he did stay with the jet trying to 'will it to fly' and avoid anything or anyone on the ground. RIP.

Posted by USN, ret. 2007-04-22 12:50|| 2007-04-22 12:50|| Front Page Top

#17 Sgt. Mom, fine story, I can just about reach out and remember.

Posted by Shipman">Shipman 2007-04-22 14:45|| 2007-04-22 14:45|| Front Page Top

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