Blue Angels Weekend 6/2 (the pics are up!)

[vakayakangler]

Was invited to a friend's for the weekend, and part of the trip was to see the Blue Angels Airshow. He knew that my dad had been a member of the Blue Angels in the 70s and it would be a special treat for Tina and I... I shot some 550 plus pics during the show, and will try and post a string when I get rested, but here is a sneak peak of how lucky I got.

Thanks my friends for the invite, we really enjoyed the break, the company and the time. Our door is always open.. The bats fly over the spa at night.

[flflash]

AWESOME can't wait to see the rest of the pics!

[oubassman]

That's cool!

[ReelYankee]

Very cool! As an aircraft maintainer (knuckle dragging crew chief), I really enjoy that kinda stuff

[vakayakangler]

I worked on helos for most of my career in the Corps, H46s, h53s and hueys and cobras, with an occasional harrier assist snuck in.... Avionics SNCO... but a door gunner when I could get the hours. I'll sort thru the pics in the next few days, cropping and resizing and posting to photobucket then we'll see some fun here.

But.... How bout one more little sneak peek?

[BigYaker]

Those are some great shots! Keep em' coming

[Rick_W]

I was stationed at NAS Pensacola from '96-'99 and was part of the auxilliary security force. Our duty consisted of augmenting DoD and military security.

Every Wednesday the Blue's would practice and we would secure the airfield to vehicular and foot traffic. I would always volunteer to park my cruiser on the East side perimeter road for unobstructed views (think, sitting right on the edge of the runway ) and watch them practice. Would have to wear earplugs sitting in the cruiser with the windows up.

Sure miss those days.

[vakayakangler]

Alright, enough teasing, I have been thru 560 pics and I picked a few to share with you. I will tell you I have pictures of a lot of aircraft and there were certainly some impressive flying skills demonstrated.

The pilot of the Raptor defied the laws of gravity and the helo pilots made me long to pull on my flight suit, put on the gunners belt and helmet and lean out the door again....

First though, here is a pic of the Raptor tooling along in first gear with the P51 unless I have my antiques wrong..


I also got some good shots of the Coast Guard doing their thing, my son spent a tour with them on the Cutter Albacore.. saving lives and busting drugrunners...


But... Ya'll wanna see the pics of the Blue Angels, and here they come....
First is a shot caught by shooting six shots while following one plane thru the cross....


A beautiful climbing shot


One way for ME to lose my lunch


Real definition of skill and trust


A couple side passes to show off the high dollar paint?



In patrol work this would definately be called following too closely


Another luckily timed shot by following a single plane in and clicking away and getting very lucky


I call this a dirty stack, gear and hook down is called a dirty airplane in some circles...


A diamond side pass, I really like this one


Another climbing shot, one of many...


Hmmm, corkscrew pass?


Blue Break?


Ghostrider, I'll pull up and he'll fly right by me...


and the final pass of the airshow...


I have a lot more pics.. but I hobbled down the boardwalk on my walker, and sat in the heat. I hope ya'll enjoyed the pics.

[w2n]

110% AWESOME SAUCE APPROVED

[BigYaker]

Those are some impressive shots!