This year's Air Show at the Naval Air Station Jacksonville celebrated 100 Years of Naval Aviation. Just think 100 years of manned flight for Naval Aviators and it all started when 24 year old Eugene B. Ely launched his Curtiss Pusher off a temporary flight deck mounted to the bow of the U.S.S. Birmingham in Hampton Roads Virginia on 14 November 1910. Only two months later on the 18th of January 1911 Ely also became first pilot to land an aircraft on the deck of the armored cruiser U.S.S. Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay. Thus paving the way for the U.S. Navy pioneer Aircraft Carrier operations and extend Naval power beyond the shore line in land by means of air power. Currently the U.S. Navy projects global air power with 5 Aircraft Carriers, the U.S.S.'s Carl Vinson, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John C. Stennis and George H.W. Bush.
So back to the show, there were nearly 30 Military aircraft on static display and at least 15 more that were scheduled to fly, not including the six Boeing F/A 18 Hornets and Lockheed-Martin C-130 "Fat Albert" of the Blue Angels. My favorite flight performances were Skip Stewart in his Bi-plane "Prometheus", you would not believe a plane could carry out those kind of maneuvers. The WWII Curtis SB2C Helldiver, the only one in flying condition of a total of 7000 planes built, and one of the first model planes I built as a kid. The WWII Vought F4U Corsair brought back memories of my favorite tv show from the mid-seventies "Baa Baa Black Sheep" that celebrated the life and antics of legendary Marine Ace Fighter pilot Major "Pappy" Boyington and his "Black Sheep" Squadron. Pilot John Mohr also did not fail to impress with his aerobatics in a pre-WWII Stearman PT-17 Navy Bi-Plane Trainer, a plane that was never designed to perform that way. On the ground, the car guy in me got a kick out of the '57 Chevy, dual Pratt & Whitney jet powered, "Super Shockwave". Man, what a Noise, Smoke and Heat! If you are a car guy also check out the little automotive morsel I stumbled upon at the show and I will feature shortly on my SkyoöD-Vu P.O.V. Blog.
I almost thought the show was going to be a complete wash for me as the cloud ceiling was quite low for the greater part of Sunday. I feared that I would not be able to see the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels fly due to the weather and thus eliminate the opportunity to the indeterminate future of ever adding their performance to the long list of world's top flight teams I have already seen. Having lived in Europe most of my life I have enjoyed the aerobatics of the:
British RAF's "Red Arrows" (10 shows)
Italian Air Force's "Frecce Tricolori" (10 shows)
Belgian Air Force's "Red Devils" (1 Show)
French Air Force's "Patrouille de France" (2 shows)
Royal Dutch Air Force's "Grasshoppers" helicopter flight team (4 Shows)
Swiss Air Force's "Patrouille Suisse" (Practice session over the Swiss Alps while I was skiing on the slopes of Wengen)
U.S. Air Force's "Thunderbirds" (1 show)
Fortunately for all the attendees the weather cleared in time for the Blue Angels to take to the air around 3:00 p.m. to sum it up AMAZING! I have never seen pilots get their planes so close together and perform complicated maneuvers while maintaining close quarters. Truly skilled pilots. I suspect the low cloud cover forced some changes to the flight routines so they could not perform as many group stunts as the Italian's, which I still rate as one of my all time favorites; but, that does not diminish for me the historical importance of having been able to witness the Blue Angels perform at NAS JAX where the team first was formed in 1946. Finally I would like to extend my personal thanks to the father and uncle of Major Brent Stevens United States Marine Corp, Blue Angel #3, for giving me and my 3 friends tickets to the VIP section in front Blue Angels' staging area. We were able to witness the precision marching drill of the Pilots and their Ground Crews from some of the best seats "in the house!" Nothing substitutes seeing and air show in person; but pictures do help spice up the blog. Enjoy the slideshow shot with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 and edited with iPhoto 11 on an 06 Macbook (OS-X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard).
Check out these links for more info on show, participants and aircraft:
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