December 2017 http://www.inflightusa.c om 33
By Mik eHe ilman an dEd We lls
I
n 1945 , just after Wo rld Wa r II,
Ad mi ral Cheste r Nimitz wan ted to
show ca se na val avia tion so he
orde redthe form ati on of afli gh tdemon -
stra tio nteam to perform inpu bl ic. Th e
team leadby Fli ght Lead er Command er
Roy “Butch” Vor is performed its firs t
show June 15 ,194 6at Craig Fi eldNaval
Air Sta tio n (NAS) Jacks onville. The
team ado pted the na me Blue An gels and
flew the Grumm an F6F Hellcat in that
first show.
NA SJacksonv ill eiscons idered the
birth pl ace of the Blue Ang els and 71
yea rs afterthe team’ sperforman ce, cur-
ren tBl ue Ang el LT. Damon Kroes hasn ’t
lost sight of per for mi ng at the tea m’s
birth pl ace.“Th is isthe true birth place of
the Blue Ang els, Bu tch Voo ris of the
1946 team and it is very special. We
come he reat the end of the seaso nevery
yea rafter we have had an entire seaso nto
refi ne our flight dem onst rat ion , team -
work and trust .To come here to the birth -
plac eof ou rmi ssio nand Blu eAng les is
truly veryspecial and it jus tfires usup
eve nmor eto perform the best we ever
can torepr esent those sail ors andmari nes
over sea sthe best we ever can .”
LT.Kr oe sof Fr emont, Calif., fli es
the rig ht wing inthe di amond formation ,
desc rib es theteam ’s show: “BlueAng els
one through four flythedi amon d,we pri -
mari ly show case the preci sion and fly ing
cha ract eristics that are inheren twith all
nava l/ma rine avi ator s. Wetak ethat to a
very hi gh level ,com ingwi thin 18inches
of win gtocan opy separati on insome of
the mane uv ers. Bl ue Angels five and six
will demonst rat ethe maximu mperfo rm-
anc ecapa bil ity ofthe Boeing F/A-1 8air -
cra ft. At theend of the show, we will joi n
up in the Deltafor matio nandwe wi ll do
alittle bit of both .”
The re are certa in maneuv ers the
Blue Angel sflythat are difficult to per -
form, accor din gtoKroes: “I wou ld say
the mo st diff icul tmaneuv ers are theleft
echelo n rol l and lin e of breas t. It is
extre me ly di ffi cul tforevery memb er of
the team, and itall starts wit hthe Bos s.
We prac tice itandpracti ce it. Every time
we doit,it’snever perfect. Weidenti fy
those littlemist akes we make andwe go
ba ckand talk about them. My fav orit eis
the di amond 360. That isgoin gto be the
first ma ne uver inadiamond as we enter
the show from the right .We are goin gto
be flying fair lyslow and with in 18 inch -
esofwi ngt ip tocanop yseparatio nas we
come across the show line. It’s ve ry
intense andde fini telyarush .It’sacha l-
lenge every timeand wh enwe accom -
plis h tha t we ll, it fires you up for the
rema ind erof theshow. ”
Th eBl ue Ange lscur rently areflying
theoldestF/ A-18s inthefleet, accordi ng
to Kroes.“This F/A-18 Cactua lly alot
10C tha twas buil tin the lat e80 s. Thes e
are som e of the oldest aircr aft in the
navy ’s inv entory.After they ha ve alitt le
bit left on theirservi ce life ,they will sen d
themthroug haBlueAngl emod, andwe
will fly pr ob ably the lastyearsout of the
JettheNavy ha s.They are some of the
oldest, kin dof relate these to aclass ic car,
but wefly the seinc redi bly agg ressiv ely ,
andit’s aga in, atestamen tto the incr edi-
ble main tena nce work ou r sailor s and
ma rines do, ”he said.
A02 Aldr iick Kittle s is the cre w
chieffor BlueAnge lnumbe rfiv ejetand
heexpl ains hi srol ewith the team :“So
basic ally, everythi ng that goe salon gwith
thejet, tur ning the jet,pr e-c hec kin, mak -
ingsure the jetisclean asfarasshi ny,
ma kesur eallthecom pu ter syste ms, all
themec hanics, airframe s, struc tur eand
anythingdealing with the jet isdone .Iam
thefirstand lasteye sonthe jet. We ha ve
to che ck for eve ryt hin gandlook at all
details .So, the pil ot ’s lifeis inou rhands ,
hedoes n’t che ckanyt hing ,he just wa lks
upto the jet, salutesme. Igoup the lad -
derandIbuc kl ehim up and he goes.
Overall,I’minchargeof thejet. ”
NAS Jacks on vil le ishome to Patrol
Squ adro nThi rty(VP-30 )which is home
to the P- 3Orionand P-8A Pose idon air-
craf t. The home Pa tro l Wing fle w a
demon stration of the two aircraft tha t
included aforma tion flyby .VP -30 isthe
U.S. Na vy’s Maritim ePatrol and Flee tRepla cement Squ adr on (FRS) forthe P- 3
and P-8.
This ye ar’sshow ,held last month,
als ofeatur ed the Unite dStates Air Force
F-22 Raptor De monstr ati on Team and
show casedthe Rapt ors capab iliti es. The
fif th- gene ration fighte rbase datTynda ll
Air Forc eBase ,Flor ida ,was joine dby a
Mood yAir Force Base A-10 War tho g
and aP- 51 forthe Ai rForc eHerita ge
Flight .The Fl orid aAi rNa tiona lGu ard
125t h Fighte r Wi ng pe rformed a four-
ship flyby inthei rF-15Ea gle and also
had anaircraft on sta tic dis pl ayatthe air
show. The 125t h FW is based at
Jac kson vil le AirNationa lGuardBase at
Jac kson vil le Inte rna tiona lAirp ort.
AFlori da Army Na tion al Gua rdCH-
47 Chi noo khel icopt er prov ide dajump
pl at form for the Speci al Operations
Comma nd (SOC OM )Pa ra-Comma ndo s
Parachut e Tea m. The re was also a
Chinoo kon staticdi splay attheshow.
The SOCOMteamma detwo jumps each
day of the air show. Th e all- volun tee r
team repr esent s all the Special
Ope rations Comma nd me mbe rs in the
U.S .mil itar y.
The civil ian por tion of the NA S
Jac kson vil le Air Show wasawho’ swho
in the air show indust ry.Headlin ing the
civ ilia nporti on of the air sho wlegen d
Sean D.Tu cke rin his highly mo dif ied
Te am Oracle Ch alle nger III aircraft.
Tu cke rperfor med his high -ene rgyrou-
tine both da ysofthe airshow.
The Jack sonvi lle show wasthe last
2017 show for Tu cke rand Team Oracle
and the Team’s Oper atio nMan age rJohn
De Genn aro reflec ted on the season: “It
wa sagre at season, we did 16 showsthis
yea r. Weflew all acrossthe countr y. We20 17 NAS JACK SON VI LLEAIR SHOW HIGHL IGHTBIRTHPLA CE
OF BLUE ANG EL S
ABlue Ange lF/A -18 Cbank slowoverthe
NAS Jacksonville2017 Air Show.
Jac kson ville is conside redtheBirthplace
of the Bl ue Angel steam .(Mike Heilman )TheUni tedStates Ai rFo rce F-22 “Ra ptor”
performe dasolodemon strationandthen
flew with an A-10 an d P- 51 for the Air
Force HeritageFl ight. (MikeHeilman)The F- 22, A- 10 and P- 51 perform the
U.S. Air Fo rce Heritage Flight at the
2017 NAS Jac ksonvilleAirShow.
(MikeHeilman)AMI G-17 Fpilot ed by Ran dy Ballmakes
a photo pass in front of the NAS
Jac kson ville Ai r Sh ow crowd. Ball will
routi nel ypull 8gs inhi sflightdemon stra-
tion. (Mi keHeilman)Air ShowlegendSe an D. Tu ckerpe rfo rms
at2017 NAS Jacksonv illeAir Sh ow. Th e
Jacks onvilleshow wasTu cker’slast show
Con ti nued on Pa ge 42 2017show. (MikeHe ilm an )The fam ou sBlue An gel Diamo ndpe rformalow lev el break in front of the Frida yprac -
tice daycrowdatthe NAS Jac kso nv ille Ai rShow. (Mi ke Heilman)