Blue Angels Air Show Spectacular!! WOW

The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny, bright and a gentle nice breeze, just often enough to
create the superb atmosphere for the fantastic and outstanding "Blue Angels" to perform their
exciting precision flying-- to give delight to the thousands packed on Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
On this particular Saturday morning in November, -- there we were, along with our son and his beautiful wife, who happen to live at Jacksonville Beach, as well, & our sweet "Grand"- Mary, and her friend
from Ponce Inlet, lively Rebecca --were packed in with the other thousands, elbow to elbow, to see
this beautiful, sky spectacular performed by those famous top-gun pilots chosen to fly with the Blue Angels Precision Team. We had our chairs staked out in our favorite beach spot; and were excitedly watching the sky for the first group to
appear. Soon we looked up in the sky, and the huge plane had dropped about a dozen paratroopers, floating along
with their beautiful silk parachutes, and carrying American flags---so lovely to see them come down casually and land perfectly on the beach! The Air Show was finally underway, and the
thrills were coming on fast! Our very favorite was those fantastic jets, flown by the top guys
who had become "Blue Angels"--in a mix of formation flying, "wing-tip to wing-tip", as well as solo routines.
We were having the time of our lives, and I excitedly shouted, "Here they come", and had
both hands extended high in the air waving wildly at the pilots--& they tipped their wings
for us! They were flying right over our heads, and the sound was just tremendous. Some folks
were holding their hands over their ears to muffle the loud sounds of the jet engines. One of
my favorite routines was when the jets were flying straight toward each other, and just before
they could have crashed, each moved over slightly--Wow--talk about the adrenaline rush, we
certainly had it! They also had planes doing sky-writing, drawing huge hearts in the sky, and
so many routines to boggle the mind--that I actually lost count! The show lasted from 10 A.M
until 4 P.M., and they had many outstanding maneuvers to please the huge thousands, packed
on Jacksonville Beach. Uniformed policemen were roaming about to keep order in the mixed crowd. About 1 P.M., we had become hungry and thirsty, so we made our way
through the packed crowd to the food tents, getting our "chicken-on-a-stick and drinks" to satisfy our appetite, and finally made a stop at the huge parking lot filled with tons of port-a-johns to take care of the natural bodily functions of the folks. Wow--what a thrilling day to be
entertained by those fabulous Blue Angels exciting pilots!
I learned that the Demonstration
Sites are selected to support the objectives of the Military, and the interests of the armed
services with safety as the primary consideration. Most of the routines were performed over
the Ocean-- but very near the beach. These performances greatly assist the recruiting and
retention goals of the armed services and enhance the "spirit of the corps" among uniformed
men and women, as well as demonstrate the outstanding professional skills and capabilities
of the armed forces to the American public and U.S. Allies.
The renowned delta formation is complete with six jets performing maneuvers, as a whole
in formation. Since its inception in 1946, the team has flown for over 393 million fans, plus
even more as time marches on. The Blue Angels, the U.S. Naval Flight Demonstration Squadron
(USNFDS) certainly put on quite a show to multi- thousands packed on the sunny beach on
this beautiful Saturday. If you are ever in an area where the next Blue Angels Spectacular is planning to perform their precision flying--- please do not miss it, be sure and attend, as the thrill and adrenaline rush is waiting! Hats off to those fantastic Blue Angels!!! WOW!!!