The Blue Angels

First time I saw them fly was in the film ” threshold “ IIRC and I was ( still am ) in awe.

It was around the same time Top Gun was out.

If I was an America , I would have tried to join the Navy.

Thats the impression the had on me and still do.

Nothing wrong with any of the aircraft they use but , to me, nothing was more impressive than the big F4 in Blue and those cool Navy blue and yellow flight suits.
 
There is a restored Grumman F11 actual Blue Angel aircraft mounted on a pedestal in a park in my old town, New Bern, NC.

blue angel.jpg
 
When I lived in Tampa, FL., McDill Air Force base would have Air Fest. My son and I went a few times. We saw the Blue Angels there a couple of times.
We also went to SUN N FUN at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland, FL.

 
As retired USAF it kills me to say it but the Blue Angles fly closer with more precision than our Thunderbirds...

I was also in the Air Force / ANG and agree that Blue Angel shows are soooooooo much better than the Thunderbirds.
 
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As retired USAF it kills me to say it but the Blue Angles fly closer with more precision than our Thunderbirds...

I remember going to the Edwards AFB Open House in 1997 with a friend. They had a bunch of stuff that was pretty wild, including a retired Blue Angels plane on display. I even saw a Blue Angels maintenance crew member there in full uniform with a member of the Thunderbirds maintenance crew. San Francisco Fleet Week was the previous week, and I jokingly asked him if maybe they left him behind and he just needed something to do in California. He said he was on an exchange program.

But we also talked to an F-117 maintenance crew chief, and mentioned something about going to Fleet Week, where we toured the CIC of a USN destroyer and saw the Blue Angels. He said, he'd love to see that, and he said that he thought the Blue Angels had a better show. Something about staying active in the same area longer, compared to the Thunderbirds doing a lot of passes and then regrouping.
 
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