Hometown Happiness: Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show

On November 12, 2011, Dad and I took Kaleb to the Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show at Naval Air Station Pensacola.  I had seen the Blues in the air practicing plenty of times, having grown up here in Pensacola, but it was only the second time I had attended an official performance.

At last year's show Kaleb managed to take a 45-minute nap on the ground (see photo, left)—surrounded by thousands of strangers, 50 feet from a crazy-loud speaker tower, in the bright sunlight, with the roar of various aircraft directly overhead.  It was amazing, and baffling, to discover that anyone could sleep in such a noisy, chaotic environment.  We all had fun, though, and Kaleb still remembered last year's show vividly when I began talking about attending the show again this year.  In fact, he spent plenty of time over the past two weeks talking about the Blue Angels to anyone who would listen.  It was clear he has been excited.

This year, I was afraid there would be no nap happening at the show, and I hoped that Kaleb would stay interested.  We had thought ahead and had remembered to bring along a blanket to sit on this time, and the weather was much warmer than last year.  After a bit of walking and looking a some of the static aircraft displays, we picked out a patch of grass, spread out our blanket and sat down to watch the early acts.

It was a very sunny day, and I was glad that we had all sunblocked before leaving the house.  I had brought along Kaleb's hat, but hadn't considered how I would handle the bright sunlight myself.  As someone who neither owns nor wears sunglasses and hats, this just isn't something that often comes to mind for me.  During the course of the show, we ended up having to buy a hat for me, just so that I could keep my eyes open long enough to see the show!

After several acts had gone up, we had some lunch, and got comfy again.  Kaleb switched among sitting on the blanket, lying down, sitting with me, and sitting with his grandpa.  (You know, grandpas are about the coolest people in the world, and Kaleb is lucky enough to have three of them.)

We watched several planes from the World War II era, and a few that were even older.  There were two different helicopter acts, including the Red Bull helicopter.  Each one of them was exciting in it's own way, with different tricks and stunts.  There were loud jet planes that made us clamp our hands over our ears.  There were sonic speed trucks that sped down the runway, and there was even a big [intentional] explosion that sent a huge plume of black smoke into the air.  Kaleb laughed and clapped and said "Wow!" on multiple occasions.  It seemed each new act was "cooler" than the last, a crescendo leading up to the Blue Angels finale.

It took me a few tries to get the hang of photographing aircraft moving at such high speeds, and many of the first shots were blurred beyond recognition.  Even the "good" pics I took were still of amateur quality, but their purpose is to preserve our memories, and that is exactly what they do.

This V-22 Osprey was a particularly fun aircraft to watch.
We watched it as it performed numerous hovering maneuvers,
and then we got to watch it rotate its propellers mid-flight to
switch from helicopter mode to airplane mode.

This is Team RV, billed as the world's largest air show team.
I didn't hear if they ever said why only eleven of the team's
twelve airplanes were flying today, but it was still a spectacular
show.  They performed a number of jaw-dropping maneuvers,
and were one of the audience favorites.

After all the "opening" acts had finished, the show narrators announced a short break before the Blue Angels would go up as the final act.

Kaleb, apparently, decided to use this time to do a bit of dancing to the music (photo, right)....actually, he might have actually been "flying," but I didn't ask.  It was just pretty fun to sit back and watch him being adorable.  It's really too bad that we adults are so often too self-conscious to dance/fly around in public.

I insisted that Kaleb try to use the restroom during this break, as well, since he had downed a juice box and half of a 20oz. Sierra Mist while we had been at the show.  He hasn't had much experience with porta-potties, so that was a whole other kind of excitement.

I could tell Kaleb was starting to get pretty tired by this point, having been up since 6:45a.m. without a nap.  My hope was that we could keep him distracted during the break and that the Blue Angels, being among his current fascinations, would grab his attention back when they took to the sky.

At long last, we heard the rumble of engines as Fat Albert prepared for flight.

The sound and sight of Fat Albert transported me, in my mind, to another place and time, back to the air show at MCAS Miramar in California in October of 2002.  Back then, I was married to a Marine whose detachment was manning one of the many hamburger stands at that air show.  I was the only wife, also the only woman, working the stand with all the guys from the detachment, and I barely knew any of them.  I had been in CA for five-ish months at that point, and I was 2,000 miles from home.  I had taken a break from serving burgers and chips to watch the blues, and at the first sight of Fat Albert, I had burst into tears.  All the guys in the tent immediately freaked out, at the sight of this woman among them, crying for no apparent reason.  I cried from loneliness and homesickness, letting all the sadness leak out through my tear ducts.  And I was so consumed by sobbing that I couldn't catch enough breath to tell any of them what was wrong.  Eventually, they decided they'd have to just let me cry it out, whatever "it" was, as they had to get back to tending hungry air show patrons.

Even now, ten years since that tear-filled California air show, I still get a little misty-eyed watching Fat Albert rise into the air.  These days, though, the tears are simply happiness at being back in Pensacola where I belong.

Emotional nonsense aside, the show was as amazing as you would expect from the Navy's elite flying team.  Every close pass caused my heart to leap, even though I know they have practiced these moves many many times.  As far as I could see in either direction, thousands of people stood motionless and awe-filled as they watched a half dozen of the world's highest precision aircraft performing aeronautical acrobatics.

This evening, after we had napped and eaten supper, Kaleb began talking about the show and saying "next time we go to see the Blue Angels...."  Looks like we'll be attending again next year!

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