The Avery's: The Blue Angels Air Show

Thursday and Friday, our office got a sneak peek of what was going to be exhibited at the Blue Angels Air Show. They roared past our downtown office. At some points, while we were on the phone, the jets would zoom past, leaving the caller unable to hear and wondering if we were in the middle of a war zone. But, this made the anticipation for Saturday even greater.

Saturday we arrived to a very large crowd of about 38,000. (This # is ticket holders, children under 5 were free, so there is not a real number of who attended.) The weather was in the mid 90's and we didn't have any relief from the scorching sun. The idiot events coordinators would not allow outside food or water, and this turned out to be a very bad mistake. The only water that was free came from a few areas that had just barrels, but because of the relentless heat, the barrels were constantly empty, and you had to wait in line for hours, just to get to the empty barrels.

But even with the downs of the event, due to the stupidity of the planners, we had a great time. We loved seeing the vintage planes and the current jets that protect our great country. We loved being able to see the ability of these incredible acrobats and their handlers. They maneuvered these planes like they were little remote planes. The did things that these planes were not designed to do. At one point a pilot had his wife on top of the top wing of his bi-plane. He dipped, belly rolled, and soared all while she stood on top. It was amazing. I would go again in a heart beat.

The Gang

Johnnie, Chris, Chuck and his friend Jessica, conversing about the incredible planes.

Grandpa John did a great job holding up the blanket, so the little kids could have some kind of relief from the scorching sun.

Johnnie could not handle the sonic sound as the jets passed us at speeds of 700 miles per hour.

Videos of some of the maneuvers

Old vs New

This video shows the advancement in our technology from the Mustang P-51 from WWII to present day F-16. I was humbled knowing that these planes have kept us free in a world of such distress.

Blue Angels
This is just one of the many maneuvers that the Blue Angels performed. I only took on video of this act, because I wanted to witness it with my own eyes and not with my eyes being glued to the camera screen.

Free Falling Mustang P-51
This is a longer video, but it just shows some of the pilot's ability. The pilot would do fly straight up and tumble down and then magically pull out and continue on flying.

Amazing Fat Albert

Fat Albert is a C-130 Hercules transport plane and this video shows its versatility of this amazing plane. It was designed to take off and land on very short runways. This plane is the only plane that can taxi backwards, the propellers will reverse and allow it to maneuver around like a small plane.

Twin Beech 18

Matt Younkin is the pilot of this plane. Just like Fat Albert, this plane was not designed to fly in aerobatic maneuvers. They often refer this plane as obese and the dancing Elephant. The plane does a series of moves and they do it with the music from Dumbo. They call it the Elephant Waltz.

Waco JMF-7

This plane was designed and used to train civilians to fly for World War 2.

This stunt was just amazing. It is a husband and wife act. Kyle flies the plane with ease, while his wife Amanda is a wing walker. He will soar the plane high into their and do crazy loops and free falls, all while she is on top of the plane. She starts off in between both wings, but eventually moves to the top wing. Truly amazing and truly stupid. I would do a few things, but not this.

F4 Fury vs MIG 15 & MIG 17

U.S.A vs U.S.S.R

This is what you would have seen if the cold war actually turned in a fight against the USA and USSR. During this stunt, the MIG 15 and MIG 17 are chasing the USA F4 Fury. They demonstrated their great agility of dodging and chasing thes agile planes.

The Amazing Blue Angels

The blue angels were incredible. At most points of their show, 4 to 6 planes are no more than mere 18 inches apart. They have to have ultimate teamwork to do what they do. One mistake could take the entire fleet out.