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Flying With the Blue AnglesBy lex, on September 4th, 2010
24 comments to Flying With the Blue Angles |
Targets of Opportunityblog advertising is good for you Credo"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones "Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra" "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche "A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke “You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier "Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas "Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex Amazon AssociateFor the Effort!Winnar! Subscribe CategoriesPagesTagsacademy
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Are they acute, obtuse, or right?
Isosceles.
I thought they were a Blue Men spin-off.
Prahl was one of my professors back in college, its good to see him get the chance to fly again.
Granted he could likely drink half of the team under the table, but that’s just because he’s that cool.
I’ve watched a lot of people take rides with the Blue Angels – and I know why they exist – but I just wish more airmen could get those rides instead of reporters and celebrities.
+1
I wish certain of us tax payers could get one of those rides. I’ve been paying into the system for years. When do I get my ride?
I don’t know about other branches of the military (like the Navy Blue Angels here), but in the Airforce personnel often get ‘incentive rides’ in the back of F16s, F15s, T38s, et al. If they have a good commander in place anyway.
And then there’s the non-atheletes of NASCAR:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eda2LTRA1UU
Good Video.
The pilot seemed impressed with Dale’s ability to handle the ride.
I’m sure he was, seeing how he was trying to put Dale to sleep and make him toss his lunch in his lap. All Jr. did was smile a lot and look all around at the view…while pulling Gs…
Byron,
While some may feel that NASCAR drivers aren’t athletes, I’d argue the opposite. I’d ask any of those critics to strap into a 3400lb stock car and wheel it around any one of the various speedways that NASCAR races at, much less a late model or street stock at your local short track. Having strapped on a hornet and strapped into a race car they are remarkably similar in their demands on the body, if you don’t think so, try em both!
Yes….all would like to share in the Blue Angel experience….I guess we will have to understand that there is only so many opportunties to share something like this and like other things in life, we aren’t always in the spotlight….
I got to ride the main mast of the USS Constitution in 1997 when she went undersail (untethered) for the first time in 116 years….not as fast as a F-18 but what a ride…sleek and just as deserving of awe.
…Cleveland being my home town (for tis where the full article is written) I have some wonderful memories of seeing the Angels there many, many times at the Cleveland National Air Show every other Labor Day. I’m old enough to remember them in Grumman F11F Tigers and then on to F4s – I can STILL feel the thunder as they came by. And although my first love is Air Force blue, the Angels have always had more panache, style, and sheer good humor than the Thunderbirds. May they always fly safe, straight, and true.
The ‘Birds are my first love and I’m old enough to have seen them in F-84Gs and every other airframe they’ve flown, save for those few shows they did in 105s. I was also privileged to stand at the NCO Club bar and drink with ‘em after a show in Klamath Falls, OR (Kingsley Field, a joint ANG/USAF base at the time) back in the early ’70s. That obviously wasn’t Your Father’s Air Force (unless your name is Buck, Jr.)… and more’s the pity.
Oh, and Liz? My SN1 has had incentive flights in an F-111 and F-16s. The only damned AF planes I ever got to ride in were C-130s and C-141s. And a helicopter or two.
I saw the birds in the early 60s when they did a show at Adair AFS. I can’t remember where they flew out of as Adair did not have an airfield. Both Portland and Klamath Falls AFBs were open at the time. I remember my father going to Portland to haul soem stuff to Adair when Portland closed up. Klamath falls remained an active AFB well into the 70s as I recall. I don’t think anything military is there now.
Kingsley is still active, QM; it’s the home of ORANG’s 173rd Fighter Wing. I was stationed at Keno AFS at the time I mentioned… were you in the radar biz?
Nice. I took a 30 minute hop in a Pitts biplane once, but a Hornet would definitely be on my bucket list!
The Thunderbirds and Blue Angels alternated years at Tennessee Aviation days at old Sewart AFB back in the 70s. I liked them both, but I have to say tere wasn’t much difference between the two. The only major difference was the aircraft and the uniforms.
I hated to see the Armny disband the Silver Eagles. The flew OH-6s and did some really neat things. I saw them at Ft. Rucker while I was in flight school in spring of ’76 and they were disbanded shortly thereafter.
Hmmmm…..have a fly off, or maybe dog fights, between the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels. THAT would be a show to watch.
And, appropriate of nothing, a citizen honoring the fallen and comforting the families because it is the right thing to do:
http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia/video/?bcrefid=866157386#/Iraq/Portraits+of++the+Fallen/57707019001/58795775001/51748824001
I once flew with the Thunderbirds–once removed.
I once was the back-seater of a Maj.–my Flt Commander–who had been in the Thunderbirds. Both a smooth stick and el suavo guy to boot–very low-key and tacked down..
I have been enjoying watching them this week from my 43rd floor office window and on occasion during one of their passes, they fly below my window.
Not a whole lot work gets done for those 45 minutes they are flying.
Like a few others have said, wouldn’t mind taking a ride with them. It would be even cooler if Lex was the driver!
I had the pleasure of spending my last year on active duty crewed with a former Blue Angel F-4 driver. He would tell the youngsters to fly formation by the book, and not try to imitate his position. He would then join on them close enough that if the canopy was not there, he could have reached out and touched their wing.
I mind Neal Boortz catching a ride in the back seat of one of them, and passing out. The Marine said, “Aw, Neal, it’s only three g!”