PENSACOLA BEACH AIR SHOW
July
Pensacola, FloridaEvery year the Blue Angels, officially known as the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, perform for crowds across the country. But, in the Blue Angels hometown of Pensacola, visitors have the privilege to watch them practise most every week throughout the year and watch three performances in May, July and November.
Photo:Pensacola Beach Air Show
The Blue Angels fly up to 700 mph in formation, only a mere 18 inches apart. The thrilling air show and practice is the perfect complement to a vacation to the Pensacola Bay Area.
The Blue Angels got their popular name when in 1946, the year of the team’s birth, one of its members came across the name of a Manhattan nightclub called The Blue Angel in a copy of “The New Yorker”. The team, designated by Adm. Chester Nimitz to be the world’s first military aerial demonstration team, had spent months practicing in secret over the Everglades so if the high-risk endeavor were a failure “only the alligators will know”.
It was anything but a failure, the Blue Angels name stuck, and since that beginning they have performed for more than 420-million people from coast-to-coast and in dozens of foreign countries, ambassadors of American goodwill, aerial expertise, ingenuity and daring.
Since 1954 “the Blues,” as they are affectionately known, have made Naval Air Station Pensacola their home, spending each show season, March until November, flying out of NAS Pensacola and practicing twice weekly in the skies above. The public is always invited. The Blues also fly two formal shows annually in Pensacola, one in July and another to end their season and say farewell before heading for winter quarters in California. In 2011, the Centennial of Naval aviation, the Blues are performing an additional show in May.
For Pensacola residents and frequent visitors alike Pensacola has become synonymous with the Blue Angels. In fact, Pensacola’s former mayor, John Fogg, is among the elite Blue Angel alumni. Pensacola residents think of them as family, their jet jockeys in the beautiful blue and gold planes, whose aerial acrobatics and roaring engines that echo off Pensacola Bay recalls not only their pride in them and in their country, but, wherever they may encounter them in America or beyond, reminds them of Pensacola, their home.
Foe more information on the Pensacola Beach Air Show visit www.visitpensacolabeach.com
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