The blue angels
And Fat Albert
Commissioning week at the Naval Academy runs from yesterday through administering the oath as junior officers Friday afternoon. Annapolis may be state capital but the U.S. Naval Academy is always a presence, if not the presence in this town. Locals avoid the City Dock area, if not the entire main portion of town, like the plague during this week. It is a meeting of colonial roads, too frequent flooding, and gazillions of extra folks beyond the 30,000 or so of us who enjoy living here full time, all of which makes it a madhouse.
One of the biggest draws to the week are the Blue Angels shows. The BA were one of the many innovations of Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Chester Nimitz who sought to display talents of naval aviators to the public after WWII. The Blues thus were both an advert for the Navy’s aviation component in the Cold War and a manifestation of the skill of elite aviators on sophisticated military jets provided by and for the taxpaying public.
The Air Force has a comparable demonstration team called the Thunderbirds. The Army has an elite parachute demonstration team called the Golden Knights.
The Blues currently fly F/A18 Super Hornets, based at Pensacola where junior officers first undergo flight training. The Blues officers are selected for their skill, illustrating mastery of aviation art for dozens of annual shows around the country. The Blues are all officers, some graduates of the Academy while others, including a female aviator, accessed the Navy through ROTC at various institutions.they hail from states across the country as do the member of the Brigade of Midshipmen as the Academy student body is known. Indeed, all states and territories are represented in all of our military services.
The acrobatics they perform with precision of feet rather than yards is obviously for show but also brings a hint of some aspects of conflict to the public. These are Naval officers foremost rather than performers. The action replicate keen maneuvering necessary in conflict should a war break out in the Indo Pacific, European Command, or elsewhere. The Blue Angels are a by-product rather than a driver of the requirements for aviators flying fighter or attack aircraft. Inverting one’s body against the pull of gravity could easily occur should an enemy force such a showdown. The BA are not merely performing to emulate Tom Cruise.
Yet, as true with all of the services (and in own lives), support is essential so Marine aviators (the Corps is indeed a sea service as well) fly a C130 transport to haul the team’s necessary gear from site to site. The ‘Fat Albert’, as the chubby plane is known, appeared after this afternoon a few minutes after the Blues departed. Its rather slower, lower maneuvering delighted those still seeking more aviation in our pretty blue skies this afternoon.
’Fat Albert’s’ crew strutting their stuff, reminding us of an equally important portion of the Blue Angels as a team, the concept the services invariably keep in mind to achieve success through coordination, trust, and constant drilling together.
Those of us who never served, the majority of Americans and others around the world, rarely realise that logistics efforts such as those of Fat Albert are vital to sustaining any effort by the U.S. military anywhere in the world. Logistics may haul food, gear, or even material for war, for humanitarian or reconstruction operations, or anything else. Not all logistics are airborne but every load is necessary for success.
Tomorrow they will do a similar show for Annapolis, bringing so much to a halt again as onlookers gasp at the daring and technique. The Blues’ website indicates the planes are within 18 inches of each other as they fly their famous diamond formation.
It is easy to bemoan so much division, betrayal, and worry but seeing exhibitions like this are also a sign of the good, the success, and the dedication of those with amazing reflexes and skills.
Actions create consequences as these young officers work day in and day out, weather ceilings permitting, to show our capabilities. These are our Blue Angels who conclude the week with a flyover as Commencement begins Friday morning.
Have you ever seen the Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds? The local ducks enjoyed them, too. Harry Truman, in typical tomcat fashion, stayed indoors because of the noise.
Thank you for reading Actions today and any day. My goal is not to focus on anyone or anything as much as to note how consequences—good and bad-result from our behaviour to spur civil, measured discussions about the way ahead. I hope you will chime in.
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Be well and be safe. FIN