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Pensacola - the cradle of Naval Aviation!

The weather for the rehearsal day was far better than suspected and briefed. The morning fog burned off and the day turned out to be a "high show" day from about 11AM on.

The weather system that had prevented some of the performers from getting to Sherman Field on Wednesday dissipated enough that everyone arrived by noon and almost everyone got to fly.

There was one unfortunate incident. Dr. Rich Sugden landed gear-up in his North America FJ-4 Fury. He's fine, the report was that there was only a quickly extinguished grass fire, and the airplane was left in the grass at the side of runway 7R-25L until after the practice/rehearsal was completed. I'm not aware of the nature of the problem; I can only say that Rich handled the incident very well. The aircraft gently touched down on its belly. I don't know the extent of the damage; I did not get out to the airplane to see it but I am told that it was going to be removed by a large crane after the practice session.

The weather doesn't look particularly good today but it didn't look good yesterday either so I hope we'll have a good turnout for the show. It's packed! Flying will start at 9:20 and end at about 3:30. The twilight/night show will be from 4:30 - 6:15 and will end with fireworks and a wall of fire by Rich's Incredible Pyro.

Let's see if I can remember all the performers:

Blues
USO Parachute Team
Emerald Coast Skydivers
Jan Collmer - Fina Extra 300
Mike Goulian - Castrol Aviator
David Martin - Breitling Extra
John Mohr
Skip Stewart
Roger Buis
Todd Green
The Untied Team (Stearman - Helo - Stuntman transfer)
F-16 East
F-15 West
F/A-18 Rhino (Oceana)
Parade of Trainers (T-1, T-6II, T-39, T-45)
Joe Fagundes (SNJ)
Super Shockwave Jet Truck
Heritage Flight (-16, -15, Snort P-51)
Legacy Flight (-18, Corsair - Dan McCue)
Bob Carlton "Silent-J" glider
Julie Clark
Masters of Mayhem (Stewart, Mohr, Super Shockwave, Rich)
E-2C Hawkeye demo

Looks to be an excellent show wish I was there !!!!!!!!!!!

Friday was incredible. I went to bed with a 60% chance of rain Thursday night and resigned to go Saturday and awoke to 30% and scrambled to get there. I just got home, stayed for most of the night show but bad weather was moving in so missed the Wall of Flame. One of the most incredible sights was the massive vapor cone the Super Hornet made during its night show. I actually was too zoomed to get it entirely but caught it from behind as it was starting to dissipate, wow. Rob Reider was in front of me with some of the Blue Angel crew and remarked something to the effect that he thought that was too close "to mach 1". Also it was the first time I had seen Fat Albert at night doing his jet assisted take off.

Still transferring some of the 24 gigs I shot.

Here's a few.

Pretty cool vapor trial on the F16. I was using the new Tamron 18-270 VC lens with a D300.

Rob great talking to you again today.

Here are a couple from Thursday's "practice" day.

The first of 3 near Mach passes on Friday.

Keep the photos coming guys!

Nice shots, Guys!
Yesteray I was reminded why this is my favorite show. The weather / lighting were beatiful, and got lots of great shots.
Nice to see some old Friends as well, and visit with "Disco" Rob Reider.

Headed back out today, for as long as the Wife / Kids can stand it. Will post some pictures when we make it back home.

Have a great day!

Craig

Nice catches Nathan........... now I know what your last show is you lucky dog. Looks like Vapor City.

I was getting worried at 1:00 that I didn't have enough memory for the entire day. But I did, just, lol. For anyone near the Air Boss on Friday, I was sitting in the Buccaneers chair, at the corner by the Blue Angel Chalet. Another first for me was seeing a Corsair in flight. Bah Bah Blacksheep was on when I was in Jr. High. Introduced myself to Rob Reider, classy guy who is very passionate about aviation. But, lol, you all know that already. Matthew Chapman who is Mike Goulian's ground crew set up next to me. He has all these panels in front of him to que the show up from. My wife asked him which was harder, flying the plane or running the show, you can guess what Matthew said, lol. The one shot shows my cousin Cmdr Tom Kennedy discussing the show with Rob Reider.

Hello everyone. Just discovered the site. Big fan of airplanes and airshows. Live a couple hours away from Pensacola so I try to go photograph the blues a few times each year. Went to the show on Friday. Took hundreds of shots. Love to share a few. Thanks for a great place to interact with others with a like passion.

Bill C

Welcome Aboard to the "Buzz", Bill! Lots of good things happening here!

Nice pictures, everybody! Last time I attended the Blues Homecoming was in 2004, so please keep the photos coming!


Anthony

Wish I could have stayed for the night Wall of Fire, but got a good day shot.

My daughter loves Fat Albert

Nice shots, slick1ru2!

The Pensacola News Journal has an update about how the weather is currently affecting today's show:

Winds impacting air show


Anthony

Thanks for the compliment. I am uploading more photos to my flickr account, the link is in my signature. Yeah I am sitting in a condo on Santa Rosa sound very happy about deciding to go yesterday instead of today.

Bill

Few more shots from Fridays show.

That's a great pic of John Mohr and the helo - but what was he doing? Or what were They doing? You have me wondering what was going on....

MaryLou

Maybe this photo will answer the question

So it wasn't John being dropped into the plane?????

Whew!

Looks like Pensacola had more horsepower than Oceana this year. May have to see if this becomes a trend...

I thought that Otto was retired and done performing.

The only airshow that Otto still performs at now is NAS Pensacola,
because that is his "hometown" show.
Great to see the pics of Otto and John Mohr doing that wild transfer again !!

Just a Pensacola resident, been a fan of the blues for every year I can remember for the 22yrs I've been alive! Just a few shots from my spot at the show on Sat. Hope you enjoy!

Ropes....

Frank Ryder and Cyclone were there as well (getting old does make you forget things!) Otto is coming out of retirement( he didn't like sitting around a bunch of fuddy duddy old helicopters in the retirement home) and you WILL see him next year....YEA!

Doughnut

So maybe somebody can help me out. In all the homecoming shows I've been to since it's been on the circuit, why can't Pensacola get a F-22 demo?!?! We had F-16 East and F-15 West. No F-22??

John Mohr from Friday...

My guess is that they want to keep it all about they navy. F22=air force. And with the others already there F16 and F15,it might be too much air force maybe. Or maybe not. Couldn't make the show so I am living in a sort of tortured suspense to see more of those vapor shots --that I didn't get.

There were several points at which "Pie" was able to get a full doughnut around the jet. Was unable to pick that up, but did get this one with a partial one.

Nuke and Dog both put on great demos. Nuke, great seeing you and talking to you again. Hope to see you early next year up north before May 1st.



I had never seen a Viper put out as much vapor as "Dog" was able to squeeze out on Friday. At times, the vapor looked "Raptor-esque", although my shots of those moments aren't that great.

I hope you all enjoy some of these because it sure was fun taking these shots. I can't believe people get paid for this.

The F22 Demo team was invited, accepted and later canceled. Go figure, they just were at Wings Over Marietta, home base sorta since that is where they are made at the Locheed end of the property.

Here's the picture Rob was asking someone in the crowd to post. Not the highest quality, but the best I could do with my point-n-shoot. Really good show, 'specially considering the conditions the pilots were faced with.

Click to view attachment

Good stuff so far guys..love the vapor.... What I want to to know is how bad a$$ was MOM? Im assuming there was pyro with it? That brings the show up to another level.

David

The act pictured with Otto the helicopter and John Mohr was "The Untied Team." It's a Stearman to helicopter transfer with stuntman Todd Green. Todd climbed on top of the Stearman, Otto moved into position above John's stock Stearman, and Todd grabbed on the skid! No safety wires, no parachute, no net! They made it on the third pass. Pretty amazing!! Todd is the son of Eddie "The Grip" Green, ICAS Hall of Famer!

Otto never actually retired; the company he worked for needed him to handle some significant corporate chores on behalf of the owner. He still works for that company but the "chores" have been completed and he will be back on the circuit next season. It'll be GREAT to have Roger & Pauline Buis back, both with Otto's solo performance and with John in the Untied Team.

We had a great weekend! Sunday was really chilly, though. VERY windy!

Rob

Julie, didn't know you were at the show!? Looking forward to Peoria...

great photos everyone ....I cant wait til next airshow season....

Getting ready to head back to Georgia. Rob is right, its very windy and very cold here today. Here are a couple more photos, the F18 was taking off for the night show.

I wouldn't be surprised if they canceled so that the Demo01's last demo could be at Nellis.

Rhino ~

It was a last minute decision. I'm currently working up in Georgia and decided to drive down for the Saturday show. Really glad I did.........yet another fantastic Blue Angels Homecoming Show!.......despite the windy/cold conditions.

We haven't had an official announcement yet, but keep July 11-12 open on your calendar for Peoria! I'll post something official as soon as we get back from ICAS.

A raptor for next year would be high on my wish list too. Looks like it was a great show and some very unique pics being posted by you guys. I enjoy seeing new perspectives and POV's on familiar acts and demos and some of you look like thats exactly what you got. I'm starting to learn that maybe even getting off the airport enviorment more during a show will get a photographer some very different looking stuff --so that's a thought for next year.

Before the airshow season began, I tried to do my homework concerning lighting angles and such to determine which shows would give me the best light. The program I used was called "the suns path" I believe, and it gives you an idea of how the sun position will be at a specified lattitude on a given day of the year. You then can move the sun along and and actually watch as a shadow is cast from a vertical pylon, and then get a real feel for your lighting angles at any time of the day. Pensacola looked to be one of the best airshows for behind your back lighting all day in the entire country. How was it for all of you taking pictures do you feel?--I'm curious to get first hand reports.

I love Nathan's shot of the Super standing on it's wing with vapor trails. Would like to see a vertical cropped rendition of that one for sure! Was that Paige and LBJ? Was that the high speed banana pass?

Skip Stewart is sure an exciting act! Absolute rivteting thrills! Does anyone know if he did the act with the motorcycle jumper this yearat any of the shows like he did at Terra Haute in 2007? That was simply incredible!

Sorry I missed seeing you down there Rob--always nice to see a fellow buckeye. I always learn something--no scratch that--alot of things from your narrations every year. You put the paazaaaas to the visual, thats for sure!

We're gettin the weather today here in cleveland, so home I'll be for the most part enjoying everyones posts!

Paul

**You guys ever see a picture of the Legacy Raptor? You know the one before the F22? here it is--

http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB3/viewtop...12&t=127032

I - for one, enjoyed seeing the F-15. We will have many years to enjoy the F-22 at shows, but the F-15C will be going away in May of next year, so enjoy it all you can. It is still the "Hot Rod" of the circuit, IMHO.

We got home at 03:00 A.M. after enjoying a sunset at the beach and some last minute seafood. I am dunping files now, and will post a few ASAP. Let me just say.......WONDERFUL show! What a great lineup. A very nice mix of military and civilian.....as well as some "new" acts that have previously been mentioned.
"Kudos" to the organizers, and to the sponsors for "stepping up" when so many others are "stepping out." Nice job Pensacola!!


Thanks to the Weather Man in Pensacola! That was the most wonderful "80% Chance" I have ever experienced!!

Rob - great job as usual and good to see you! Look forward to next year....Thanks for what you do!!

Thanks to Julie Clark for her dedication speech, a very important message in today's times. And great to see her fly that beautiful flight!

The Super Hornet took the cake on Friday - Paige Felini flew an incredible, jaw dropping, mouth watering, vapor dripping, brain rattling, in-your-face demo......I think the best I have seen this year!

All of the civilian acts were top notch! The best of the best at this show!! THe flying was second to none - even in the high winds yesterday!! And yesterday's MOM was AWESOME with all three vehicles!!

Can't wait to post some....son, soon, soon! What a way to end the season!!!

Paul - I don't believe there is a better show in the country for photography. This was my third trip. I missed last year in favor of Nellis, but won't make that mistake again.
Undoubtedly the best lighting I have seen at any airshow, hands down.

PS: GREAT shot of the "Raptor." Very nice work, Sir!!

Thanks for clearing that up Rob. I don't think we have seen that act, so it will be neat if that can be added to some of the northern shows...

Glad the weekend was good, and Sunday here is really really cold. Looking like snow right now!

Marylou

Oh God please DON'T MENTION SNOW!!! I'm sitting here in Atlanta right now where it's 42 degrees out! Indeed Saturday was very cold and very windy... but it was still a very good show! I enjoyed my entire stay in Pensacola - everything went exactly as I had hoped and this will definitely not be the last time I'm down that way!

Hahah SNOW, SNOW, SNOW, SNOW...... When are you coming home????? Glad you had a good time Steve! MaryLou