Today was Blue Angels Day.
The woman at the Museum had recommended to Joe that we get there by 9am
as it was usually pretty busy. Ever
cautious and desperate not to miss out since we had come all this way, we
arrived at 8:45, and were told that they wouldn’t start letting people into the
viewing area until about 10:15.
Sigh. So we waited. I waited in the car and Joe went back for another
look at the museum. At 9:45 the queue
had already started forming, so we joined and stood in the very hot sun until
we were eventually let through the gate just before 10.30am. It’s been about 28 degrees here, no cloud to
speak of and so we baked. My feet have tan
marks through the holes in my sandals J Eventually we were let air-side and after a
cursory check of photo ID and peer inside my camera bag, we were let through (behind
hordes of school kids) and made our way to the Bleachers – a row of aluminium
stands set up for viewing. We were “entertained”
between then and when the show started at 11:30 by volunteers, who gave us
snippets of information about the Blue Angels, and also introduced various
veterans who were in attendance. One vet
from WWII, he was one of the survivors from the first Kamikaze attack during
the battle of Leyte Gulf, and received a standing ovation from the crowd. There were also several vets from the Korean
and Vietnam wars.
The Blue Angels book out the airspace for 5 miles around the
centre of the airfield and up to 10,000 feet, so even aircraft that are based here
are not allowed to take-off or land during this “blue out”, which is from 11:30
to 12:30 each practice day. We were
reminded this was a practice day, so if the leader didn’t think moves were
executed well enough, we might be lucky enough to see them repeated. We were also reminded that these were highly
skilled manoeuvres and the aircraft get as close as 18 inches apart. Impressive.
The practice started pretty much on time at 11:30 and it was
amazing. There was a mix of 4 in
formation with two opposing solos, who would sneak in and do amazing things
while the other 4 were away forming up for the next display. They did a high speed pass, (750 mph – phwoah
!!) and a high angle of attack pass, where they flew as slow as possible
without stalling. Then towards the end
all 6 planes came together in formation.
All too soon it was over and the crowd herded out the way we came
in. Pretty rubbish description of an
amazing display, you really need to see the photos (which are on Facebook).
After that, Joe wanted to do the tour of the planes on the
flight line, which required a trolley bus ride, so I left him to it and went to
the Pensacola Lighthouse, just a few minutes away. It’s still a functioning lighthouse, 150 feet
high, 177 steps to climb and with stunning 27 mile views through 360
degrees. I did have to stop and pant
about ¾ of the way up, however a much younger fitter couple who breezed past me
gasping were stopped at the next window space not much further up so that made
me feel no-quite-so-fat-and-old.
I made my way back to the museum to collect J who had now
finished, and we set off for a model shop he had found online. So far this trip, he has not found or
happened across ANY model shops. I declare
this a record. However he was starting
to go into withdrawal so it was time for a fix.
After about a 20 minute drive, we found the shop, typically in the back
of beyond with nothing else of interest, except a Firehouse Subs – just as well
because it was 2.30 by now and I was starving.
He came out of the shop a very happy camper, exclaiming about how much
more he could have bought, picked-up-put-down etc etc. We were feeling pretty tired by now after our
day in the sun, so headed back to our flea pit to find the door had not been
shut properly after our towels were replaced but obviously we had nothing of
interest to anyone who had gotten in.
We
downloaded photos and had a passable coffee made by the coffee machine in our
room and veged out until it was time for food.
We couldn’t get the door to stay locked from outside the room, so I
stayed here while Joe drove down to collect dinner. Subway tonight, can’t be
bothered showering/changing/going anywhere.
Spent the rest of the evening watching Trump/Clinton campaign stuff on
tellie.
Another early-ish start tomorrow, we swap rental cars at 9am
and will then head off to Mobile to visit the USS Alabama and then on to New
Orleans.
No comments:
Post a Comment