The History of the Blue Angels

July 10, 2021 8:44am

www.TheMikeBatesShow.com/podcasts/210710

In 1995, I researched and narrated a twenty part "History of the Blue Angels" series that aired on the radio during the four weeks preceding the team’s homecoming airshow at NAS Pensacola. As a result of that radio documentary, I was invited to fly with the Blue Angels in the back seat of the #7 jet piloted by Lt. Ryan Scholl on November 8, 1995.

After a 3.1 G vertical takeoff from Sherman Field, we flew south over the Gulf of Mexico where he took me through a variety of maneuvers the Blue Angels perform including rolls, loops, inverted flight, a carrier brake where we hit 7.1 Gs, and we even went supersonic as we broke the sound barrier. All of it was fun, but my favorite maneuver was the vertical roll where the jet flies straight up while spinning on its axis with the smoke trail forming a corkscrew in the sky behind the plane. During our 45 minute flight, he gave me the stick for a little while and talked me through a few maneuvers including the aileron roll and a few loops.

It was an unbelievably spectacular flight. If you care to see the cockpit video of my flight, I posted it to my blog on November 8, 2020, which was the 25th anniversary of my flight. It's at www.TheMikeBatesShow.com/blog/201108-1111.

In July 2009, I flew aboard “Fat Albert” - the Blue Angels’ C-130 - during an airshow at Pensacola Beach. While that flight was nowhere near as intense as the F/A Hornet flight was, it was wonderful to have been aboard.

On today’s radio program I shared the fascinating history of the Blue Angels. That episode is now available online as a podcast at www.TheMikeBatesShow.com/podcasts/210710

If you’d like to see the Blue Angels perform, they’re scheduled to fly this afternoon at the Pensacola Beach Air Show.