NAS Pensacola Air Show

Last weekend we took a trip over to Pensacola to see the annual Blue Angel Homecoming Air Show. This is their last show of the season and always draws a large crowd here in their "hometown". It was an even bigger deal this year as the team lost a member this year while preparing for a show in Tennessee. To the town of Pensacola these flyers are part of the family and it was evident by the number of #6 flags flying everywhere to remember the lost pilot who flew plane #6 for the team.

We arrived on Thursday to be sure we got a good spot since we had heard the anchorage fills up and, boy, did it! It was nice to be anchored again in the clear waters of the gulf. Our anchorage was at Fort McRee just off the Pensacola inlet and right across from the air station which gave us great seats for the show!

The picture below is just a small number of the boats in the cove for the weekend.

We dropped our anchor and backed up to the beach putting out a stern anchor to hold us in place. This would help leave room for the other boats to get good spots too. It seems most boaters here are very helpful and courteous unlike some other events we've boated to.

We had a visitor shortly after we got there. We heard this is a very popular weekend party cove and I guess he was looking for a handout. I only included the picture to show how clear the water is.

Another unexpected surprise was that Thursday turned out to be dress rehearsal day for the air show and we were treated to the full show a day early! The next picture was taken Thursday and is a bit unusual. See if you can figure it out...zoom in... (answer at the end)!!

The "Blues" weren't the only ones flying this weekend, it was a whole air show with planes of every variety.

It was unfortunate that I didn't take as many pictures on Thursday since Friday turned out to be overcast and the shots didn't turn out as well. The following are a few of the better ones as well as a short movie that show's how close we are to the show. Towards the end of the clip you can see planes 5 & 6 racing to catch up for the next "act" which includes the whole team.

Pensacola Lighthouse

All 6 together

I'm always amazed when I see the diamond formation pass, it's said there is only 18" between wingtip and canopy...that's really close at those speeds.

Another bonus was the second show on Friday that started at dusk and went into darkness with planes streaming fireworks, followed by a full firework show! Really something to watch!! The Blue Angels weren't part of this show but the prop planes were amazing.

We went down to the show planing to leave early Saturday before boats began showing up for that show. We imagined there would be even more boats and we'd be better off getting out before it got too crazy. We were also convinced to leave when the generator died Friday night and spewed anti freeze all over the engine room. I believe we sucked a jelly fish up against the intake which caused it to overheat. There were hundreds in the cove that night. It's all working fine now after making the repairs!

Soooooo....did you have the answer to the question above?? One of the planes in the picture is the #7 plane which doesn't normally fly in the show but is flown on practice day by one of the other pilots. It's used as a backup and pilot #7 is the narrator for the show. This and other interesting info can be found at this helpful site.

Lastly from the "Crises Narrowly Averted" files...as Jill and I were walking around the old ruins of Ft. McRee the following picture was taken...to think, I almost stepped on it!! Good thing I wasn't wearing flip-flops!!