Blue Angels – NAS – Pensacola, Florida

Now for something totally different on Davefaitlemonde, the Navy’s Blue Angel Demonstration Team.

Pensacola’s Naval Air Station is home to the Blue Angels. Surely everyone knows who the Blue Angels are but for those that don’t, it’s an arial demonstration team for the US Navy. This time of year they use Tuesdays and Wednesdays to practice before going off to shows around the country on the weekends. During practice days, they open the base to guests and thousands of people come to watch.

We had tickets to climb a nearby lighthouse and watch the show from above.

We had an amazing day with great views of the Florida coast.

In the distance, the buildings of Pensacola Beach.

Practice starts with a few acrobatics from Fat Albert.

Fat Albert is the transport plane associated with the team.

Soon the jets were on the fly.

Classic diamond formation.

The team of 6 breaks into one group of 4 and two singles.

While the team of 4 circles back around for another pass, the two singles do a pass.

Blue Angels over Pensacola Bay.

Now over Pepsi Cola.

One thing is for sure, using a landscape photography setup to shoot live action at distance is a challenge and stretches my lens to the limits. Also, I missed a lot of the good shots due to slow reactions. If I could do this a few times with a long lens things might be better….

Diamond over Pensacola again.

Loop de Loops by the singles.

At the end of the show, all six members come together for a starburst. Here is the sequence.

Shot 2.

Shot three. A very unique Pensacola Experience.