Afterburners On! The USAF Thunderbirds Are Coming to the Salinas, Ca. Airshow

The USAF Thunderbirds flight demonstration team is coming to our area in October, and I just purchased flight-line tickets for their performance. I have been thrilled over many years by the numerous performances of the Navy’s Blue Angels I have witnessed. I expect no less from the Thunderbird’s upcoming appearance – the very first one, for me.

The days, the weeks, and the months fly by for my wife and me, replete with the business of everyday living, our hobbies, a certain amount of boredom (not often), and the periodic itch to get out for some real excitement. My current itch resulted in the ultimate “scratch”- our plans to attend the Salinas Airshow and witness, once again, the power and thrill of flight, as demonstrated, this time, by the United States Air Force Thunderbirds.

At eighty-two years of age, a lot of water has flowed beneath my bridge while experiencing childhood, college life, having a family, working at my thirty-seven-year engineering career in Silicon Valley, and years of happy retirement, now.

As with most life histories, personal/family events occupy the top echelons of my mind’s memory. That is as it should be. In terms of pure emotional electricity over the years, what other experiences have embedded themselves in the top echelons of my mind?

Each of the several US Navy Blue Angels flight demonstrations I have witnessed since boyhood have left fond memories. In terms of sheer impression, and thrill-of-the-moment excitement, nothing I have seen (so far) can match the speed, precision, and throaty afterburner roar of pure power that characterizes these airshow flight demonstrations.

My earliest recollection of a “Blues” airshow materialized at nearby Moffett Field, at that time a full-fledged Navy Air Base with huge dirigible hangers, expansive tarmac, and long runways. This was in the mid/late nineteen-fifties. I recall being part of a large standing crowd covering the tarmac – in close proximity to the field, itself. The team announcer on the PA system began his customary two-minute spiel about the Blues as they took off in formation, circled the field once…and promptly disappeared from view!

The timing was impeccable as the announcer concluded his introductory welcome to the crowd and brief opening remarks, raised his voice and concluded with, “Ladies and Gentlemen: I present to you the United States Navy’s flight demonstration team, THE BLUE ANGELS!!” Immediately as he uttered “THE BLUE ANGELS” and before the crowd could even begin to ask themselves, “But where are they?” thunder erupted directly overhead as individual Blues criss-crossed the field from all points of the compass, directly above us and at very low altitude – meeting at the same precise spot over the field with minimum horizontal and vertical separation! That dramatic, show-opening gambit is known as “the cross-over” routine.

Wow! That was goosebumps galore as the diamond quickly formed-up and the action was underway, fast and furious. The four diamond formation pilots in airplane #s 1- 4 flew their formations while the two solo airplanes, #s 5 and 6 captured the crowd’s attention between passes of the diamond by displaying their own precise maneuvers.

It is compelling to contemplate the flying skills demonstrated by these pilots. Even more amazing, to me, is the Blues’ current ride, the F-18 Hornet whose streamlined, gleaming, azure-blue beauty and throaty roar of full afterburner power dazzle the senses. In the Blues’ recent performances, solo airplane #5 takes off, pulls wheels up while still skimming the runway, then kicks in the afterburners and steeply accelerates straight up to several thousand feet while rolling a tight spiral all the way up. The power and mechanical perfection of the machine is every bit a match for the skills of its pilot. Less than eighty years have passed between the Wright Brothers’ first powered, twelve second flight in 1906 and the Hornet’s introduction to service in the late nineteen-eighties – a fact that never ceases to amaze me and causes me to never lose sight of mankind’s greatest accomplishments.

I will never forget the unbridled thrill of that Blue Angels opening and the show that followed at Moffett Field on a sunny afternoon, close to seventy years ago. Very few experiences have proven so memorably thrilling to me. Over all the years, I have learned much about the Blues, the Thunderbirds, the men who fly the planes, and the organizations that support their efforts to bring military aviation into focus for the American people. Despite the undeniable culture of the test pilot “fighter jock” as portrayed in the movie, The Right Stuff, these men and women are “the best of the best,” and I maintain that is pretty darn good.

I wanted our two young grandsons, Matthew and Luke to experience the same thrills that I did, as a young boy, so we took them to the 2019 Salinas Airshow which featured the Blue Angels: they loved it! They and their parents will be seeing the Thunderbirds with us in October. Matthew, the older grandson and a high school sophomore, is planning to take flying lessons. Among his possible career choices is a stint as a fighter pilot. A career as a computer/software engineer is also a strong contender!

Perhaps my father’s aviation legacy will live on for another generation or two after me! That would please us both.

A note on my blog and its many other posts – some of them re: aviation!

If you have chosen to “follow” my blog on reasonandreflection.wordpress.com, you already know I have had much to say about my father and the aviation legacy he left me. That legacy is baked-into my genes, it seems, hence my unbridled enthusiasm for what I describe, here. I invite you to click on the above link and use the search box at the top-right of my blog’s home page to input keywords like Lincoln, Lindberg, Chuck Yeager, aviation legacy, etc. to access direct links to my 220+ blog posts – like this one! My blog is free, with nothing to join and no obligations! Following my blog will get you an E-mail notification of each new post, when it happens – no ads or junk mail!

If you wish to comment on this or any other post, click on the small, red “leave a reply” or “replies” link or use the “leave a comment” box at the very end of the post (if present). It’s easy. Your comment will appear on the that post, and you will get a personal reply from me. Happy landings!