Blue Angel low pass over SF Bay at almost(?) mach 1

Vaughn Simon wrote:
"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...
Great pass. Quite frankly I'm surprised they got authorization to do it.

I did not catch it this year, but the Blue Angels SF show is an amazing
thing. It will awe and thrill any aviation buff, and is well worth the trip to
experience. And quite frankly, I am surprised (and cautiously delighted) that
it still happens. It is the only place that I have seen an airshow happen right
over the heads of thousands of people. The crowd thins only a bit when you get
past the water's edge. There are so many boats on the bay, one could almost
walk from boat to boat.

There is a sort of mutual love affair between SF and the Navy. ...and yes,
like lovers everywhere, they have the occasional spat.

Vaughn


Some of the best shows with the teams were during the early days when
out of restrictive airspace.
The Thunderbirds did one at Okinawa in the F100's that had Herman Salmon
flying the solo out over the ocean where he was "forgotten" by the
crowd; (all air force and AF civilian base personnel)
The Diamond sequenced with the Diamond Roll and exited the show line.
Fish timed the entry exactly right. He came in low from the ocean 90
degrees in back and behind the crowd. He timed it to go supersonic just
as he crossed over their heads at about 500 feet. It was like a cannon
went off. Nearly everybody hit the ground flat as he passed over them.
They were taken completely by surprise. Nobody knew he was coming!
To this day, they talk about Fish's super pass at Okinawa.
Can't do this stuff any more. I have to admit it's a lot safer not to do
it, but I'll tell you as well; there just ain't NOBODY ALIVE today who
was there that day who will tell you they would have rather not been
there as Fish "opened the show"
DH

--
Dudley Henriques