Blue Angels in San Francisco

Mike Kanze wrote:

Frank,

Picture this: the Blues arrive on the flight deck of the Nimitz, and
the show starts with them being catapulted off. Looks like there might
be enough natural wind.

Nice thought, and it might have been feasible in the round engine era.

However, there is insufficient dredged sea room for high-performance
aircraft launches and recoveries in SF Bay. And there is very
restricted airspace were deep draft craft can operate due to the
proximity of the Bay Bridge, not to mention airport operations at SFO
and OAK.

As a rare exception to what Mike wrote above I remember watching the
Carl Vinson launch a F/A-18 while in the bay off of Fishermans Wharf
during Fleet Week in 1991.

ALV


Historical note: Post-WWII Bay Area air operations intensity, especially
near the Bay Bridge, was the key reason for the construction of NAS
Lemoore and the reassignment of most fleet airwing activity away from
NAS Alameda in the late 1950s - early 1960s. The Bay Bridge itself was
another factor mitigating against continued large scale jet ops from NAS
Alameda.

I recall very clearly an early 1960s accident involving a claggy wx
T-Bird launch from Rwy 31 that impacted the cantilever section of the
bridge, with two crew fatalities. Along with the USN's exit from the
seaplane business, this is why NAS Alameda morphed into a combination CV
home port and NARF facility in its last decades.

--
Mike Kanze

"In the age of globalization, every world citizen owns a piece of the
rest of the world's bad habits."

- Debra J. Saunders, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (9/21/2007)

"Frank Minich" wrote in
message ...
My brother sent me this link:

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/

I don't know the photographer from Adam, but he did take some nice
shots.
Good advertising for the Nikon D50 too.

The SF bay looks like a natural environment for an airshow.
Guess I'll have to head out there one of these years for Fleet Week.
Anybody got a boat?

Picture this: the Blues arrive on the flight deck of the Nimitz,
and the
show starts with them being catapulted off.
Looks like there might be enough natural wind.

RAMN content: are the Blues slated to go to the super hornet?