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2010 Air Shows |
2010
NAS Pensacola, Florida Nov. 10-12
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Location: NAS
Pensacola, Florida |
Admission: Free
with paid seating available |
Parking: Free |
| Value: Excellent |
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The 2010 Blue Angels Homecoming Airshow took place on November
10, 11 and 12 at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. This
air show takes place annually and celebrates the return of the
Blue Angels to its home base and usually is held on a Friday and
Saturday. Since this year Veterans Day holiday fell on a Thursday,
the airshow became a 3-day event with the evening portion of the
show held at dusk on Thursday. This was a unique opportunity to
thank all veterans for their service and sacrifices for the country.
The importance of this date was marked by the presence of the Disabled
American Veterans (DAV) B-25 J "Special Delivery" from
the Lone Star Flight Museum from Galveston, Texas which flew at
the show on Veterans Day only and was on static display for all
the other days. DAV is a non-profit organization dedicated to bring
better lives for United States disabled veterans and their families
since 1920!
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This airshow affords an opportunity to see aircraft that are not
often flying in other shows, such as the T-45 Goshawk, T-39 Sabreliner,
T-6A Texan II and the T-1A Jayhawk. These aircraft flew at the beginning
of the show forming the Parade of Trainer Aircraft along with Dan
Serrato's T-28 Trojan and Boeing Stearman. The action in the air
and on the ground did not stop all day with performances from crowd
favorites Otto the Helicopter, piloted by Roger Buis, Bill Leff T-6,
Bob Carlton's Jet Sailplane and the Shock Wave Jet Truck. Aerobatic
displays were performed by the Breitling CAP 232 flown by David Martin,
Jan Collmer's Extra 300-L, Mike Goulian's Extra 330SC and the Aerostars
Aerobatic Team flying their Yak-52TW. The public also enjoyed parachute
jumps from the Emerald Coast Skydiving Team from Elberta Alabama
with their colorful parachutes and the United States Special Operations
Command Parachute Team "The Para-Commandos" with their
precision freefall parachute demonstration. The Coast Guard was present
with their Search and Rescue demo flying the HH-65 Dolphin. The high
performance stars of the show were the F-15E Strike Eagle Demonstration
Team from the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina and
VFA 106 Gladiators F/A-18F from Oceana NAS in Virginia. The grand
finale was the superb performance of the Blue Angels, in their 23rd
year flying the F/A-18 Hornet, preceded by a short, but powerful
demonstration by the team's C-130 Fat Albert.
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The Thursday Night Show started at 4:30 p.m. with
performances by the F/A-18 Super Hornet, Mike Goulian, the Para-Commandos,
Marine Corp AV-8B Harrier II flyby. There were beautiful night time
performances by Otto the Helicopter, Bill Leff - Starfire Night show
with his T-6, Bob Carlton Jet Sailplane and Kent Shockley's Shockwave
Jet truck. The show was over with a fireworks display that ended
with the "Wall of Fire" by Rich's Incredible Pyro.
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About 40 aircraft were on static display including one of the
most recent entries to the Navy's inventory, the EA-18G Growler
which was parked next to an EA-6B Prowler. Old and new side by
side. Also of interest was a Tornado from the 2nd German Air Force
Training Squadron USA and a United States Air Force T-6 with light
gray camouflage.
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The gates opened daily at 8 a. m. and show started
at 9:30 a.m. There was ample parking available. The number of food
concessions and bathroom facilities were adequate for a venue this
size. Food prices ranged from $4 to $8 and water bottles were being
sold for $2. Admission was free with paid seating available ranging
from $7 for bleachers to $60 for the Flight Line Club Chalet with
hot lunch and unlimited non-alcoholic drinks. There were plenty of
things for children and adults alike. The weather was good during
the 3-day show. The lighting was good for photographers unlike some
other venues.
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A special
thanks to Patrick Nichols from the NAS Pensacola Public Affairs Office
for his invaluable help, Capt Dan Serrato for taking me up on his
T-28 and Lynn May from DAV.
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Warbirds that were airborne were:
- Blue Angels F-18 Hornet
- C-130 Hercules Fat Albert
- F-15E Strike Eagle Demo Team
- T-39 Sabreliner
- T-1 Jayhawk
- T-45 Goshaw
- T-28 Trojan
- F/A-18 Super Hornet
- HH-65 Dolphin
- B-25J (Thursday only)
- T-6
- Extra 300-L
- Boeing Stearman
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Rating:
9 out of 10 |
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Review by R. von Puttkammer
for AIRSHOWSREVIEW LLC |
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