SALINAS — Jake Reynolds and his son, Boaz, were hanging out inside one of the VIP viewing sections at the California International Airshow on Saturday afternoon, waiting for the anticipated Blue Angels demonstration.
Boaz, 3, sat on top of his dad’s shoulders, wearing a set of red noise-cancelling headphones and a black pilot hat, watching as the F/A-18 Hornet jets zoomed by leaving nothing but a trail of white smoke.
“It was amazing,” said Reynolds, a Marine veteran from Santa Cruz. “It made me feel really super proud of them. It was a great, crisp precise demonstration. I’m proud of our country and our services, it was just amazing.”
Reynolds, 45, served in the Marine Corps with Lieutenant Colonel Mark Montgomery, who is the pilot for the Blue Angels’ C-130 transport aircraft nicknamed “Fat Albert.”
“I heard they were coming to town and I asked him if he had any tickets to the Blue Angels tent,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds, along with hundreds of other spectators, watched the pilots do their aerobatic demonstration as they flew in six F/A-18 Hornet aircraft. The team split into the Diamond Formation — Blue Angels 1 through 4 — and the Lead and Opposing Solos — Blue Angels 5 and 6.
Most of the show alternated between maneuvers performed by the Diamond Formation and the Solos.
The Diamond is a tight formation and usually travels at lower speeds like 400 miles per hour. The group performs maneuvers such as formation loops, rolls and transitions from one formation to another.
The Solos showcase the high performance capabilities of their aircraft through execution of high-speed passes, slow passes, fast rolls, slow rolls and very tight turns.
The highest speed flown during an air show is 700 mph, which is just under Mach 1, and the lowest speed is 120 mph. Some of the maneuvers include both solo aircraft performing at once, such as opposing passes, which appears to be a collision course, and mirror formations like back-to-back. belly-to-belly or wingtip-to-wingtip with one jet flying inverted.
The Solos join the Diamond Formation near the end of the show for a number of maneuvers in the Delta Formation.
The team has flown Boeing F/A-18 Hornets since 1986. The aircraft are constantly maintained and updated to be combat ready. Weapons have been removed from the performance planes and replaced with a tank that contains smoke-oil used in demonstrations.
The Navy’s flight demonstration squadron was initially formed in 1946, making it the second oldest formal flying aerobatic team in the world, after the French Patrouille de France formed in 1931. The Blue Angels’ McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets — numbered 1 through 6 — are currently flown by five Navy demonstration pilots and one Marine Corps demonstration pilot.
There have been 267 demonstration pilots in Blue Angels history, including the 2019 season, that have flown for more than 505 million spectators.
The “Blue Angels perform at both military and non-military airfields, and often over major U.S. cities and capitals such as San Francisco’s “Fleet Week” Maritime Festival, the Chicago Air and Water Show and Cleveland’s annual Labor Day Air Show.
The Blue Angels are currently doing 61 shows at 32 locations from the middle of March through the beginning of November. It was the first time in 10 years the flight demonstration team has been to Salinas.
Armon Johnson of Paso Robles brought his 4-year old grandson, Archer Loy, to the show, the boy’s first airshow experience. Archer got a chance to see everything Blue Angels related, including their transportation plane, Fat Albert. He was carrying a replica of the plane.
“I hope to someday interest this little guy,” Johnson said. “When I was a kid, I didn’t have any of this.”
Johnson, 56, grew up in a small town in the midwest with about 800 people. He said he joined the Marines to “get out of Dodge” and was stationed at Camp Pendleton.
Johnson said he loves the military part of the show, especially because he was a corporal in the Marines.
“I hope to at least get my grandkids to see this stuff so they know what’s out there,” he said. “That’s my thing and that’s why we’re up here today. Nobody did this for me and I want to do it for him, it’s important to me.”
Johnson is also a big fan of aerobatic pilot Sean Tucker, who won several air show championship competitions throughout his career and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2008.
Like his grandson, Johnson also has his own set of toys but in the form of remote control airplanes.
“My garage is full of them,” he said. “Like I said, I’m just an airplane nut. If I get a chance to go to an airshow, I go.”
Manuel Mendoza of Salinas brought his family, including his 4-year old grandson Kaden Antolin. He said he likes the fact the show is family friendly and is different every year, including the return of the Blue Angels.
“I had to bring the grandkids and all the family,” he said. “It gets a little pricey but it’s well worth it.”
Juan Reyes can be reached at 831-726-4360
