Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show 2023

[n33d4sp33d_85]

Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show 2023
November 3rd - 4th
NAS Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
https://www.naspensacolaairshow.com/

Featuring
- US Navy Blue Angels
- USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon Demo
- US Navy F-35C Lightning II Demo
- US Navy Legacy Flight [F-35C Lightning II (x 2) & Warbird TBD]
- Rob Holland [MXS-RH]
- Melissa Burns [Edge 540]
- Adam Baker [Extra 330]
- Brian Correll [Pitts S2S]
- Jarrod Lindemann [Jet-Powered 1929 Taperwing Waco]
- Third Strike Wingwalking [Stearman]
- Stearman Flight Team
- Misty Blues Skydiving Team
- Smoke and Thunder Jet Car

Announcer: Ric Peterson

[ItsCreeperPlay]

Per Performers Page
-USAF A-10 Thunderbolt II Demo
-Stearman Flight Team
-Rusty "Crash" Miller [T-28]
-Precision Exotics
-Smoke and Thunder Jet Car

[wfooshee]

I see Tora! Tora! Tora! listed on the performers page, but I don't see the event listed on any of the Tora! Tora! Tora! pages I can find. I hope this is for real! I've seen them twice, and it's been the only times I've seen a P-39 or a P-40 flying, not to mention the Japanese aircraft such as the Kate torpedo bomber.

[CultOfTheWyvern]

I see Tora! Tora! Tora! listed on the performers page, but I don't see the event listed on any of the Tora! Tora! Tora! pages I can find. I hope this is for real! I've seen them twice, and it's been the only times I've seen a P-39 or a P-40 flying, not to mention the Japanese aircraft such as the Kate torpedo bomber.

Looks like it's just the pyrotechnic crew, not the full reenactment.

[Airplanefreak2000]

I see Tora! Tora! Tora! listed on the performers page, but I don't see the event listed on any of the Tora! Tora! Tora! pages I can find. I hope this is for real! I've seen them twice, and it's been the only times I've seen a P-39 or a P-40 flying, not to mention the Japanese aircraft such as the Kate torpedo bomber.

Yes it’s only a small part of our team coming in to do pyro only. But it will be a very nice pyro

[wfooshee]

I saw "bomb squad" mentioned in the list of performers, but the image showed the aircraft, thus the confusion.

Still glad to see even that, as they haven't had any pyro there for several years now! (Well, except when a skydiver's boot sparkler lit the grass on fire in the 2017 night show... )

[Airplanefreak2000]

Gorgeous weather lead to pretty pictures. Pretty decent Pensacola for my first time!

[Airplanefreak2000]

Some more:

[CultOfTheWyvern]

Just got back from a very enjoyable trip to the Florida Panhandle. I attended the Friday show; haven't started editing photos yet, but wanted to share some thoughts.

The weather was sublime; a little chilly in the morning, but that turned out to be to my benefit, as the pockets in my jacket compensated for not being able to take a backpack. And I'd take 55 degrees in the morning and a dry 75-ish at midday over already breaking a sweat at 9:30 am any day!

I have mixed feelings on the two twenty-minute or so intermissions built into the show. On the one hand, they turned out to be a blessing for the solo traveler (e.g., myself), for whom every food run, trash dash, bathroom break, and static display jaunt essentially requires packing up everything and inevitably missing some part of the flying display. On the other, they did make the show feel a little dragged out, especially combined with the gaps between many of the civilian acts that were staging from KPNS.

The flying display itself was outstanding, very well-balanced, though if I had to make one suggestion, it could've done with a bit of high-performance warbird action. The fact that the CAF Airbase Georgia's Corsair was on hand for the Legacy Flight only felt like a bit of a missed opportunity, as its full routine is superb and would've been a great addition. But that's a minor gripe, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Most of the performers were firsts for me; the only aerial acts I'd seen before were the Blue Angels, Rob Holland, and the Viper Demo Team (flying a standard squadron jet on the Friday rather than Venom). Technically I've seen the Misty Blues before, but it's been a good twenty-plus years, so for all intents and purposes, a fresh one for me. The F-35C has got some serious stage presence, though I still think of one of those Styrofoam gliders I used to play with as a kid every time I see that enormous wing!

The trainer parade in particular was a real treat. I was really hoping to see a little of the "other" home team - the one whose aircraft are painted orange-and-white instead of blue-and-yellow - especially since the show's official website said nothing about any modern military training participation. I would've been happy with a couple Texans or Goshawks. Well, all we got instead were two each of TH-57Cs and TH-73As, eight Texan IIs (4x from Whiting Field, 3x USN and 1x USAF from Pensacola), T-1A, T-44C, and four Goshawks in a nice banking pass. That's in addition to the Stearman Flight Team and civvie trio of Navion, T-34B, and T-28.

Traffic was...frustrating. I know that's always going to be an issue when massive amounts of civilian vehicles are moving around a facility that wasn't designed for such traffic, and base security did their best, but it seemed glacial even by typical air show standards. Security was quick and efficient, though, so even though it was close to the published 9:30 am start by the time I got parked up, I had just enough time to sprint around the small but quality static display before the Stearmans (Stearmen?) went up. I had another, more leisurely gander before leaving...and still got stuck in gridlock. Eh, sitting in traffic is all part of the experience, right?

Blue Angel #5's smoke system went out a few minutes into Friday's display. Hopefully they got it fixed for Saturday.

All right, now to go through a couple hundred images...

[wfooshee]

I'm going through my own images. My one disappointment with the show was the very low (for this area) humidity, which resulted in almost no vapor from the jets, even in the 700+ mph passes. Nothing except for wisps from the F-35, and the normal trails from the strakes on the F-16 and the F-18s, and even those were only on the severest pulls. Otherwise, it was indeed a great day, on both days.

Fat Albert received a water salute after its Saturday demonstration, I think for someone's final flight with the team (I couldn't quite hear the PA.) I don't know if it was final flight, or maybe retirement. It was exciting, though, as I've never seen this in person!