Surely this is a typo ...

"El CENTRO, Calif. (NNS) -- The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the
Blue Angels, performed for more than 200 spectators at Naval Air
Facility (NAF) El Centro March 11, marking the beginning of the Blue
Angels' 60th anniversary season."

http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=22709

MW

"Mike Weeks" > wrote in news:1142468095.417423.174550
@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com:

> Surely this is a typo ...
>
> "El CENTRO, Calif. (NNS) -- The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the
> Blue Angels, performed for more than 200 spectators at Naval Air
> Facility (NAF) El Centro March 11, marking the beginning of the Blue
> Angels' 60th anniversary season."
>
> http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=22709

Nah, that's about right for a home base show. It's at least a two hour
drive to get there from anywhere else, and these shows aren't on the
regular calendar, anyway.

Dave in San Diego

Mike Weeks wrote:
> Surely this is a typo ...
>
> "El CENTRO, Calif. (NNS) -- The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the
> Blue Angels, performed for more than 200 spectators at Naval Air
> Facility (NAF) El Centro March 11, marking the beginning of the Blue
> Angels' 60th anniversary season."
>
> http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=22709
>
> MW

IIRC, the El Centro show isn't open to the public, just invited guests
of the squadron personnel.

--
Tom Schoene
To email me, replace "invalid" with "net"

"Mike Weeks" > wrote in
ups.com:

>
> Thomas Schoene wrote:
>> Mike Weeks wrote:
>> > Surely this is a typo ...
>> >
>> > "El CENTRO, Calif. (NNS) -- The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron,
>> > the Blue Angels, performed for more than 200 spectators at Naval Air
>> > Facility (NAF) El Centro March 11, marking the beginning of the Blue
>> > Angels' 60th anniversary season."
>> >
>> > http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=22709
>> >
>> > MW
>>
>> IIRC, the El Centro show isn't open to the public, just invited guests
>> of the squadron personnel.
>
> If that's the case, that's a change which has taken place at some
> point. We used to drive out to El Centro back in the late '80's for
> the first show of "the season" -- less crowded then say, Miramar, Pt.
> Mugu or El Toro later in the year -- the count, IIRC, would be
> somewhere between 15,000 - 20,000.
>
> I find nothing to indicate that 11 March was anything but the first
> scheduled show of the season, but perhaps it has indeed changed.

Well, I just looked up the season schedule, and it was the first public
show of the season. Hmmm. Another consideration may have been the really
crappy weather we had leading up to the weekend. I've never seen a huge
crowd there, but I guess it's always been for the practice shows.

Dave in San Diego

They call it "El Centro of nowhere" for a reason.

--
Mike Kanze

"Guinness is the drink that kept the Irish from taking over the world."

- Kinky Friedman, Texas gubernatorial candidate

"Dave in San Diego" > wrote in message . 30...
"Mike Weeks" > wrote in news:1142468095.417423.174550
@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com:

> Surely this is a typo ...
>
> "El CENTRO, Calif. (NNS) -- The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the
> Blue Angels, performed for more than 200 spectators at Naval Air
> Facility (NAF) El Centro March 11, marking the beginning of the Blue
> Angels' 60th anniversary season."
>
> http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=22709

Nah, that's about right for a home base show. It's at least a two hour
drive to get there from anywhere else, and these shows aren't on the
regular calendar, anyway.

Dave in San Diego

Mike Weeks wrote:

> I find nothing to indicate that 11 March was anything but the first
> scheduled show of the season, but perhaps it has indeed changed.

No, there's every chance I'm wrong. I think maybe I'm confusing it with
some of the pre-season practices.

--
Tom Schoene
To email me, replace "invalid" with "net"

Eric Joiner wrote:
> The Blue Angels often do a show the day before an announced public
> display for base personnel and invited guests only. Big time recruiting
> ploy. So..."technically" the first show of the season may be counted
> as the base only staff and 200 people thereabouts would be normal.

One I attended in Pensacola, in '70 or so, was -- at least informally --
called a rehearsal. Probably no more than 200 people on the grass at
Sherman Field for that one.

--
John Miller

The Official Web Site of the Blue Angels list the 11 March event as an
Airshow. That means to me it was open to the public. Go to:
http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/index.htm to see the list of shows and
practices or go to http://www.blueangels.navy.mil for the home page.


We are just sitting around watching the grass grow and dying slowly 'cause
the Blues are still out on the west coast. But.....soon they'll be home and
we will be able to sit on the dock and watch them practice. Soon......

Tom at Blue Angel Lake in Pensacola


"Thomas Schoene" > wrote in message
ink.net...
> Mike Weeks wrote:
>
>> I find nothing to indicate that 11 March was anything but the first
>> scheduled show of the season, but perhaps it has indeed changed.
>
> No, there's every chance I'm wrong. I think maybe I'm confusing it with
> some of the pre-season practices.
>
> --
> Tom Schoene
> To email me, replace "invalid" with "net"

Eric Joiner wrote:
> Dave in San Diego wrote:
> > "Mike Weeks" > wrote in
> > ups.com:
> >
> >
> >>Thomas Schoene wrote:
> >>
> >>>Mike Weeks wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>Surely this is a typo ...
> >>>>
> >>>>"El CENTRO, Calif. (NNS) -- The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron,
> >>>>the Blue Angels, performed for more than 200 spectators at Naval Air
> >>>>Facility (NAF) El Centro March 11, marking the beginning of the Blue
> >>>>Angels' 60th anniversary season."
> >>>>
> >>>>http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=22709
> >>>>
> >>>>MW
> >>>
> >>>IIRC, the El Centro show isn't open to the public, just invited guests
> >>>of the squadron personnel.
> >>
> >>If that's the case, that's a change which has taken place at some
> >>point. We used to drive out to El Centro back in the late '80's for
> >>the first show of "the season" -- less crowded then say, Miramar, Pt.
> >>Mugu or El Toro later in the year -- the count, IIRC, would be
> >>somewhere between 15,000 - 20,000.
> >>
> >>I find nothing to indicate that 11 March was anything but the first
> >>scheduled show of the season, but perhaps it has indeed changed.
> >
> >
> > Well, I just looked up the season schedule, and it was the first public
> > show of the season. Hmmm. Another consideration may have been the really
> > crappy weather we had leading up to the weekend. I've never seen a huge
> > crowd there, but I guess it's always been for the practice shows.
> >
> > Dave in San Diego
>
> The Blue Angels often do a show the day before an announced public
> display for base personnel and invited guests only. Big time recruiting
> ploy. So..."technically" the first show of the season may be counted
> as the base only staff and 200 people thereabouts would be normal.

Have indeed been to what you describe in years past. However this part
of the press release would suggest it was as advertised, the first
public show for the season:

"Prior to the Blue Angels take off, the crowd was treated to aerial
performances by Bill Cornick flying the Pitts S-C2, John Collver flying
the AT-6 Texan "War Dog," Steve Cowell flying the Tuskegee Airman
T-6, Greg Medford flying a vintage Cold War-era Chinese Nanchang CJ-6A
and the sky acrobatics of Steve and Susan Oliver."

Have now sent a general inquiry to the PAO, NAF El Centro; no response
yet.

As a kid and living in the mountains between El Centro and San Diego I use
to hike down to the base and camp out just to watch the Blue Angeles
practice. I always had my trusted J.C. Higgins 22 rifle and I really
enjoyed watching them. In the winter it would get pretty cold at night and
I would build a small fire. It was just to hot in the summer and they were
not there. I would follow the old train tracks out of Grease Gorge
(mountain springs grade), stop of at old man Millers place (garage &
towing) at the bottom of the grade in Ocotillo. He had an old Cessna and
sometimes he would take me up for a ride. This was the days before the
freeway. On the way back at mountain springs grade there was an old hermit
know to me only as Happy. He lived down there among the rocks and lived off
of items from the truck wreaks, going down the grade. I normally would
visit with him for a couple of hours and then take the old stage couch route
back up the grade. And then head back into what is now McCain valley
recreation area (BLM land). From there I would normally go over and visit
with Old Tulle Jim McCain, he would always have something for me to do.
From there I would head back through the Manzanita Indian reservation
stopping to visit with the different Indian family's. There was an old dam
and if it happen to be hot I would stop and take a swim. There was Brucy,
and Atiline, and the Eleits. They always welcomed me, and at Jinks place he
would give me a grease gun and I would go up and grease the old wind mill.
I guess I must of traveled about 150 miles total and always caught hell when
I got home. But it was worth it to be able to lay out there in the desert
and watch the Blue Angeles, how I dreamed it was me up there.
Clyde


"Mike Weeks" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Surely this is a typo ...
>
> "El CENTRO, Calif. (NNS) -- The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the
> Blue Angels, performed for more than 200 spectators at Naval Air
> Facility (NAF) El Centro March 11, marking the beginning of the Blue
> Angels' 60th anniversary season."
>
> http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=22709
>
> MW
>

Clyde, what were they flying then - Panthers or Tigers? I would have
loved to see a Blues Panther show.

v/r
Gordon
PS, great bit of writing there - I think most of us could feel the
rocks under your feet.

Ed McKeller and Mr. Pieroni (probably butchering that) used to run a
large bus from our air museum out to El Centro to catch that show each
year. The best part of the excursion was the bus ride - we always had
at least a couple retired Blue Angel pilots on the bus, sharing stories
of flamed-out Panthers landing in the desert or sneaking up on boats on
lakes, things like that.

The show we went to was the day before the start of the official season
- and yes, it was generally referred to as the family airshow, since it
was primarily an invitation-only type show. Our bus had its own
bleachers (it pays to have Blue Angels on your museum board of
directors!). There were a couple occasions when it honestly appeared
that our group of 50+ made up the majority of the "crowd".

v/r
Gordon

I just saw them a few hours ago here at Mather AFB in Sacramento. First
official show of the season I heard. They did a fine job. Estimated crowd of
80,000 today, and about the same yesterday.

Best part for me though was seeing a p40 do fly by's. Too enamored with the
AVG I guess.

- Doug


> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Ed McKeller and Mr. Pieroni (probably butchering that) used to run a
> large bus from our air museum out to El Centro to catch that show each
> year. The best part of the excursion was the bus ride - we always had
> at least a couple retired Blue Angel pilots on the bus, sharing stories
> of flamed-out Panthers landing in the desert or sneaking up on boats on
> lakes, things like that.
>
> The show we went to was the day before the start of the official season
> - and yes, it was generally referred to as the family airshow, since it
> was primarily an invitation-only type show. Our bus had its own
> bleachers (it pays to have Blue Angels on your museum board of
> directors!). There were a couple occasions when it honestly appeared
> that our group of 50+ made up the majority of the "crowd".
>
> v/r
> Gordon
>

"Mike Kanze" > wrote in message
. ..
They call it "El Centro of nowhere" for a reason.

Sheesh, Mike........
It's only about dos cervezas from Yuma!!!!

Cheers.

Dos?

You must be a slow drinker. <g>

(No Yuma jokes - I promise.)

Cheers!

--
Mike Kanze

"Kind-hearted people might think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat an enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds this is a fallacy that must be exposed."

-- Karl von Clausewitz


"PosterBoy" > wrote in message news:PxOTf.163232$sa3.76442@pd7tw1no...

"Mike Kanze" > wrote in message
. ..
They call it "El Centro of nowhere" for a reason.

Sheesh, Mike........
It's only about dos cervezas from Yuma!!!!

Cheers.