Blue Angels in San Francisco

[Frank Minich]

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?

[Mike Kanze]

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.

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?

[Andrew Venor]

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?
>

[TV]

Very nice low-altitude shots! I'm amazed that none of the boats got in the
way. Nice to see the wave distortion and rooster tails!

TV

"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?
>
>

[Ad absurdum per aspera]

> I'm amazed that none of the boats got in the way.

As I recall (it's been several years) the Coast Guard marks the
regulated area with special buoys and then patrols it industriously,
assisted by whatever boat-equipped local police can be pressed into
service. See for instance http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent1/1,,fleetweek_MarinerNotice,00.html

As viewed from small craft in the spectator fleet, the wisdom of this
rule probably seems pretty obvious!

Note also that the "foreshortening" effect of a long lens makes
things seem closer to each other than they really are. The
photographer mentions using a 70-300 mm focal length zoom lens; as the
numbers go in 35mm film cameras and similar digital SLRs, that would
range from mild to quite substantial telephoto.

Cheers,
--Joe