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Blue Angels Crash



 
 
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  #11  
Old April 23rd 07, 04:00 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.aviation
Tom Callahan
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Posts: 362
Default Blue Angels Crash

It wasn't his "first performance" but his first year on the team. He
practiced these maneuvers hundreds of times before going out for the first
airshow. LCDR Davis was a highly experienced pilot with superb training,
both for combat and for airshow maneuvers. See this article from today's
Pensacola News Journal:


Blue Angels in mourning
Team flies home to NAS one man short


Thyrie Bland


The Blue Angels returned home Sunday with heavy hearts and decided not to
participate in a weekend air show in Vidalia, Ga.

The team is mourning the loss of Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis, who was killed
Saturday in Beaufort, S.C., when his No. 6 jet crashed during an air show.

The return to the Pensacola Naval Air Station was much different than on
most Sundays. No one said much. And there wasn't the usual cheering and
clapping that greet the elite flying team after a weekend show.

Somber family members were waiting at the air station when the team returned
about 3:40 p.m.

"It was a very teary-eyed reunion," Lt. Cmdr. Garrett Kasper, spokesman for
the Blue Angels, said Sunday evening.

The team met after getting back to NAS and decided not to practice Tuesday.

"We would like to get back in the air as soon as practicable," Kasper said.

A memorial service honoring Davis also was discussed, but plans remain
incomplete, Kasper said.

Davis' parking space at Pensacola Naval Air Station has been turned into a
makeshift memorial for the fallen Blue Angels pilot.

There are flowers, including roses, sunflowers, lilies and daisies, laid
against a fence with a blue sign attached, bearing Davis' name.

"We will always remember No. 6," one poster read.

"God bless your soul. Fly high Blue Angel," another small note read.

Oscar Bergman and his wife, Ro, left a jar with two roses -- one red and one
white -- a poem and an e-mail from a friend.

"I touched the (sign) with his name on it, and the tears came," said Ro
Bergman, a longtime fan of the Blues.

As a tribute to Davis outside the Blue Angels hangar, flood lights were
aimed at a spare jet bearing Davis' name and the No. 6.

The display was a reflection of Davis' personality, Kasper said.

"Even in the darkest of times, Kevin Davis was the guy that could shed light
on the situation," Kasper said.

The rest of Davis' team, mourning the loss of their teammate, declined to
speak with the media. Harry White, public affairs officer for NAS, said the
pilots were "starting the healing process."

Things seemed normal at the air station on Sunday afternoon, with a steady
amount of traffic, people playing golf on the base's course and sailboats
floating in the water nearby.

Throughout the weekend, there are a lot of heavy hearts on the base.

"With something like this, it doesn't matter who you are, you are going to
be affected," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Tom Samelstad, a Naval air
crewman stationed at NAS. "But if you do anything in aviation, you know the
Blue Angels and it hits you that much harder."

The Blues are a special part of this Northwest Florida city, with locals
feeling a special bond with the pilots.

"There are people who have lived here all their lives and seen the air show
every year," Samelstad said Saturday. "Pensacola wouldn't be the same
without the Blue Angels."

"We are a small town," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeff Plowman, a
Pensacola native and rescue swimmer instructor at NAS. "They are definitely
our hometown heroes."

Gulf Breeze resident Cheryl Wiggins posted her large Blue Angels flag
outside her home about 7 a.m. Sunday.

"It's going to stay out there for at least a week at half staff," said
Wiggins, who also plans to wear her "wing and a prayer" pin as a tribute to
Davis.

Davis, known by his nickname "Kojak," joined the Blues in September 2005. He
had been on the team for two years, and this was his first year as a
demonstration pilot.

Davis spent his early years in Pittsfield, Mass. Davis' father, John, was
principal at Taconic High School.

John Davis and his wife, Ann, who now reside in Aiken, S.C., were at
Saturday's show when their son was killed.

Kevin Davis graduated in 1992 from Reading Memorial High School after the
family moved east when his father took a job as school superintendent in
Somerville, Mass.

Kevin Davis graduated with honors in 1996 from Embry Riddle Aeronautical
University in Daytona Beach, according to the Blue Angels' Web site. In
September of that year, he entered officer candidate school at Naval Air
Station in Pensacola.

He earned "Top Stick" status in his class at Fighter Squadron 101 at Naval
Air Station Oceana, Va., while training in F-14 Tomcat jets. He flew
missions supporting the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and graduated from Navy
Flight Weapons School in 2004.

Even as a young boy, Kevin Davis was intrigued by speed.

"He was fascinated with airplanes from the time he was little," former
neighbor Betty Sweeney said. "He knew what he wanted to do, and he did it.
That's the only relief, that he went doing what he wanted to do."

News Journal staff writers Jessica Coleman, Chrissy Littledale and The
Associated Press contributed to this report.

"J.F." wrote in message
t...
According to the news last night, this was his first performance. Being
retired military, my heart goes out to him and his family. "God Speed"
"Clairbear" wrote in message
...
"MWB" wrote in news:462a8925$0$17174
:

Tom,

FOX is reporting it was the 6 plane.

Sad day

Mark




Our sympathies and thoughts are for his family and team mates







  #12  
Old April 23rd 07, 04:03 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.aviation
Al G[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 328
Default Blue Angels Crash

Lcdr Davis had been with the Blues for two years. This was this years
"opening" show.

My sympathies and thoughts are for his family and team mates.

Al G



"J.F." wrote in message
t...
According to the news last night, this was his first performance. Being
retired military, my heart goes out to him and his family. "God Speed"
"Clairbear" wrote in message
...
"MWB" wrote in news:462a8925$0$17174
:

Tom,

FOX is reporting it was the 6 plane.

Sad day

Mark




Our sympathies and thoughts are for his family and team mates





  #13  
Old April 24th 07, 03:03 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.aviation
RAP Flashnet
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14
Default Blue Angels Crash

It is possible that the G-LOC issue may came to pass here. The six ship
join up is one of the few high G maneuvers they do (they are sans G-suits
and oxygen masks) even though it is not 9 G's it was a hard 4 and 5 G's
struggling to make the join up and then he seems to just flatten out and
nicely fly into the trees and ground

these things don't just happen - you step back from them second by second,
somewhere ten seconds before he may have missed "stressing up" for the pull
to get him joined.

all too common and happens to all classes of pilots - he was just unlucky
perhaps at that moment and at that low altitude



"Al G" wrote in message
...
Lcdr Davis had been with the Blues for two years. This was this years
"opening" show.

My sympathies and thoughts are for his family and team mates.

Al G



"J.F." wrote in message
t...
According to the news last night, this was his first performance. Being
retired military, my heart goes out to him and his family. "God Speed"
"Clairbear" wrote in message
...
"MWB" wrote in news:462a8925$0$17174
:

Tom,

FOX is reporting it was the 6 plane.

Sad day

Mark




Our sympathies and thoughts are for his family and team mates







  #14  
Old April 25th 07, 11:00 AM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.aviation
Bob Harrington
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 681
Default Blue Angels Crash

"J.F." wrote in news:mq3Xh.3778$rO7.1205
@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net:

According to the news last night, this was his first performance. Being
retired military, my heart goes out to him and his family. "God Speed"



Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

"High Flight" - John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
  #15  
Old April 25th 07, 06:50 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.aviation
fannum
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13
Default Blue Angels Crash (0/1)

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:58:56 GMT, Clairbear wrote:

"J.F." wrote in news:mq3Xh.3778$rO7.1205
:
It was his first season as a performing pilot Previously he had been the show
narrator and did celeb and vip flights

These pix are from last year's appearance at Kansas City. Note that he
was an Lt. then and flew #7, the two place bird.
  #16  
Old April 25th 07, 06:50 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.aviation
fannum
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Posts: 13
Default Blue Angels Crash (1/1)





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