The U.S. Navy's Blue Angels 1966 at NAS Pt. Mugu. CA. (The Space Fair)

FROM THE SPACE FAIR BOOK, 1966: (Please note the date of this writing. Credits pending.:)

The Pilots:
"Current Blue Angel team members are: Commander Bob Aumack, USN, from New Jersey; Captain Fred Craig, USMC, from Miami, Florida; Lieutenant Clarence Hubbard, USN, from Las Vegas, Nevada; Lieutenant Frank Mezzadri, USN, Baltimore, Maryland; Lieutenant Norm Gandia, USN, from Long Island, New York; Lieutenant Dave Rottgering, USN, of Paducah, Kentucky; and Lieutenant Commander Jack Gougar, USN, of New Lenox, Illinios. Mr. Dave Scheuer is the Blue Angel's service representative from Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, a job he has held for fifteen years."

The Planes: (From Space Fair Book, 1966)
"The plane currently flown by the Blue Angels is the Grumman F11A Tiger, the latest member of a long line of Blue Angel fighters which included such famous aircraft as the F6F Hellcat with which the team began; the F9F-2, the F9F Panther, and the F9F-8 Cougar. Simplification is the keynote of the tiger design. The entire top and bottom sections of the wing are machined from single sheets of aluminum and serve as integral fuel tanks. "

How the Blue Angels Were Unique: (From Space Fair Book, 1966)
"The Blue Angel team is unique in many ways. Of all flight demonstration teams, the Blues fly the world's tightest diamond formation, with an almost complete wing overlap at speeds up to five hundred miles an hour, and down to nearly stalling speed. They are the only supersonic team that performs the echelon rolls, high performance take-off in diamond formation, and four-plane formation landing. Among their most dramatic feats are the head-on horizontal roll and the maneuvers in which two Blue Angels fly back to back, which means that one flies up-side-down, immediately above the other. If their canopies were open, the two pilots could almost touch hands. The Blues also change formations several times during a show, but smoothly and rapidly - and sometimes as part of the maneuvers themselves - so that most spectators are not aware of the transposition." (1966)


The Pacific Ocean is visible in a few scenes as are a few shots of the audience. I have edited this from the film to focus primarily on the Blue Angels.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• US
• Navy
• Blue
• Angels
• Space
• Fair
• 1966

[sailorette1]

Thank you for the wonderful comment. It is amazing how people are brought together through common experiences. I was also three the first time I saw them. I think it was Long Beach!

[crazee4mm]

I have been to the Pt. Mugu Airshow (a.k.a. The Space Fair "back in the day") literally dozens of times! I was probably at this one too...as a 3 year old. My family was always strapped for money and the airshow was something we could afford to go to as a family. I have very fond memories and continue to venture out to Pt. Mugu (I live about 30 miles from there) every time there's an airshow. No show in 2011 so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for 2012. Thanks for posting this.