StarBulletin.com

Blue Angels plan isle shows Sept. 25-26


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POSTED: Tuesday, January 05, 2010

The Navy's Blue Angels aerial demonstration team will return to Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay in September to perform two air shows.

The six blue and gold F/A-18 Hornets of the Blue Angels will put on two performances Sept. 25-26. The Windward Oahu base will be open to the public that weekend.

Although the Blue Angels' show will include “;Fat Albert”;—the team's support aircraft—a Marine Corps C-130 Hercules, it will not use its jet-assisted takeoff system. That system allows the cargo plane to reach an altitude of 1,500 feet at a 45-degree angle in just seconds. Such takeoffs have been part of the Blue Angels' show since November 1975. It was discontinued at the end of last year's Blue Angels tour.

“;Fat Albert”; carries 25,000 pounds of cargo and 45,000 pounds of fuel, and transports the squadron's support and maintenance crew to each show location.

The last two Blue Angels shows at Kaneohe Bay in 2007 attracted nearly 65,000 people.

The Blue Angels are scheduled to perform 67 shows at 35 locations throughout the United States in 2010. Hawaii is the 28th stop in the group's 2010 schedule.

The combat jet fighters will fly in formations that bring them within inches of each other at times.

Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, Pacific Fleet commander, is a former Blue Angels pilot.