Titled as the 'Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show', Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola on the Gulf Coast of Florida, USA opened its doors for a spectacular event on November 11-12. Over 180,000 people visited this great two-day show and witnessed a mixture of both modern and historic aircraft on display.
NAS Pensacola is nicknamed 'Cradle of Naval Aviation' as it all started here in 1911 when the US Navy decided to incorporate aviation assets. The base is now home to Training Air Wing Six (CTW-6) and the United States Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron 'Blue Angels'. The Blue Angels were formed right after World War II in 1946 at NAS Jacksonville, but moved to NAS Pensacola by the end of 1954. This year the team celebrates their 65th anniversary and also remembers 25 years of flying the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. Each year the Blue Angels finish their display season with a homecoming air show and both achieved milestones certainly added an extra dimension to this year's annual show.
At the same time, the US Navy (USN) also reached a milestone this year with 100 years of flying operations, better known as the 'Centennial Of Naval Aviation' (CONA). Especially for this occasion, many USN squadrons have painted one or more of their aircraft in typical historic paint schemes. Being the last major flying event in the string of CONA air shows, a wide variety of special painted aircraft came down to NAS Pensacola for a final CONA static display.
The show started out on Friday November 11th, which also happened to be 'Veterans Day'. Besides the regular daytime demo displays, people were treated to an after sunset 'Friday Twilight Air Show' with a firework finale. The F/A-18 Super Hornet gave an overwhelming afterburner display and the so-called Shockwave Jet Truck with turbine engines lit up the runway with its flames. Simply a great show!
Photo impression
Phodocu would like to thank NAS Pensacola Public Affairs for their great support | Text + photos © Phodocu