VA-46 Clansmen

In 1985 while serving as The Maintenance Chief of VA-46 I was detached for a medical condition and subsequently spent a year working for the Commander of Light Attack Wing One as a manpower management analyst - I had earned the Navy classification code for that position while working for The Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet on my previous shore duty assignment. Back to the picture story. Right after I left VA-46 a friend - still in VA-46 - sent me this framed picture. 



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Around the world with the Blue Angles.

Awesome Blue Angle Aerial Demonstration Pictures From The Internet.

Just click on any picture to start the slide show.

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Laughlin AFB - Del Rio, TX

This display of USAF aircraft was found at Laughlin AFB near Del Rio, TX. All of the ones on the ground were on display just inside the main gate. There is a pull off area where you can park and browse around and take pictures. The two on pedestals were found at other areas on the base. The F5 was near the golf course and the other one was near a traffic circle at base housing.

You can click on any picture to get a larger view.

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Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, TX

Blackhawk Country.

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Camp Blanding, Starke, FL

This little memorial park is found at the main gate of this large National Guard base out in the Florida stick pines about 10 miles east of Starke, FL on Florida highway FL-16. The base houses a medium large RV park, rental cabins and has a small post store. The RV park and cabins are all located on Kingsley Lake. It's one of the few clear water lakes in the area.







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Naval Air Station, Lemoore, CA

These aircraft are on display at the Naval Air Station, Lemoore, CA.

This F/A-18 Hornet is near the main gate and you can see the check point in the picture.

Clicking on the pictures will make them larger.




This is the Douglas A1 Skyraider. A very sucessful ground support aircraft during the Vietnam war. It even shot down a Mig. It had many nicknames - all good - But Spad was known by all.




Here is one of the many versions of the LTV A-7 Corsair II.

Early in 1966 I attended the factory school for the A7 aircraft at Grand Prairie, TX. Then I was assigned to the first training squadron located at Naval Air Station, Cecil Field, FL where I worked on and helped accept the first operational aircraft into the US Navy inventory. That was August, 1966. In 1969 I was once again at the LTV factory as part of the verification/validation team for the service and maintenance manuals for the newer A7-E model. At that same time the USAF was accepting delivery of their A7-D version. After some trips to Vietnam in support of the F4 aircraft I was back with the A7 community at NAS Lemoore, CA from 1973 - 1977 where I serve as the training department‘s supervisor and sometimes instructor. My assignment as Maintenance Chief for Attack Squadron 46 at Cecil Field, FL from 1983 - 1985 ended my long history with the A7 aircraft. As the F/A-18 started replacing the aging A7 I ended my Naval career as the Maintenance Chief of VF/A-132 at Cecil Field, FL. Early in my career I worked on conventional landing gear beach craft aircraft with fabric flight control surfaces and ended my career with the F/A-18 and it’s composite flight control surfaces.





The A-4 Douglass Skyhawk was the Navy's smallest attack aircraft. During it's long service life it was even used by the Blue Angle flight demonstration team. This one pictured here with the hump on its back was much more sophisticated than earlier models.

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El Paso, TX

Found this one in the PX parking lot at Fort Bliss.

Click on it to make it larger.

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Another Blue Angle

These pictures were taken of the aircraft on display at the Florida welcome center just off I-10 near Pensacola, FL - the current home of the famous demonstration team.

Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them.













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Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, AZ

Wherever a military base is found that has something to do with flying aircraft you're sure to find some of those aircraft on display.

These are on display at the MCAS, Yuma, AZ.

Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them.













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NAF, El Centro, CA

The Naval Aviation Facility located at El Centro, CA is the winter home of the U.S. Navy flight demonstration team. Before the Blue Angles adopted the base for their winter operations the base was known as the National Parachute Test Range.

Here are some pictures of various aircraft used by the team from the smallest to the largest. These are on display at the base’s main gate.

Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them.

The F/A-18 Hornet.




The Grumman F-11. It had a wet tail - fuel cells in the vertical fin.




The big cumbersome F4 Phantom II.




This was the smallest aircraft the team ever used. It's an A4 light attack aircraft and not supersonic. Aboard ship it was called the "Scooter".




When the pictures were taken at the gate we were staying at the RV park and the team had arrived for their winter practice. This is a picture of the flight line.



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P2V-7

Early in 1959 my tour of duty in Hawaii was completed. I was transferred to Patrol Squadron 9 located at Naval Air Station Alameda, CA. Before leaving Hawaii I quit packing parachutes and started working on gaseous oxygen systems. Liquid oxygen systems had not yet been introduced to large Naval aircraft. I was qualified and certified to remove, test and reinstall gaseous oxygen regulators. It was a very independent job that just required me to muster-in in the mornings, do my job and muster-out at the end of the day.

VP-9 had just transitioned from the P2V-5 series aircraft to the P2V-7. Each pilot and crew station had a gaseous oxygen regulator that required removal and testing at regularly scheduled intervals.

After my assignment in this squadron I attended six months of formal training where I became an Aviation Structural Mechanic, specializing in hydraulics/pneumatics and all the mechanical/electrical sources needed in support of those systems, which included all flight controls and utility/emergency systems. Landing gear and all associated equipment such as brake systems and wheels/tires. I worked in that field in some capacity for the rest of my Naval career.

This P2V-7 is on display at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, FL.

Clicking on the picture will enlarge it.

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F-35

An old “airdale” like me would just love to be involved in transitioning this aircraft into an operational fleet squadron.

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