Blue Angels: Around the World at the Speed of Sound

I first saw this outstanding documentary on the Discovery channel thirty years ago before there were flatscreen high definition televisions or digital recordings. I actually videotaped the show. In 1994, of course, the "Blues" were flying the legacy F/A-18 Hornets. It would be decades before they transitioned to the larger, faster and more powerful Super Hornets. But their razor-sharp maneuvers look much the same if not exactly the same in both jets. After watching this 95 minute documentary, you will know everything you need to know about The Blue Angels, the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron.

I have one comment that is meant as skepticism, not criticism. In the documentary, one of the pilots claims that he's an ordinary guy, implying that there's nothing extraordinary about the men (now men and women) who fly with The Blue Angels. Don't you believe it. These pilots are America's finest, chosen not just for their superb flying skills but also as high-profile front-line goodwill ambassadors for our country and the US Navy. Looking at and listening to them, they make me even more proud to be an American, if that's even possible.

The reality is that the young men and women the Blue Angels inspire to join the Navy are ever more likely to spend their careers chipping paint off the side of some ship than punching a hole in the sky in a Blue Angels' Super Hornet.