On Saturday Oct 11, 03 The Navy came to the San Francisco Bay to put on the annual Fleet week air show.
The Navy's Blue Angels "Rocked the House". As always, the show was outstanding. As seen in some of the pictures below the bay area show is one of the largest crowds that the Angels perform for in the United States, and the best seat in the house is aboard one of the Hundreds (thousands??) of boats that were on the bay. I would also like to thank Matt Errington for the pictures that he took, helping to preserve our memories of "The Blue Angels 2003". ENJOY! Click on any picture to enlarge. |
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The Jeremiah O'Brian Steams into the Oakland Estuary.
The namesake of the SS Jeremiah O'Brien was a Scots-Irish lumberjack from Maine whose family settled in Machias in 1765. In 1775, at the age of 31, O'Brien was chosen captain of the Unity and while in charge, defeated and commandeered the British ship Margaretta, winning the first naval battle of the Revolutionary War.
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The United States Coast Guard ready for action...
What do you call an 18 year old kid with a .50 cal. browning? SIR!
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Some of the crowd before the Blue Angels show.
The waterfront was jammed everywhere Saturday. Everywhere we looked, appeared to be standing room only. What great weather we had that day too. |
The Balclutha ====>
| STATS | | | Overall length | 301 feet |
| Length of deck |
256.5 feet |
| Beam |
38.6 feet |
| Depth |
22.7 feet |
| Gross tonnage |
1689 |
| Height of mainmast |
145 feet |
In 1954 the San Francisco Maritime Museum purchased Pacific Queen for twenty five thousand dollars. Assisted by donations of cash, materials and labor from the local community, the Museum restored the vessel and returned her original name. The ship was transferred to the National Park Service in 1978, and Balclutha was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
Notice the sailor on the yardarm. One of the best seats in the house
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Fat Albert. . .
Everybody knows that the real "FAT ALBERT" is the Lockheed C-5. But if the Navy guys want to think that their cute little C-130 is "FAT" then who am I to argue... (Can you tell that I was Air Force? As a matter of fact I was on the C-5a test team program at Edwards Air Force base way back when. |
The Blue Angels. . .
Another Tight diamond formation, in front of "The Rock". Notice the boats on the other side of the "box" The coast guard kept everyone out of an imaginary box in the middle of the bay. If you drew a line that ran from the Golden Gate bridge out to toward Treasure Island and a couple of hundred yards off the city water front on one side and from Alcatraz back toward the bridge on the other side you have the NO BOAT ZONE. Safety first... |
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Diamond Formation.
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Can You Say Super Sonic?
When this guy came screaming by, with his after burners cooking... the sound was deafening. He had to be going just under the sound barrier. W O W ! |
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The Finale`
The Final pass, after an excellent 45 minute show! They came by low and slow. If 150 mph (that's a guess) slow?? |
The Trip Back Started Off Kind of bUMpY
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times since 10/14/03.
