[Scan-DC] Where [Blue] Angels get their wings

[kra2829 at aol.com]

Great story. That would be a fun trip to take!





-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Henney <alan at henney.com>
To: Scan DC <Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Fri, Apr 1, 2011 1:32 am
Subject: [Scan-DC] Where [Blue] Angels get their wings



os Angeles Times
March 31, 2011 Thursday 
ome Edition
COLUMN ONE; 
here Angels get their wings; 
he Blues, the Navy's air show stars, train their recruits each winter in El 
entro, a heaven-sent boost for the hard-luck town.
BYLINE: Mike Anton
SECTION: MAIN NEWS; Metro Desk; Part A; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1518 words
DATELINE: EL CENTRO, CALIF. 
Minutes to show time and Ray Wainscott listens to cockpit chatter from a scanner 
angling from his neck. He stands next to an irrigation ditch and trains his 
amera's long lens on the gleaming blue fighter jets on the tarmac.
"When they come over, they'll be so close the shock literally goes right through 
our chest," said Wainscott, 66, a retiree from the Seattle area who has spent 
ix winters here in the low desert of Imperial County. "I came here for the 
eather. But this is the frosting on the cake."
He is among about three dozen people standing a Frisbee toss from the end of 
unway 3-0 at the Naval Air Facility El Centro, an isolated base surrounded by 
ome of California's richest farmland and poorest people.
There are retirees who've come for a bargain rivaling an early bird special. 
ongtime locals who associate sonic thunder with winter. Groupies who've seen 
he Blue Angels perform so many times they swear they can tell when the U.S. 
avy's flight demonstration squadron is having an off day. 
Some 8 million people watched the Florida-based Blue Angels perform their aerial 
allet at air shows last year. They're an American cultural icon born of the jet 
ge -- and still an effective public relations and military recruitment tool.
But each winter for the last 44 years, the Blue Angels have retreated to El 
entro and the training ground where new team members integrate with second-year 
eterans to perfect their performance. For 10 weeks, they put on show after show 
ver the Imperial Valley.
"The noise -- it scares the bejesus out of you!" said Ken Bentley, 68, a retired 
alifornia Highway Patrol officer. He and his wife, Lou, are veterans of this 
cene and come prepared with binoculars and lawn chairs.
"It beats fighting the crowds at a commercial air show. Besides, you could never 
et this close to the action."
At least twice a day, six days a week from January to March, six F/A-18 Hornets 
hear the sky with barrel-roll breaks, diamond dirty loops, sneak passes, 
alf-Cuban eights and the fleur-de-lis.
At a distance, they resemble a synchronized flock of delicate shore birds. 
verhead, the blitzkrieg of high-decibel growls and screeches is an ice pick 
hrough the eardrum.
SSSHHHRRRUUUFFF....
For El Centro, population 42,598, the annual encampment of the Blue Angels and 
ts 130-member support staff is an economic boost and an enduring tradition.
Team members judge the annual Holtville Athletic Club's World-Famous Rib 
ook-Off and host a golf tournament, both of which raise money for youth sports. 
hey speak at schools, mingle with Boy Scout troops and are feted at dinners. 
igned lithographs from teams throughout the years grace the walls of countless 
ocal businesses.
For more than 20 years, Betty Tucker, 65, has been bringing lunch to the pilots 
n base every other week and serving them barbecue at annual parties at her 
ome. She's especially fond of the maintenance crew, mostly young enlisted men 
ho've sought her advice on girls, money or feeling exhausted by long hours of 
ork.
"They're just a bunch of lovable guys. And I'm an old mother hen who has to feed 
hem," said Tucker, a retired state unemployment caseworker. "I am not a 
roupie."
The Blue Angels fly away from El Centro in early March after giving their
first formal show of the season. The Chamber of Commerce raises money for the 
ree show with a black-tie gala -- dinner and dancing in a hangar at the air 
ase; a table for eight is $640.
"They're a real asset to the community," said Mary Baran, who has served pasta 
o a generation of Blue Angels at her Italian restaurant, Grasso's. "They bring 
ood vibes down here."
El Centro and the Imperial Valley could sure use some. Unemployment is pushing 
0%, and one in every 130 housing units received a foreclosure notice in January 
lone.
When El Centro topped a meaningless, unscientific, online "Worst Place to Live" 
urvey last year, it was nevertheless an exclamation point on a sad reality.
"When you're from here, it's easy to develop an inferiority complex," said Brad 
ennings, editor of the Imperial Valley Press. "But you know what we do have? 
he Blue Angels."
When the Blues flew into town this year on Jan. 3, Mayor Efrain Silva was among 
he two dozen civic leaders on hand to meet them -- an annual ritual of 
ratitude.
"It was a neat feeling to see the mayor waiting to see you when you land," said 
mdr. David Koss, a first-year Blue Angel whose chiseled looks and polished 
anner make him a walking advertisement for the Navy. "I have to say, that has 
ever happened to me before. A mayor? Waiting for me? It was humbling."
--
Drive 20 minutes northwest of El Centro and the valley's fertile fields give way 
o a sun-baked wasteland pockmarked by decades of bombing and artillery 
ractice.
Crew members follow the Blue Angels with binoculars and a video camera at this 
lace called Shade Tree. There is neither shade nor tree, just a pile of rusted 
rdnance harvested from the desert and a small wooden observation deck below the 
eam's "acrobatic box" -- restricted air space 5 miles in diameter and 15,000 
eet high.
A humming generator powers a radio transmitter through which Koss' voice 
rackles from on high, his precise cadence and intonation leading the team 
hrough the close-quarter rolls and pitches of their hundredth or so practice of 
inter training.
A lit-tle puuuuuulllll.... Ease it up. Rollin' out.... Smoke on.... Come on, 
asy left.... Smoke off.... Up weee gooooo....
"We could do a show this weekend," said Lt. John Thompson, the team's 
aintenance officer. "It's the level of perfection that we're fine-tuning now."
The Blue Angels' time in El Centro is a daily march of briefings, practice and 
ebriefings designed to sear the details of the performance into the pilots' 
ubconscious -- every movement of the control stick, flipped cockpit switch and 
alute on the flight line.
The long days of intense concentration and scrutiny will bring the pilots closer 
ogether -- in the air. The yards separating planes in January turn to feet by 
arch.
The pilots' day begins at 6:30 a.m. around a conference table where they engage 
n a visualization exercise called "chair flying."
On Koss' order, the pilots simultaneously lower their office chairs to 
pproximate cockpit seating. With eyes closed, they cock their heads to one side 
o simulate "flying paint" -- staying in formation at full throttle, keeping 
heir eyes on a spot on the plane next to them. The pilots grip their imaginary 
ticks and respond to Koss' commands with furrowed brows.
"Ready -- roll. Take in," he says and everyone's right hand shifts, forearms 
rembling to mimic the gravitational force.
"In the air, nobody's jet moves without my saying what we are about to do," Koss 
aid later. "The same goes for when you're sitting in that chair. It's pure 
ocus."
The Blue Angels chose the Imperial Valley for the same reasons that make the El 
entro air base one of the nation's busiest training facilities -- perpetually 
lear skies and expanses of empty land.
Coyotes and rattlesnakes don't complain about noise. Homeowners do.
When the base opened during World War II, Imperial County's population was 
0,000. Today, it's nearly three times that.
Base officials have been watching the outside world creep closer for years. 
ecently, they raised objections to a proposed motorsports resort community less 
han three miles from one of the Navy's most heavily used bombing ranges. Half 
he development would lie beneath restricted airspace.
Worried that noise complaints from this and future projects would eventually 
hreaten the base, the Navy is working with local officials to shape development 
lans in the area.
"Encroachment is insidious," said Capt. Russ Thompson, the base's commanding 
fficer. "One project tends to lead to another project, which leads to another 
roject."
But having jets zooming by at near-Mach 1 speeds is unlikely to bother property 
wners at a resort devoted to race cars, off-road adventures and wakeboarding, 
ays Rich Brasher, a planner working with the developer of Desert Springs Oasis.
It might even be a selling point.
"The buyers in this project will gladly be a part of the patriot spirit of the 
avy training in the neighborhood, including the Blue Angels," Brasher said. "We 
oked that we hoped the Navy doesn't call us and complain about our noise."
--
The morning show is nearly over, and Lucas Jorgenson has had enough. The 
-year-old sits in the back seat of his dad's pickup, hands firmly affixed to 
he floppy bunny ears of his hoodie.
"Here they come!" he yells.
SSSHHHRRRUUUFFF....
"Dad! They're too loud!" Lucas screams and his father reaches in and cups his 
ands around his son's head.
All along the irrigation ditch, ears are ringing and necks are sore from 
raning. When the Blue Angels land, eyes strain to catch a glimpse of the 
ilots' faces.
"Never gets old. It's still a thrill every time," says Ray Wainscott as he and 
he others pack up their cameras and lawn chairs.
The audience exits down the dirt road and back into town.
A chorus of birds takes over, intermission until the afternoon show.
--
mike.anton at latimes.com
LOAD-DATE: March 31, 2011
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: LOUD BLUE YONDER: Spectators cover their ears as the Blue Angels 
oar overhead in El Centro, Calif., where the Navy show-fliers spend three 
onths every winter practicing in the skies over the air base. PHOTOGRAPHER:Don 
artletti Los Angeles Times GRAPHIC: MAP: El Centro CREDIT:LORENA ELEBEE Los 
ngeles Times 
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Non dup; Infographic
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper
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