Showing posts with label Thunderbirds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thunderbirds. Show all posts

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Female Blue Angel Forgotten About by San Diego Union Tribune

It appears San Diego Union Tribune can't use their own records when they reported the "first woman to wear Blue Angels" back in 2010 and it was Navy Lt. Cmdr. Amy Redditt Tomlinson
First woman to wear Blue Angels number
San Diego Union Tribune
By Jeanette Steele
Sept. 30, 2010

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Amy Redditt Tomlinson, Blue Angels No. 8, grew up knowing how to pronounce Batiquitos Lagoon and where to find the best North County surf breaks.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Amy Tomlinson — U.S. Navy

She was a Carlsbad girl and a 1996 graduate of San Dieguito High School.

She’s also the first woman ever to wear a Blue Angels number, one of eight coveted positions on the Navy’s elite flying team.
Just no words other than WTF were they thinking?
Marine woman flies Blue Angels to new heights
First female pilot on team performs this weekend at Miramar Air Show
San Diego Union Tribune
By Gretel C. Kovach
Oct. 1, 2015
Higgins downplays her fame as the “Lady Blue Angel.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m a celebrity. No way. I’m a Marine,” she said in an interview before the San Diego show.
Marine Capt. Katie Higginsis the first female pilot with the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, or Blue Angels. The Severna Park, Md., native, is now the newest pilot of "Fat Albert," a C-130 Hercules flown by the Blue Angels. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Olivia G. Ortiz/Released)
Becoming the first woman to perform as a Blue Angels pilot has definitely been a high point for Capt. Katie Higgins. It is an honor to wear the famous blue and gold flight suit, she said, but it might surprise some people to learn that it hasn’t been the pinnacle of her career as a Marine aviator.

Higgins will be sitting in the left seat of the cockpit this weekend when she makes her debut at the Miramar Air Show, serving as flight commander of the team’s “Fat Albert” C-130 support plane. During more than 50 performances across the country so far this year, she has been mobbed by fans who appreciate how she #flieslikeagirl with the Blue Angels. read more here
The Thunderbirds were ahead of the Blue Angels back in 2005
Capt. Nicole "Fifi" Malachowski at a deployed location in Southwest Asia. She's the first female demonstration pilot on a U.S. military high performance jet team, the Thunderbirds. [USAF photo ]
June 17, 2005 (by Lieven Dewitte) - The U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron,"Thunderbirds," have announced their new pilots for the 2006 demonstration season which includes the first female demonstration pilot in the 52 year history of the Thunderbirds.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Blue Angels and Thunderbirds will fill sky in Florida again

Thunderbirds, Blue Angels line up air show dates in Florida
Orlando Sentinel
Richard Tribou
December 19, 2013

The skies are clearing for air shows in Florida for the upcoming year and beyond with the Air Force Thunderbirds and Navy Blue Angels nailing down dates, and the Sunshine State has a lot of stops on their tours.

Both military performance teams will make five Florida appearances in 2014, and the Blue Angels have added their 2015 dates as well, with four Florida stops planned.

One big winner in the announced dates is the Melbourne Air and Space Show, which held its inaugural event this year, despite the grounding of both headliners in 2013.

The beachside show has nailed down the Thunderbirds in October 2014 and Blue Angels in March 2015. Part of the success is due to landing Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems as a title partner of the show.

"We are pleased to have such a leading global aerospace company as our partner," said Bryan Lilley, Chairman of the National Air, Sea and Space Foundation, who organizes the event. "With the support of Northrop Grumman and commitments from both of our nation's military jet demonstration teams in 2014 and 2015, the Melbourne Air  and Space Show is poised to become one of the top aerospace shows in the nation."

The county is home to Patrick Air Force Base and is traditionally a draw for the Air Force team. The Blue Angels have not performed in Brevard since 2008 when the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex was hosting an air show.

Central Florida will get its fill of air shows in 2014 with the Thunderbirds also returning to Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base for AirFest in March and to the Wings and Waves Air Show in Daytona Beach in October. The Blue Angels will be the headliner at the massive Sun 'n Fun air show in Lakeland in April as well.

The Blue Angels will make their normal air show stops in Pensacola Beach in July, Jacksonville in October and then their homecoming finale in Pensacola come November.
read more here

Monday, January 7, 2013

Thunderbirds to roar over Brevard for Tico Warbird Airshow

Thunderbirds to roar over Brevard for Tico Warbird Airshow
Jan 7, 2013
Written by
R. Norman Moody
FLORIDA TODAY

TITUSVILLE – The Thunderbirds, the popular Air Force precision demonstration team that draws large crowds to air shows, will be part of the lineup for the 36th annual Tico Warbird Airshow.

Valiant Air Command announced that the Thunderbirds will for the first time be a part of the air show, scheduled for March 22, 23, and 24 at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville.
read more here