Navy's Blue Angels returning to air with full 2014 lineup
- Adm. Chester Nimitz wanted flight demonstration team at end of WWII to keep public interest in naval aviation
- Blue Angels performed their first flight demonstration in June 1946 at Naval Air Station Jacksonville%2C Fla.
- Since then%2C the Blue Angels have flown before hundreds of millions of spectators
PENSACOLA NAVAL AIR STATION, Fla. — After the Navy canceled most of the Blue Angels' 2013 air shows to save money, the flight demonstration squadron has announced it will return to the skies next year.
Federal budget cuts known as sequestration grounded the Blue Angels starting in April and saved more than $20 million. But the Pentagon said its latest cuts will save more without again keeping the Blues or the Air Force Thunderbirds from flying.
"We are going to get ourselves trained and ready for our first air show in El Centro (Calif.) in March," said Navy Cmdr. Thomas Frosch, the lead pilot on the team. The schedule, released Tuesday, has shows from March 15 to Nov. 8, 2014, at more than 30 stops across the USA.
The team hasn't flown since April, but Frosch said officers and enlisted personnel made the best of their grounding by throwing themselves into community outreach programs such as building houses for Habitat for Humanity, among other efforts.
"It was a unique opportunity for us to find a silver lining," he said.
Still, the federal budget crunch that scrapped the 2013 season may leave worries that another financial crisis in Washington could produce a new threat next year.
"I think we're always nervous that something like that could happen," Frosch said. "But I'm very confident that we will be able to execute the full season."
In a memo released Friday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel seemed to recognize the flight demonstration teams as a priority. He called them a way to "showcase our superior combat power" and demonstrate military readiness.
Blue Angels 2014 show schedule
| Date | Location | |
| March 15 | Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif. | |
| March 22-23 | March Air Reserve Base, Calif. | |
| March 29-30 | Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas | |
| April 5-6 | Lakeland, Fla. | |
| April 12-13 | Fort Smith, Ark. | |
| April 26-27 | Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas | |
| May 3-4 | St. Louis | |
| May 10-11 | Vero Beach, Fla. | |
| May 17-18 | Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. | |
| May 21 and 23 | U.S. Naval Academy, Md. | |
| May 24-25 | Jones Beach, N.Y. | |
| May 31-June 1 | La Crosse, Wis. | |
| June 7-8 | Pittsburgh | |
| June 14-15 | Smyrna, Tenn. | |
| June 21-22 | Milwaukee | |
| June 28-29 | Dayton, Ohio | |
| July 5-6 | Traverse City, Mich. | |
| July 12 | Pensacola Beach, Fla. | |
| July 19-20 | Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. | |
| July 26-27 | St. George, Utah | |
| Aug. 2-3 | Seattle | |
| Aug. 16-17 | Chicago | |
| Aug. 23-24 | Duluth, Minn. | |
| Aug. 30-31 | Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich. | |
| Sept. 6-7 | Cleveland | |
| Sept. 13-14 | Baltimore | |
| Sept. 20-21 | Naval Air Station Oceana, Va. | |
| Sept. 27-28 | Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii | |
| Oct. 4-5 | Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif. | |
| Oct. 11-12 | San Francisco | |
| Oct. 18-19 | Millington, Tenn. | |
| Oct. 25-26 | Jacksonville Beach, Fla. | |
| Nov. 1-2 | Houston | |
| Nov. 7-8 | Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. |
Source: Blue Angels