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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, October 4, 2004

Top guns to show their stuff

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

The skies over Kane'ohe will be a little bluer this week after the Navy precision flying team, the Blue Angels, arrives this afternoon.

The Blue Angels, the Navy's precision flight team, performed for the graduating class of midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., in 1997. The Blue Angels will perform at an air show on O'ahu this weekend, along with civilian aviation daredevils.

Associated Press library photo

The hotshot pilots and their blue-and-yellow F/A-18 Hornets are in town for the Kane'ohe Bay Marine CorpsiNavy Air Show this weekend. Sharp-eyed Windward residents might catch glimpses of the six fast-moving Hornets as the Angels rehearse earlier in the week, said Marine spokesman Capt. Chris Perrine.

Civilian aviators will also take to the skies during the performances, and the Marines are opening their gates so residents can come take a gander at military and civilian aircraft in the air and on the ground.

Patty Wagstaff, an acrobatic flier inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, will be among the performers, as will Eric Beard and Greg Poe. Local daredevils Hank Bruckner and Clint Churchill also will pull a few G's for the crowd.

Blues on the Bay

Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Marine Corps Base Hawai'i, Kane'ohe Bay

Free

Enter through base gate at end of H-3 Freeway

Extra parking and shuttles from Bellows Air Force Station

No coolers, large bags, alcohol. Lawn chairs and baby strollers allowed. www.bluesonthebay.org

Aircraft on display will include many familiar in the skies above O'ahu, including F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon and F/A-18 Hornet fighters; CH-53D Sea Stallion and UH-1H Huey helicopters; KC-135 Stratotanker and KC-130 Hercules carrier planes; and the C-5 Galaxy.

The military will let residents get a closer look at its P-3 Orion anti-submarine and surveillance plane — a frequent sight along the Windward shore.

There will be a skydiving exhibition, and Kane'ohe Marines and sailors will show off their combat training by storming the runway.

The air show is the first at the Marine Corps base in more than two decades. The Marines and sailors are looking forward to opening the gates.

"Everybody likes an air show," Perrine said.

Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.