Tag Archives: Navy Blue Angels

USAF to send B-1 bomber on a loud fly-by

The Navy has its Blue Angels acrobatic flying team; the Air Force has its Thunderbirds.

The Navy and the Air Force have been sending their teams to cities across the land to honor health care workers and other responders for their heroism during the coronavirus pandemic. The Blue Angels just this week flew over the Dallas-Fort Worth area … which my wife and I missed because we happened to be out of town on that day — dang it!

Now we hear of another salute from an iconic airplane. A B-1 bomber based out of Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene is going to fly over the Thomas Creek Veterans Administration Medical Center in Amarillo on Friday; then it will head south to fly over the Lubbock VA center before returning home to Dyess.

If you’ve never watched a B-1 bomber fly overhead, you need to understand that this airplane is real loud and I guarantee that if it’s flying low enough off the deck that it will set off car alarms and get dogs to barking for miles around.

Still, these tributes are so richly deserved and I am proud of the Air Force and the Navy for arranging these magnificent tributes to the men and women who work heroically every waking minute of every day to protect us from the killer viral infection.

Our heroes deserve all these tributes and so much more.

The B-1 will fly over the Creek VA Center at 11:21 a.m. on Friday and then visit the Lubbock center at 11:40. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges those who want to watch to practice “social distancing.” By all means.

And prepare for some serious noise. It’ll thrill you to no end. I promise.

Tragedy strikes the armed forces

Air-Force-Academy-Graduation-Thunderbirds-Flyover

Today was a terrible day for members of three of our nation’s armed forces.

First, a member of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds crashed moments after taking part in a graduation ceremony flyover at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

The pilot managed to eject from the F-16 before it crash landed; happily, the pilot is OK. He managed a brief meeting later with President Obama, who was among those attending the ceremony; the president had given the commencement address.

Then it got much worse.

A U.S. Navy Blue Angels FA-18 jet crashed on a training mission in Tennessee. That pilot died in the crash.

And then …

Three U.S. Army soldiers died when their truck got caught up in floodwaters near Fort Hood, Texas. Six more soldiers are missing in that tragic event.

I mention this to call attention to the sacrifice that can occur even when our young men and women aren’t thrust into combat.

Our hearts break for the families of those who were lost today. I hope they know their nation grieves for them.