'That was crazy': Blue Angels earn raves at Beaufort air show
Gloria Drayton was searching the sky for specks of blue and gold during the final moments of the Air Show at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort on Saturday when four Blue Angels jets roared from behind unexpectedly.
Drayton clutched her chest. The F/A-18 Hornets had quite literally taken her breath away.
"That was crazy," she said with a smile.
The Navy Flight Demonstration Team's Blue Angels were the most anticipated performance at Saturday's air show, which also featured master aerobatics pilots, enormous aircraft displays and Marine aviation demonstrations.
The mission of the Blue Angels, and the air show, is to showcase the pride and professionalism of the military.
"Air shows like this allow us to show the public what equipment the military has and how we use it to keep them safe, in a family-friendly environment," said Staff Sgt. Darrell Rich in front of a Marines recruiting trailer.
"Families and young kids get the chance to see what we do and have Marines explain what this or that airplane is for," added Sgt. Bruno Bego, the marketing and public affairs spokesman at the base. "For recruiting it's perfect."
Many children were too young to actually go into the trailer to speak to a recruiter, so most simply enjoyed the awesome aircraft displays and demonstrations going on in front of them.
"My son loves the Blue Angels," said Bill Forrest of Richmond Hill, Ga. From his blanket on the grass near the flight line, "Little" Bill Forrest, 7, sat quietly next to his sister, Grace, 8, wearing big plastic blue ear muffs and a Blue Angels T-shirt.
"We bought that here," the elder Forrest said of the shirt. "That's the first thing we did."
Parents were also snatching up Blue Angels toy planes from the vendor booth that sold them. The large toys were the most popular items of the day, workers said.
The second most popular item? The smaller Blue Angels model.
When the pilots took to the air at the end of the show, the crowd let out cheers of excitement.
Each time they zoomed by, spectators pointed, chins toward the clouds.
"Look! Look!"
"Check it out!"
"Over there!"
"It's best when they do the sneak pass," Jerry Wargo of Hilton Head said. It was the move that scared Drayton. "You forget about this guy, and he comes up behind you," he said.
When the Blues thundered by for the pass, Wargo let out a whoop.
"That was it! That's a surprise."
Drayton, who had driven to the show from Columbia, admitted that she liked the noise.
"I just think it's amazing," she said. "It takes so much talent to do that."
Follow reporter Erin Shaw at twitter.com/IPBG_ErinShaw.
This story was originally published April 12, 2015 at 4:46 PM with the headline "'That was crazy': Blue Angels earn raves at Beaufort air show."