First Blue Angels leader, 'Butch' Voris, dies in California

Friday, August 12, 2005
Monterey, Calif. (AP) --


Retired Navy Capt. Roy M. "Butch" Voris, a World War II ace and the  
first flight leader of the Blue Angels, has died at his home in  
Monterey, Calif., the precision flying team said. He was 86.

Voris, who died Wednesday, was hand-picked by Adm. Chester Nimitz in  
1946 to organize the Blue Angels, now based at Pensacola Naval Air  
Station. The team made its first public performance June 15 that year  
at Craig Field in Jacksonville.

"Butch Voris' contributions to naval aviation history were epic,"  
Cmdr. Steve Foley, the Blue Angels' present flight leader, or "Boss,"  
said Thursday. "The legacy Boss Voris bestowed upon the Blue Angels  
has had a profound impact on our team's 59-year history."

Officially, the Blue Angels were created to boost Navy morale,  
recruiting and public relations, Voris said in an interview with The  
Associated Press in 1996, when the team celebrated its 50th anniversary.

"World War II was over and the military was shrinking," Voris  
recalled. "All the good things the Navy had done ... they start to be  
forgotten."

Voris, however, said an underlying mission was to help the Navy  
generate public and political support for a bigger slice of the  
defense budget.

"My objective was to beat the Army Air Corps," he said. "If we did  
that, we'd get all the other side issues."

Voris shot down eight Japanese planes in the Pacific and survived  
several accidents during his 33-year Navy career. They including a  
midair collision during a Blue Angels show at Corpus Christi, Texas,  
in 1952. Another pilot was killed, but Voris managed to land his  
badly damaged plane.  He had returned to the Blue Angels for a second  
tour as flight leader that year as the squadron resumed its  
demonstration work after being deployed for a combat tour during the  
Korean War.

After retiring from the Navy in 1963, Voris became an executive at  
Grumman Aircraft Corp., in Bethpage, N.Y, where he helped develop the  
F-14 Tomcat fighter, of "Top Gun" fame and still in service with the  
Navy. He ended his aviation career as a NASA spokesman during the 1970s.

Voris, a native of Santa Cruz, Calif., is a member of the Hall of  
Fame at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola. An  
aircraft bearing his name is displayed outside Jacksonville Naval Air  
Station and the passenger terminal there is named for him.

He is survived by two daughters, Randi Nothhaft, of Saratoga, Calif.,  
and Jill Edwards, of Ben Lomond, Calif.

A memorial service is being planned, probably in October, at the  
Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, said Voris' son-in-law Hank  
Nothhaft.



From the official Blue Angels Alumini web site (www.blueangels.org):

CAPT. (RETIRED) ROY MARLIN "BUTCH" VORIS Capt. (Retired) Roy Marlin "Butch" Voris, creator of the famed Navy Blue Angels air demonstration team and a World War II flying ace from the Pacific War, died Tuesday at his home in Monterey, CA. Voris, 86, had been ill for several years but was still drawing huge crowds at air shows whenever he attended. The 2004 California Air Show at Salinas, CA had been dedicated in his honor. A fighter pilot's fighter pilot, he shared the pantheon with other American military aviation greats like Chuck Yeager, Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, and the "Right Stuff" astronauts, all of whom made their marks after Voris had helped pave the way. He himself had ended his active aviation career as a spokesman for NASA during the momentous 1970 moon shots. Physically a big man with a shaved head, Voris was known for his even-temperedness and coolness in the cockpit, as well as great skill. He had survived numerous accidents and emergency situations in the air, including a midair collision during a Blue Angel demonstration at Corpus Christi, TX, in 1952 in which one Blue Angel was killed and he miraculously brought his plane in despite lack of almost all control and a nearly severed tail. For all his accomplishments, he was unpretentious and had a humorous streak that kept him in demand as a speaker. Voris' career spanned 33 years. He had been instrumental in the early development of the F-14 "Tomcat," one of the navy's greatest fighter-bombers. He had flown everything from bi-planes to jets, most of them in combat. His status as ace was earned in the hard early years of the Pacific War when he shot down a confirmed eight (8) Japanese fighter planes. Flying from the carriers Enterprise and Hornet, he had taken part in the battles of Santa Cruz, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, numerous Central Pacific islands, the First Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, and "The Mission into Darkness," in which air wing pilots had taken off near dusk to pursue the Japanese fleet knowing many probably wouldn't have enough gas to return. But Voris was most known for having forged in 1946 a handful of navy fighter pilots, veterans of the Pacific War, into the navy flight demonstration team that became known world-wide as the Blue Angels, today's foremost ambassadors of American flight know-how and prowess. It was the first such official venture by any of the services. With the war over, the navy needed a recruiting tool and something that would help attract congressional dollars. Voris, back from the war and a Jacksonville Naval Air Station flight instructor, was given the job. "My frame of mind was they didn't offer this to me to come in second to the army," he recalls in "First Blue," a book published by St. Martins Press last year about his life. "I felt that if we weren't the best, it would be my naval career." What he forged was the first of its kind: a show about 15 minutes long with three Hellcats, the fighters he'd flown mostly in the Pacific, roaring almost wingtip to wingtip in unison, doing rolls and maneuvers experienced often in dogfights but seldom ever seen by the public. The first show was a sensation, and by the end of the year, the team had found a name based on a New York nightclub and Butch had hand-picked leaders who would succeed him. His strong personality, insistence on excellence through pilot debriefs and commitment, and through teamwork, established a tradition that continues with the Blues today. At Salinas this past year, current as well as former Blues honored him at attention with a red carpet and salutes as he passed them by. "I wouldn't change a thing," he's quoted in First Blue. "I wish I could do it all over again." In 1952, Voris was brought back to reform the Blue's following their stint as the nucleus of a fighter squadron in the Korean War. They had not performed for several years. As such he was one of only two Blue leaders ever to lead the group twice. This time he did it in Panther jets. Additionally, he was twice the skipper of fighter squadrons - VF-113 and VF-191 - and commanding officer of a carrier air group, CAG-5. After retiring from the navy as a captain in 1963, he went to work as an executive of Grumman Aircraft Corporation, Bethpage, New York - the company whose many airplanes he had flown and loved until 1973, when he joined NASA. Moved by the sight of airplanes as a youngster, Voris, who was born in Los Angeles, was considering a career as a mortician after graduating from high school in Santa Cruz, CA and Salinas Junior College. He didn't think he'd have enough money to learn to fly. Then he saw a recruiting poster and realized the navy might teach him for nothing. He was still finishing flight training when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Shipped out to war when things looked bleakest, he served in VF-10 "The Grim Reapers," under Jimmy Flatley, and later, as the carriers began to take back the Pacific, with VF-2, "The Rippers," commanded by Bill Dean. At one point, the Rippers had more aces than any other squadron in the Pacific. He was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses, 11 air medals, and three Presidential Unit Citations and the Purple Heart received when he almost was killed by a Japanese Zero on his tail that shot up his cockpit as he defended Guadalcanal. He was in a less-maneuverable F4F Wildcat and figured it was over until he dove in a last-ditch maneuver and escaped. That was his first real dogfight. Butch is a member of the Navy Aviation Hall of Fame in Pensacola, FL, and the International Air Show Hall of Fame. An aircraft bearing his name is outside Jacksonville Naval Air Station and the Passenger Terminal at the station is named for him. In 1993, he was honored by the air force in a "Gathering of Eagles" ceremony as one of 20 aviators worldwide who have made significant contributions to aviation. The gathering is an annual event. In 2003, his wife of over 50 years, Thea passed away. They had been married since 1947. Butch is survived by daughters Randie and Jill, sons-in-law Hank and Joe, and grandsons Hank Jr., Ryan and Todd. In addition, he is survived by brothers Robert and Richard. A memorial service is being planned. In lieu of flowers, please send any donations in Butch's name to; Hospice of the Central Coast 2 Upper Ragsdale Drive Suite D-210 Monterey, CA 93940-5730. This obituary was written by the family of Capt. Voris.

Bump 'cause Butch was cool as hell!

True American Badass. Its sad to see him go, but at 86, I think he got a full shot at life. And nothing like starting the finest precision flight team in the world.