Los Angeles Times: Navy's Blue Angels Team Performs
[url]http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-blue-angels1020oct20.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dnation%2Dheadlines[/url]
Navy's Blue Angels Team Performs
By Associated Press
October 20 2001, 8:19 PM PDT
FORT WORTH, Texas -- The Navy's Blue Angels precision flying team Saturday gave
its first performance since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, drawing an audience
decked out in red, white and blue.
About 75,000 people attended the International Air Show at Alliance Airport in
Fort Worth. U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England said the size of Saturday's crowd
showed how much people support their country and military.
"The nation now knows who the real heroes are, and they are not the rock stars
and the athletes, they are the people in uniform," he said.
As the six Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornets roared straight toward the crowd in a
three-tiered triangle, one of the planes pulled up, leaving an empty space in
the sky. The Missing Man formation was in honor of those who died Sept. 11 in
Washington, New York and Pennsylvania.
Although some of the pilots said they would rather be fighting in Afghanistan,
they said their place now is to recruit and keep contact with the public.
"Everybody has a mission to follow. Right now our mission is to keep spirits
up," Navy Lt. Cello Caceres said.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press