When Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz took the helm as Chief of Naval Operations in December 1945, he had just—less than four months earlier—ended a world war as the architect of victory in the Pacific. But now he faced emerging new adversaries. One was America’s recent ally—the Soviet Union—which was showing increasing signs of belligerence in what would become known as the Cold War. Another formidable foe did not yet exist but was looming on the horizon.
All through the war and increasingly in its aftermath, there had been talk of creating a whole new armed service. Aviation had played a significant role in World War II, and now, as the proverbial dust was settling, it was becoming clear that there would soon be a United States Air Force. While this was arguably good for the nation, it was not all good for the United States Navy. Some proponents of this new air force thought it should subsume naval aviation. Some even argued that an air force would obviate the need for a Navy altogether, including a soon-to-be Secretary of Defense who would say, “the Navy is on its way out . . . the Air Force can do anything the Navy can do. . . .”
Since it was pretty clear that Nimitz could not defend his Navy in ways he had become used to—a carrier strike was likely off the table—the admiral resorted to “unconventional warfare” against this newfound enemy by ordering the creation of a Navy flight demonstration team, officially “to keep the public interested in naval aviation” and unofficially to win support for its continuation.
The team began flying F6F-5 Hellcats, the propeller-driven fighters that had ultimately triumphed over the Japanese Navy in the recent war. Based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and commanded by ace-pilot Lieutenant Commander Roy “Butch” Voris, the team began training over the Florida Everglades—Voris was quoted as explaining that “if anything happened, just the alligators would know.”
Making their first appearance in May 1946, they performed a number of exhibitions before Voris chanced upon an advertisement for a New York nightclub named the “Blue Angel.” It “just sounded right,” and from then on the team would bear that sobriquet.
The Blue Angels continued to fly until 1950 when the Korean War erupted, and both the aircraft and pilots were needed because of shortsighted budgeting. The team made up the core of Fighter Squadron VF-191 with the new name “Satan’s Kittens,” flying combat missions from the USS Princeton (CV-37). Their commander, Lieutenant Commander John Magda, earned a Navy Cross and gave his life while aggressively attacking Communist positions in North Korea. After the war, the Blue Angels were recommissioned with Butch Voris again in command.
In 1955, the team moved to its current home at Forrest Sherman Field in Pensacola, Florida, although much of its time is spent on the road thrilling audiences all over the country and sometimes abroad. Over the ensuing decades “the Blues” transitioned from props to jets and have flown eight different demonstration aircraft, all with daunting names: Hellcats, Bearcats, Panthers, Cougars, Tigers, Phantoms, Skyhawks, and Hornets. In the earliest days, they included a Japanese Zero—painted yellow and known as “Beetle Bomb”—that was used as an adversary in simulated combat maneuvers.
Year after year, large crowds gather to watch the Blue Angels perform their jaw-dropping feats of aeronautic skill and courage. And while there is no way of knowing how much influence the Blues actually had on the preservation of the Navy’s air arm, there can be no doubt that they have succeeded in their official mission to “keep the public interested in naval aviation.”