Weather permitting, the U.S. Navy?s aerial acrobats, the Blue Angels, will perform in the skies above Annapolis this week for the Naval Academy?s commissioning week.
The four blue-and-gold F/A-18 Hornets will perform circle and arrival maneuvers between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. today and then rehearse their demonstration from 2 to 4 p.m., officials said.
The Blue Angels, officially known as the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, will dip and dive in a delta formation above the Severn River in a 2 p.m. Wednesday performance that will be free and open to public, Naval Academy officials said. Residents can view the show from Ingram Field, portions of Farragut Field and Hospital Point.
This year, the group will roar into town with a Naval Academy graduate in tow. Lt. Cmdr. Mark Lambert, a 1996 graduate, is the Blue Angels? flight surgeon, officials said.
Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis was killed last month when his Hornet went down during a performance at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in Beaufort, S.C. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, according to The Associated Press.
The Blue Angels had not had a fatal crash since 1999.
Wednesday?s show will be accompanied by a Navy band performance on Ingram Field at 1 p.m. and a 4 p.m. organ concert performed by Monte Maxwell in the main chapel, officials said. These free events are open to the public.
The name “Blue Angels” was handed down from one of the original team members who, in the midst of planning a show in New York in 1946, came upon the city?s famous Blue Angel nightclub in the New Yorker magazine, according to the Blue Angel?s Web site.
Gates one and three will be closed to traffic from 11 a.m. to about 4 p.m. today and Wednesday, officials said.
