Missouri-Kansas Squadron (Kansas City, Kansas)

摘要

On Friday, August 24th, the Mo-Kan squadron made a trip to Rosecrans Air National Guard Base (ANGB), St. Joseph, Missouri, located north of the Kansas City metropolitan area, to watch the Blue Angels perform in the dress rehearsal for the Sound of Speed Airshow, held August 25th and 26th. The ANA group joined with the Kansas City Navy League and Naval Academy alumni chapter to ensure heavy Navy representation. The advantage of watching the dress rehearsal is that the spectators are limited to invited guests, and total a fraction of the normal airshow crowd, which makes for much more comfortable and enjoyable viewing. The weather was clear and hot, but our group was not deterred. We were treated to spectacular flying by various flight demo groups and aircraft, including the Navy's Leap Frog parachute demo team, P-51 Mustang, P-40 Warhawk, and F-16 Fighting Falcon, but the best was definitely the Blues. A highlight of our afternoon was having the opportunity to meet and chat with the mother of Blue Angel #5, Lead Solo, LCDR Brandon Hempler, who is from Wamego, Kansas (about 1 1/2 hours west of Kansas City) and is a Kansas State grad. It was a real treat for chapter members to watch Navy Air dominate the midwestern skies once again.