Theirs is the only gig in town where the “roadies” draw as much attention as the act itself. On a recent Sunday morning at a Tampa pancake house, two of them who attempted to eat a meal found themselves surrounded by fans.
“Oooh, can I have my picture taken with y’all?” the hostess squealed as she positioned herself between the young men.
But it wasn’t Ringo and Paul, or the equivalent, that had the ladies swooning. Looking squeaky-clean and mighty spiffy in uniform, the two Marines ordering omelets and coffee were part of the crew of Fat Albert Airlines, a C-130 transport plane that supports the Blue Angels, the Navy’s precision flying team. Though the Blue Angels are a Navy squadron, it uses Marines on temporary assignment.
“You’d think it was the Beatles come to town, and this was New York in 1964,” said Air Force Lt. Dave Malakoff, 6th Air Refueling Wing public affairs officer at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base, where the air show is to take place.
The Blue Angels most often thrust before the public eye are the flight demonstration team, yet each member of the all-volunteer, 115-member squadron is considered to be a Blue Angel. “Being accepted with the Blue Angels is the closest you’ll come in the military to the equivalent of the civilian interview process,” said Staff Sgt. Scott Esche, 31, the loadmaster on Fat Albert Airlines. “You are hand-picked, and the entire team has to be able to work together efficiently.” According to the Navy, Blue Angels are picked for their “impeccable moral character, appearance and military bearing.”
An all-Marine crew is responsible for Fat Albert Airlines. “Yep, we definitely would consider ourselves to be the ultimate roadies,” said the C-130’s pilot, Capt. Rob Wunderlich Jr. Wunderlich, 30, has been with the Blue Angels for a year. The squadron, based in Pensacola, Fla., has 115 support and maintenance positions, eight of those belonging to the Fat Albert crew.
“Ours is a temporary duty under Navy command,” said Esche. “We like to think they use Marines because the Marine Corps has had so much experience with the plane other than just using it as a cargo transport. The Marine Corps has had special missions for its 130s, all combat-oriented.”
Before the Blue Angels used Lockheed C-130s, they used others, such as the Lockheed Constellation, which was flown by Navy personnel.
“It’s the F/A-18s (the fighter jets flown by the demonstration team) that get most of the attention,” said Wunderlich. “However, there are times when the crew of Fat Albert will actually open the show.”
Esche described a jet-assisted take-off, frequently included in air shows, but which will not be demonstrated at MacDill because of runway logistics. “There are rocket bottles we strap onto the aircraft, an electrical charge ignites the propellant and it provides thrust like a rocket engine. Besides being a real kick at an air show, the (jet-assisted take-off) shot is useful if you’re at a short airstrip with a full load of cargo.”
The C-130 is the smallest of the jumbo military transports and the only one that can operate out of short airstrips or to take supplies to the battle front. “Right now, there’s no real-world mission for the (jet-assisted take-off) capability,” said Wunderlich, “except that the C-130s fly down to Antarctica to support the science missions on the polar icecap. The planes use skis to get off the snow, and the friction is sometimes such that you need the rockets to break the suction created between the skis and the snow.”
The C-130 has been modified into more versions than any other aircraft. It’s also the longest continuously produced heavy transport in the world. It was designed in 1954, first produced in 1955 and has been in production since. The Blue Angels squadron has had a Fat Albert since 1971.
“We took the name `Fat Albert’ from the ’70s cartoon character,” said Wunderlich. “The story goes that some little kid said, `Mom, that big fat plane looks like Fat Albert.’ A crew member heard it and the name stuck.” `Airlines’ was added because, Wunderlich said, “We run on a schedule, on time and get our customers and cargo from Point A to Point B.”
The Blue Angels’ show season runs from March through November, and they perform an average of 70 shows annually nationwide. Every winter, the team spends three months in El Centro, Calif. “While the F/A-18s are practicing their maneuvers, we spend a week on the C-130 simulators and review emergency procedures and the air show profile. But during that time, we also have a program called the Fat Albert Winter Visit Program,” said Wunderlich. Interspersed with training, Fat Albert’s crew visits with Marine recruiters and keeping the name of the Blue Angels in the public eye.
“The Fat Albert crew is a team in every sense of the word,” he said. “Everybody has a specialized function. If you look at it aerodynamically speaking, Scottie (Esche) could very well be the most important crew member because if that cargo is not balanced, that plane is not going to fly.”
The typical show week for the Fat Albert crew begins on Thursday. Arriving a hour before the F/A-18s, the crew unloads the cargo and sets up in about 35 minutes. “The first thing we get set up is the communications cart, which is sort of our own mini-control tower,” said Esche. On Friday, there’s practice and commitments for officers to visit schools, hospitals and scout troops. Saturdays and Sundays are show days.
At 1400 hours, the words “Boss, we own the airfield and the airspace” are communicated from Blue Angels ground command to the F/A-18s’ flight team leader, and the show can begin. “We don’t do a thing until the local air traffic and ground controls turn the field and airspace over to Blue Angels’ control,” said Wunderlich.
During the show, each member of Fat Albert’s crew has a job. Wunderlich is responsible for safety, and he spends the afternoon in the mobile field control tower in radio contact with several pairs of eyes, as well as watching the airstrip and surrounding area closely. “Let’s say there’s a vehicle on the runway that’s not supposed to be there during the performance,” he says. “A glare of sun off a windshield could be a recipe for disaster. Any distraction, even for a fraction of a second, cannot happen when you consider these planes are flying 36 inches apart in formation. My job is to listen, watch and be proactive to what’s going on.”
The other Fat Albert pilot, Capt. Darren Martin, is in MacDill’s control tower. “If there’s an intruder in the airspace, Darren will immediately make that known,” said Wunderlich.
“There’s an FAA regulation that there can be no other air traffic within a five-mile radius of the performance location. Things can get hectic. At a show, Blue Angels No. 2 had a landing gear emergency when he took off. He had to break out of formation. I had to make sure they didn’t roll in firetrucks or other distractions when he landed.” (The show did go on; a spare F/A-18 is on hand.)
This performance goes without a hitch and when it is over, 30,000 pounds of support equipment is quickly re-loaded, and it’s back to Pensacola for debriefing.
As every movement of each performance is taped, the show is reviewed by each of the 45 people who worked it.
“Everyone has a chance to speak,” said Wunderlich. “If no one has anything to comment on, they just pass to the next person by saying `Glad to be here.’ ” Judging from the attitude, professionalism and pride of those connected with the Blue Angels and Fat Albert, that is clearly the case with every squadron member.
WHERE THE ANGELS ARE
Though the Blue Angels won’t be appearing in Chicago, here’s their performance schedule for the rest of 1997:
Aug. 30 and 31–Jackson, Miss.
Sept. 1–Jackson, Miss.
Sept. 6-7–Grand Junction, Colo.
Sept. 13-14–Ft. Smith, Ark.
Sept. 20-21–Naval Air Station, Oceana, Va.
Sept. 27-28–Cleveland
Oct. 4-5–El Paso, Texas
Oct. 11-12–San Francisco
Oct. 18-19–Liberal, Kan.
Oct. 25-26–Tulsa
Nov. 1-2–Naval Air Station, Cecil Field, Fla.
Nov. 7-8–Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla.
