I used to live in California, and I attended alot of air shows.
I must have seen the Blue Angels performs about 25 times over the years, mostly at Pt. Mugu NAS (part of the Pacific Missile Test Center), but also at El Toro MCAS in Orange County and at Miramar NAS in San San Diego County. The last time I saw a Blue Angels Air Show was in late May of 2000 at the Bangor International Airport in Bangor, Maine.
It was the only time the Blue Angels ever performed in northern Maine since they were formed in 1946.
I saw the Thunderbirds just once.....on August 1, 1986 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in northern Santa Barbara County, California.
The Great State of Maine Air Show took place at what used to be Brunswick Naval Air Station in southern Maine. Before Brunswick NAS was closed during the latest round of base closings, the annual air show was free and always featured the Blue Angels. I heard Cindy Sheehan was going to show up and protest a few years ago, but the crazy never showed up.
These handful of protestors are not representative of the
majority of people in Maine. I’ve lived here twenty years and most people here are VERY pro-military.
Maine has had the highest per-capita number of National Guard members in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By the way, the Maine Air National Guard base at Bangor International Airport.....they call themselves the “Mainiacs.”
My son is a P-3 pilot and instructor. He was among the last to leave Brunswick. I was sorry to see the base close.