Blue Angels raise morale of city and base still recovering from Hurrican Ivan

Just a few months ago, Hurricane Ivan roared through the city of Pensacola, destroying or damaging thousands of homes. The evidence is still there -- you can easily see that thousands of those homes are still covered by temporary blue roofs.

On Friday, however, a different kind of Blue hit the city, bringing not more despair and depression, but a huge morale boost and lots of fun for the entire family. This time, it was the Blue Angels who roared through the skies of the city.

"This is a big thing," said Diana Hartley, 60, to the Associated Press, as she enjoyed the sounds and images of the Blue Angel's annual homecoming airshow. "It's like we're going to be back again. It means a lot. Pensacola's a great place to live."

The Blue Angels also call Pensacola home -- and more specifically, the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Officials at the base are hoping that the show will lift the spirits of the base residents as well as those of its area neighbors. "We felt that the community needed this," said Cmdr. Bo Stewart, NAS Pensacola XO. "It gave them an opportunity to put the storm damage behind them."

Capt. John Pruitt, the base's CO, said that during the worst of Ivan the airshow was the furthest thing from his mind. The base is celebrating its 90th Anniversary -- it is the oldest Naval Air Station in the country -- and the hurricane tore through its infrastructure, buildings and residents.

The decision to allow the homecoming airshow to continue was easy -- the airfield and the precision flight team's hangar suffered only minor damage. "We wanted to show people that we were pretty much back to normal, that we can do this kind of stuff," Pruitt said.

FMI: www.naspensacola.navy.mil