The Blue Angels Airshows

Welcome to Friday, July 17, 2026. Today is, among other things, Peach Ice Cream Day, Tattoo Day, Lottery Day, Wrong Way Corrigan Day, Yellow Pig Day, and World Emoji Day, 

Today In History:

1821: Spain cedes Florida to the United States.

1898: Spanish troops in Santiago, Cuba, surrender, ending the fighting in the war between Spain and the United States.

1918: Bolsheviks execute Russia's Czar Nicholas II and his family.

1936: The Spanish Civil War begins as army generals launch a coup against the Second Spanish Republic.

1938: Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan lands in Ireland after filing a flight plan for California, the stunt that inspired Wrong Way Corrigan Day.

1944: 320 men, most of them black servicemen, are killed when a pair of ammunition ships explode at Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California.

1945: Truman, Stalin, and Churchill begin meeting at Potsdam for the final Allied summit of World War II.

1955: Disneyland opens in Anaheim, Calif.

1975: An Apollo spacecraft docks with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit, the first superpower linkup of its kind.

1976: Twenty-two African countries boycott the Olympic Games opening ceremony over apartheid.

1981: Walkways above the lobby of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapse, killing 114 people.

1996: TWA Flight 800 explodes and crashes off Long Island, N.Y., killing all 230 aboard.

1998: The Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court is adopted, the basis for World Day for International Justice.

2014: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 aboard.

Birthdays today include: Donald Sutherland, actor (M*A*S*H, Klute, Ordinary People, The Hunger Games); David Hasselhoff, actor (Knight Rider, Baywatch); Camilla, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom; Angela Merkel, politician and former Chancellor of Germany; Phyllis Diller, comedian and actress (Splendor in the Grass, The Muppet Show, The Love Boat, The Bold and the Beautiful, Boston Legal); Lou Boudreau, Hall of Fame baseball shortstop for the Cleveland Indians; Bryan Trottier, Hall of Fame hockey center for the New York Islanders; Art Linkletter, television personality (Kids Say the Darndest Things, People Are Funny); and F. Gary Gray, film director (Straight Outta Compton, The Fate of the Furious).

If today's your birthday, too, happy birthday — you're in good company.

* * *

All I can do is shake my head when I see stories like this. The New York Post is reporting:

A Florida beach erupted into chaos Wednesday when an ultra-low-altitude Blue Angels flyover sent tents, chairs and umbrellas flying into the air — leaving spectators on the shoreline stunned as the jet engines roared just feet above their heads, wild video shows.

The “Breakfast with the Blues” annual flyover — part of the Pensacola Beach Air Show — sent sunbathers into a frenzy as the specialized US Navy jets flew terrifyingly close to the shore — stirring up clouds of sand and sending beach gear airborne, WEAR News reported.

Look, gang. I’ve never made any secret of the fact that I’m a fan of airshows. Been a long time since I’ve been to one. Usually, for the last many years, I’ve perched in a chair outside the venue. I can remember years ago when they came into Rochester for a weekend show at the Rochester airport. They actually showed up on Thursday. The next day, I was at work in my downtown office and had occasion to be on the sidewalk in front of the building. My office at the time was at the corner of Main and Clinton, a major intersection. I can recall the windows rattling on the first pass.

I came outside to have a look, and while I was standing there, one of the planes came roaring in — and flipped around on its horizontal axis. You might call it a flat spin, except it was totally under control. For a few seconds, the pilot was braking on his engines' thrust, the plane actually flying backward and then looking like it was standing still over the intersection for a good three seconds. Every head in the area was angled up, looking at the spectacle. A second later, it was gone, out of sight.

Now, normally, you’d never see anyone doing that. Indeed, it would have been a federally investigated incident if anyone else had tried it. As it is, it’s a memory that a few thousand other folks and I will always keep. Oh, and you betcha I was going to the show the following day.

That next day, I ended up perched near the end of the runway, just off airport property. Watching their takeoff, I could see the jets coming, all of them at once, in a tightly formed group. Silently, or nearly so, like big cats on the hunt. I just got a hint of their engines being brought up to power, though I could see the event coming. And then suddenly, as they passed, I was standing in a full-force gale, louder than any rock concert I’ve ever been to, my chest vibrating, my ears complaining about the pressure, and my eyes not wanting to blink for fear of missing it. What a rush!

To the people complaining about that Pensacola performance the other day, all I can say is that you fundamentally misunderstand the entire purpose of this whole thing. It’s about extraordinary experiences that you’ll remember.

According to several reports, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao announced no one would be reprimanded or punished over the pass, summing it up as "No reprimands. No firings. No problem." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted "The flyovers will continue until morale improves," and a Pentagon official commented "CARRY ON PATRIOTS" alongside an image of the flyover. The White House also weighed in supportively.

I seriously do not understand the outcry here. This is what used to be called “Barnstorming.” The singular purpose of the Blue Angels is putting on a show. That’s what happened here. I have to wonder, though, if it's not the patriotic aspect of these shows that cause a lot of the complaints. Are they really concerned about safety, or is the real story more about the very American, political, and patriotic victory lap any military show represents?

Exclusively for our VIPs: Jobs for Vets Instead of Illegals? Great. Now Fix Driver Retention.

With the understanding that the Navy explicitly says it is subject to change without notice, here's the schedule for the Blue Angels for the remainder of this season:

Tomorrow, July 18—Pensacola Beach, Florida (Pensacola Beach Air Show—their annual hometown show, and the one coming right on the heels of this week's low-pass controversy)

August 1–2—Seattle, Washington (Boeing Seafair Air Show)

August 8–9—JB Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska (Arctic Thunder Air Show and Open House)

August 15–16—McMinnville, Oregon (Oregon International Air Show)

August 22–23—Billings, Montana (Yellowstone International Air Show)

August 29–30—Originally booked for the Chicago Air & Water Show, but the team swapped that slot for the Thunder Over Louisiana Air Show in a late-August schedule update.

September 5–7—Cleveland, Ohio (Cleveland National Air Show)

September 19–20—Virginia Beach, Virginia (NAS Oceana Air Show)

September 25–27—San Diego, California (MCAS Miramar Air Show)

October 3–4—Grand Junction, Colorado (Grand Junction Air Show)

October 10–11—San Francisco, California (Fleet Week)

October 17–18—NAS Jacksonville, Florida (Air Show)

October 24–25—El Paso, Texas (Amigo Airsho)

October 31–November 1—Peachtree City, Georgia (Air Dot Show Atlanta)

November 6–7—NAS Pensacola, Florida (Homecoming Air Show—this year's season finale, back after the 2025 edition was scrapped by the government shutdown)

Thought for the day: What doesn’t kill you gives you a set of unhealthy coping mechanisms and a dark sense of humor.

VIP members: Let's hear from you. What are your thoughts here? Ever been to an airshow? Oh, and hit that heart, will you? It makes a difference.

Take care, gang. You've got a whole weekend in front of you. I don't want you to miss it. I'll see you in the morning.

Editor’s Note: Republicans are fighting for election integrity by requiring proper identification to vote.

Help us continue to report why Democrats oppose such obvious measures by joining PJ Media VIP and using promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.