Two members of the Navy’s iconic Blue Angels were in town recently for a planning meeting in preparation for their participation in the Kaneohe Bay Air Show in August.
Hawaii will be just one of 32 air shows the squadron is slated to participate in over the course of 2025, beginning March 15 with the Naval Air Facility El Centro Festival of Flight in California, where the Blue Angels are based.
The Blue Angels last performed at the Kaneohe Bay Air Show in 2022, and the squadron was the subject of a 2024 documentary aired on Amazon’s streaming service centering on the team’s 2022 tour.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Lilly Montana and Marine Corps Maj. Scott Laux — two pilots with the squadron — are making the rounds across the country to plan as well as gin up publicity for the upcoming shows.
“We’ve already visited all of the locations on the East Coast, kind of everything east of the Rockies,” Montana told reporters at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. “And now with the team in El Centro for winter training, we get to go visit all of our West Coast shows. So we meet with community leaders, air show organizers, airfield members, military personnel, to kind of lay the foundation for the team’s arrival this August.”
The Blue Angels — formally known as the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron — were established by Adm. Chester Nimitz in 1946.
Shortly after his promotion from commander of the Pacific Fleet in Hawaii to chief of naval operations at the Pentagon, Nimitz tasked a group of aviators to “showcase the teamwork and professionalism of the United States Navy and Marine Corps by inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country through flight demonstrations and community outreach.”
They’re known for their blue-and-gold aircraft and stunt flying and are the second-oldest formal aerial acrobatics team in the world after France’s Patrouille de France. In 2024 the Blue Angels were the subject of a documentary on Amazon’s streaming service.
“Our aircraft are painted blue and gold, not gray,” Laux said. “We want to be seen. We want to be in the public’s eye. We want the public to know what the Navy and the Marine Corps are doing for the country.”
Part of that includes engagements with schools and youth organizations that Montana said are in part aimed at getting youngsters interested in technology and science. “We’re not a recruiting asset, per se,” she said. “You know, service to country looks different to every single individual. It’s not necessarily military service, but it’s something that’s very important, I think, to Americans.”
Montana said an event like the Kaneohe Bay Air Show requires tons of logistics, from planning flight schedules with other participants, vendors, fueling, lodging and other needs. But she said that as the Angels return to Oahu, they have plans for “a couple surprises, one or two sneak passes. I won’t spoil the surprise, but folks that come to K-Bay and come to the air show, bring your hearing protection.”
Flying close together, twirling at high speeds pushes the pilots and their planes to their limits. Since the founding of the Blue Angels after World War II, 26 members of the group have died during practice flights or performances.
“These maneuvers are so precise, and the planes are so tightly spaced, they’re so close together, that it’s very important that all the pilots are operating on the same cadence as the flight leader,” Laux said. “So if the flight leader is going to turn the formation left, there’s not enough room between the jets to have everyone not do it at the exact same time.”
The squadron operates on a budget of roughly $37 million a year. During the 2013 fiscal year, the military grounded both the Blue Angels and the Air Force’s similar Thunderbirds amid annual budget shortfalls. At the time, the Navy said that it was one of “many steps the Navy is taking to ensure resources are in place to support forces operating forward now and those training to relieve them.” But the Blue Angels returned to the skies the following year.
When asked what he would tell people who questioned whether the team’s operations were worth the money, Laux pointed to the stated public outreach mission and said, “I would challenge anyone who asked that question to find a better resource than the Blue Angels to execute that mission. I think that our mission is critical, and I think that we have the right type of organization to execute it.”
In Hawaii the Navy has been working to repair its image since a 2021 jet fuel leak from the service’s underground Red Hill facility entered its water system, which serves 93,000 people. The military has since removed fuel from the underground tanks but is still working to fully clean up, remediate and shut down the site — which sits just 100 feet above an aquifer that most of Honolulu relies on for drinking water.
Some critics have charged that the Angels’ flight acrobatics unnecessarily burn fuel, emit pollution and subject communities to loud noise.
In a column for the Seattle Times in August regarding the Angels’ participation in the annual Seafair festival in Puget Sound, former Air Force flight surgeon Dr. Breck Lebegue argued, “It’s time to salute and say goodbye to the Blue Angels at Seafair. Although we need skilled fighter pilots to defend our nation and our allies from enemies, these airshows cause significant health harm.”
Nevertheless, the Kaneohe Bay Air Show is one of the biggest events on Oahu, bringing in thousands of enthusiastic island residents annually to watch. It’s also one of the few events where members of the general public are able to go on base and interact with service members there.
Laux said the Angels play an important role as a symbol for people to inspire them to push themselves to be their best at any endeavor, whether to protect the nation or protect the environment.
“As long as we are inspiring people to that culture of excellence, be excellent at whatever you do,” Laux said. “If you’re a kid in school, if you’re an adult with a job or anything in between, be excellent at whatever you do and find a way to give back to your country, to your community.”
The 2025 Kaneohe Bay Air Show is set to take place Aug. 9-10 and is free for all ages. Preferred seating will be available for purchase closer to the event itself. For more information and updates, visit kaneohebayairshow.com.
