I t happened at the close of World War II – the birth of Pensacola’s pride, the magnificent Blue Angels. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Chester W. Nimitz was looking for a way to keep the public interested in naval aviation, once the war-time roles of the planes, their pilots, crews and support personnel were at an end — at least for that moment in history. He hit on the idea of creating a flight demonstration team to showcase the skill and daring of teams like those who had ruled the skies in the battle the United States had so recently won. Three months after he gave the order, on June 15, 1946, the Navy Flight Exhibition Team performed for the first time at its home base, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla. Piloting an F6F-5 Hellcat, Lt. Cmdr. Roy “Butch” Voris took the lead. The team was only the second such formal flying demonstration team in the world, with the Patrouille de France claiming pride of place as first, after its formation in 1931. In July 1946, the team was first officially introduced as the “Blue Angels” at a show in Omaha, Neb. Right Wing Pilot Lt. Maurice “Wick” Wickendoll [...]