Lt. Cmdr. Kevin J. Davis

BOSTON — Even as a young boy, Navy Blue Angels Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis was intrigued by speed.

“He was fascinated with airplanes from the time he was little,” former neighbor Betty Sweeney said. “He knew what he wanted to do, and he did it. That’s the only relief, that he went doing what he wanted to do.”

The 32-year-old Navy lieutenant commander was killed Saturday when the F/A-18 Hornet jet he piloted as a member of the Blue Angeles team crashed during an air show in a residential area of Beaufort, S.C.

He joined the Blue Angels in September 2005. A Navy statement said the pilot had been on the team for two years — and this was his first year as a demonstration pilot.

Another former neighbor, Tom McGill, taught at Taconic High School, where Davis’ father, John, was principal. McGill said John Davis and his wife, Ann, who now live in Aiken, S.C., were in the crowd at the air show Saturday.

“BEAUFORT, S.C. — A somber crowd watched as six jets flew overhead in formation at an air show where a Navy Blue Angel pilot died in a crash the day before.

Smoke streamed behind one of the jets as it peeled away from the others to complete the “missing man formation,” the traditional salute for a lost military aviator.

Sunday’s air show at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort began with a tribute to the Navy Blue Angel pilot whose aircraft plunged to the ground Saturday as the elite aviators were coming together for their final formation.”

“The spirit of the pilot is in the arms of a loving God,” said Rob Reider, a minister who was the announcer for the air show.

Read the rest here. and here.

May God rest his soul and may his family be comforted by our Lord.

Written by ~J~

One Response to “The Story of a Fallen Blue Angel”

1. Librocrat says:

   April 22, 2007 at 9:23 pm

   Yeah, that whole thing is really, really depressing. But any time you go out and watch the blue angels, you watch them thinking that at any moment you may see them collide, or crash, or exlode… The risks are obviously there….