When choosing pilots for the Blue Angels, officials look for one thing: Personality.
“We knew we could train them how to fly,†says Greg Wooldridge, the only three-time Boss of the Blue Angels. “But we wanted them to show us what they’ve got in their hearts. ‘Show us what you believe, how you get along.’â€
In the documentary, “The Blue Angels,†members of the 2022 team demonstrate just that. Led by Capt. Brian Kesserling, the pilots (who come into the program with 1,200 hours of flying time) go through the paces before they launch a season of air shows designed to make audiences proud of the military.
“We need it the most now because of the polarization of the country,†says Wooldridge, who also serves as executive producer of the film. “We need something that brings joy and inspires them to overcome that.â€
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Using the latest in technology, director Paul Crowder was able to put the audience in the cockpit and show what the Blue Angels see from their vantage point. In films like “Top Gun: Maverick,†“they were able to put this huge box hidden between the front seat and the backseat and make it look like they’re the pilots. We don’t have that space, so we were able to mount a GoPro camera called the RSO. That gives almost as good a quality.†The only difference: Seasoned pilots had to be using those planes in the early days of shooting. By the end of the Angels’ season, others were able to use them. For the audience, it was a chance to view the show from a new vantage point.
To up the ante, Crowder also included a helicopter outfitted with IMAX-certified cameras. It was the first-ever civilian aircraft permitted to fly inside the performance airspace called “the box.â€
A Phantom camera also offered incredible clarity. “But you can only shoot 10 seconds at a time and then you have to wait two minutes before you can shoot the next thing,†Crowder says. “You get to see the jets in a way you’ve never seen them before. It’s pretty incredible.â€
For Wooldridge, showing the behind-the-scenes training was equally important. Because new Angels were coming into the mix, it was an opportunity to show the bonding that occurs. “We looked for humility in the people we selected,†he says.
When he returned to the Angels a second time, there was an issue with leadership and accuracy. “I had to overcome that,†Wooldridge says. “I hadn’t flown in two-and-a-half years, so getting back on the bicycle was not just like getting back on a bicycle.â€
To make sure he had the right team, the Boss met with all the men and women involved in the squad, more than 140 in all. “The talent was there. Morale was very low and I said, ‘I’m going to give it 150 percent. I ask you to return that to me and we’re going to get it done.’ Within about 10 days, we were back on the road flying air shows like they’d never seen.â€
A 27-year veteran in Naval Aviation, Wooldridge charted some 8,300 hours – more than anyone in the Navy when he hung up his flight suit. Key to returning the Angels back to their former glory was making sure they kept their egos under control.
“Every show site we went to we asked to meet a Make-a-Wish chapter,†he says. “Talk about humbling. Those kids were the real heroes. We got up in the morning and said, ‘We’re going to watch clouds out there. We’re going to fly and have a good time.’ But these kids, they were the superstars. They kept us humble knowing they were facing challenges that we never had to face.â€
That commitment to others carried through from the 50th anniversary of the Angels to today. Wooldridge wanted to commemorate the Angels’ 75th anniversary in 2021 but the pandemic hit “and took that away.â€
The delay, however, brought “Maverick†actor Glen Powell onto the producing team and helped them rethink the shoot for IMAX screens.
Even better? The film also happens to capture the first female pilot, Minnesota native Amanda Lee, joining the team.
The film, as a result, is something “that can never be matched again,†Woodridge says. “It was time.â€
"The Blue Angels" streams beginning May 23 on Prime Video.Â