Review by Cmdr. Peter B. Mersky, USNR (Ret.)
Over the years, we’ve reviewed several first-person memoirs from former Blue Angel aviators. As someone fortunate enough to have logged two flights with the Navy’s flight demonstration squadron in the TA-4J (in 1975) and F/A-18B (in 1987), and having spent time with various team members while researching articles for
Naval Aviation News and
Approach, I can report on the pride and dedication each member develops while flying every air show, whether as a Navy lieutenant, Marine captain or Navy O-6 team leader.
“Lead Solo” is the latest autobiography by a former Blue Angel, describing two tours in which he flew as No. 5 and No. 6, the team’s two solo aircraft. Cmdr. Frank Weisser explains what he learned during his decade with the Blue Angels: the people who fly and maintain the strikingly painted jets, and how those experiences shaped his later career and life.
For readers unfamiliar with the Blue Angels, four aircraft fly in the diamond formation while two solo pilots perform separate maneuvers that show off individual aircraft capabilities. Anyone who has watched the diamond formation, only to be startled by the sneak “surprise” pass of two Hornets soaring by at 50 to 500 feet and 600 knots, usually with an exit to the right of the crowd, knows exactly what those solos can do.
Weisser includes an entertaining anecdote about watching “Top Gun: Maverick” on an airliner (he flew most of the incredible in-flight maneuvering sequences), while the woman beside him thoroughly enjoyed the movie, unaware of who was sitting next to her. He resisted the urge to tell her.
The author goes to considerable lengths explaining the team’s various maneuvers in detail, and his style is much different from other Blue Angels memoirs. The writing here is often hard to get through, as short as the book is, but perseverance pays off. This is not just another Blue Angels book, but a deep look inside how a team of specially selected, highly experienced and dedicated naval aviators train and operate while showing the public what it means to fly and maintain the highly sophisticated jets at the heart of today’s carrier Navy.
Chapter 4, “Communication,” is perhaps the most revealing in the book, detailing the short but important calls made during air show maneuvers, including the complex “Fleur de Lis,” the most complicated maneuver in the team’s repertoire. Chapter 6, “Adversity,” discusses in-flight emergencies, such as night carrier landings with system failures, including pulling the green ring that supplies emergency oxygen, something every aviator, pilot and backseater must know. This section warrants a second read—it’s that important.
The lengthy discussion of exciting, demanding and dangerous carrier landings may lose some civilian readers, but it powerfully illustrates what sets naval aviators apart from their counterparts in other services.
Weisser originally aspired to be a Navy SEAL, but after falling short of meeting that goal, he was ordered to flight training, a “disappointment” that led to him earning his naval aviator wings, flying the F/A-18 Hornet and ultimately becoming a Blue Angel.
An index and glossary would have been helpful additions, especially for readers unfamiliar with Blue Angels terminology. Even so, “Lead Solo” is one of the more unusual books I have had the opportunity to review, and I highly recommend it.
