ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Blue Angels return to the Spirit of St. Louis Air Show this weekend, featuring Boeing's F-18s.
Movies like the recent Amazon documentary, featuring the Blue Angels, and air shows like the one that set to happen this weekend, all help to inspire the next generation of pilots but what about the folks that make the aircraft?
"For the F-18s, we build the fuselage, wings and final assembly," said Mark Sears, Boeing's VP of Fighter Programs to KMOX. "The aft is made by our partners Northrop Grumman in El Segundo, California. They ship that to us. We do final assembly, check it out and send it out to the Navy."
Sears oversees the making of the F-18 and more here in St. Louis.
"For myself I saw Top Gun in the theatres in 1980 and that sparked an interest," said Sears. "It's always a great opportunity and we have announced a massive investment at the north side of the airport and we expect to be growing in the future years. So things like this is a great way for people to know we are still here and are hiring."
Sears says building an F-18 can take quite a while, close to three years from the early stages. In the factory, it takes about 15 months to build an F-18.
"Precision, specialty medals, a lot of structure that is safety critical," said Sears. "It has to have exactly the right requirements. It's very complex, and we been doing it for quite a long time and are pretty good at it."
What's it like to fly in a F-18 Blue Angel fighter jet? Annie Frey, host of the Annie Frey Show on KMOX's sister-station 97.1 F.M. talk got to find out as she was able to get the chance to sit in the cockpit and soar high in the F-18.
"I think they told me they would prepare me for 45 minutes and they would teach me how to breathe and pump the blood back to my brain," said Frey right before she took flight, "I'm prepared to pass out, throw up. I'm preparing everyone this isn't going to be pretty. This isn't going to be something I'm going be proud of me for, but I think I'm going to walk away with an even more immense pride of our military, our pilots, people who volunteer themselves to learn these skills. It just makes me even more proud to be American."
The Blue Angels will be a part of the Spirit of St. Louis Airshow this weekend on June 8-9. Alongside the Blue Angels, a newer of version of F-15 that is fully dressed will also be among those who perform at the air show.