Blue Angel #5 on the high speed pass. If you look closely, you can see the shockwave's Schlieren effect distorting the hill in the background. The effect is caused by the air being denser, thus bending the light passing through. The line up performers was really well balanced with the addition of 3 jet teams! The Blue Angels, Canadian Snowbirds, and the Patriots at the 2008 San Francisco Fleet Week was a huge crowd draw. The Fleet Week tradition honors the men and women of the armed forces since it's inception in 1981. This year had a fantastic turnout of people and the weather was great for the whole week. From 11:30 am to 4:30 pm, the airshow went non-stop. The aviation entertainment included the
USCG HH-65 SAR Demo, the Collaborators, Melissa Andrzejewski, CAF Snowbirds, V-22 Osprey, Michael Wiskus, Virgin America, Tim Weber, Patriots, John Piggott, F-16 Viper West, F-16 and F-86 Heritage Flight, Sean D. Tucker, and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.