Fallon grad settles in with the Blue Angels

For the first time in eight years, the sleek, magnificent blue and gold Blue Angels jets streaked over the sagebrush terrain surrounding the Reno-Stead Airport by performing aerial maneuvers that kept the fans spellbound with their routines.

Yet, for the pilots and the support personnel, coming to the Reno-Stead Airport last weekend was like coming home to the Nevada desert. Every naval aviator flying with the Blue Angels at the Reno Air Show has trained at the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center east of Fallon as part of a carrier air wing preparing for overseas deployment.

To be selected for the Blue Angels, the Navy picks the team from a pool of pilots who are either fully qualified or could be ready within a short timeframe.

One enlisted member of the Blue Angels crew returning to northern Nevada experienced a different kind of Navy homecoming. The 30-year-old AME1 Bret Lynch came to Fallon when he was a toddler, but his family has remained in the Lahontan Valley, while the young sailor is seeing the world. Growing up in Fallon, Lynch played baseball on a state championship team in his junior year before graduating from Churchill County High School in 2012. He enlisted in the Navy several years after graduation.

A first-year member

Friends and family descended at the airport to spend some time with Lynch and to support him in his first year with the Blue Angels team.

“I was teaching at the school house at Pensacola (“The cradle of Naval aviation”) and had a good friend tell me to apply,” Lynch said of the opportunity to be part of the Blue Angels, which is also based out of the Florida panhandle. “I put together my packet and applied. And here I am, my first year out of three.”

Lynch is nearing completion of his first year with the Blue Angels, and he has immensely enjoyed the experience. He works with other safety equipment and aircraft survival equipment technicians. In addition to maintaining and repairing systems that support the pilots’ lives on an F/A-18 Super Hornet, the Life Support team also maintains the pilots’ flight gear to include their helmets and oxygen masks among other devices needed for an aviator’s survival.

In addition to spending much of his time at Pensacola or on the road at air shows supporting the Blue Angels, Lynch has returned to NAWDC’s Top Gun school several times with an air wing. Every time he comes to Fallon, the childhood memories return with him. He also looks forward to spending time with his mother, Julie, and his father Doug, a retired sailor.

“It was an awesome place to grow up,” Bret Lynch said of the Lahontan Valley. “I had a phenomenal time growing up there. I do miss it, and I have some good friends I keep in contact with.”

During his past nine years in the Navy, though, the young sailor said he has traveled to different parts of the United States which are new to him. Once the Blue Angels complete their 2024 season in early November, Julie Lynch said she’s traveling to Pensacola to be with her son and daughter-in-law and four children.

The Reno rendezvous

Yet, at Reno during the past weekend, Julie Lynch was an approving mother.

“I am very proud of him,” she said at the Reno Air Show. 

She also saw the admiration the crowd gives to all the members of the Blue Angels team including the enlisted roles.

“The admiration they have for these (enlisted) crew people is so amazing,” she said. “They (the air race fans) don’t care if they’re a pilot. They look at it as a team.”

Julie Lynch, though, first had a taste of the Blue Angels’ popularity when she attended a show in mid-March at Travis Air Force Base east of San Francisco. She didn’t expect the admiration. Tears began to well in her eyes thinking about her son and what he’s doing for his country.

“I am proud of these boys and what they do to keep these pilots safe,” she added.

Doug, who had been standing next to Julie, also choked up with emotion.

“I am a proud dad. I am ecstatic with his decisions so far,” he said.

She agreed.

“It was great to see him go from oily shirts, oily pants to what he has [grown] into with this command,” Julie Lynch said. “There’s camaraderie. They look after each other.”

Doug Lynch said his son discovered a knack for being an instructor at Pensacola, a position he enjoyed. Then the opportunity to become part of the Blue Angels was too difficult to pass up.

“They (the selection board) want you to know everything about the Blue Angels. Test, test, signoff, go to a board,” Doug Lynch said.

The ultimate reward, though, came when Bret Lynch could spit out everything to know about the Blue Angels from the pilots’ background to the organizational history and teamwork. He received the coveted Blue Angels crest, a sign of excellence for the Blue Angels.

“I’m proud of him and he has come a long ways,” said longtime friend Michael Perazzo, who’s known the younger Lynch since elementary school. “He wanted to go into the Navy like his dad. When he told me was going to the Blue Angels, I was proud.”

Before seeing his friend at the Reno Air Show, Peraazo last saw Bret Lynch when he came to Top Gun for training. Although they haven’t seen each other as often as they would like, both friends have managed to email, text or call often. At Reno, though, Perazzo, his wife and young son enjoyed their short time with the Lynch family before Bret leaves with the Blue Angels for Fleet Week in San Francisco. 

Fallon is no stranger to pilots

Team leader Capt. Alexander Armatas is the Blue Angels team leader, but only a few more shows remain before he leaves the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels pilot and their team appear at 32 shows per year. 

The Skantatels, New York-native who attended the U.S. Naval Academy is in his second and final year with the Blue Angels. Armatas received his designation as a naval aviator in 2005 and four years later, he graduated from the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (Top Gun) course at Fallon. Flying with the Blue Angels has been rewarding for Armatas. He said the Blue Angels have been exciting.

“It’s been an incredible,  life-time experience, a very unique experience of being in the military,” he said. “The entire team has come from the fleet, and they will return to the fleet. For two to three years, it’s a one-in-a-lifetime experience. A very unique experience in terms of being in the military.”

Armatas said the pilots come from the fleet, and they all return to the fleet. 

“For those of us  lucky enough to be selected, it’s really a neat opportunity and a great chance for us to give a little back to the military,” he added.

Armatas said the training received at Fallon has been great for future Blue Angels pilots, specifically pointing out the tactical air training that’s beneficial for pilots. Armatas calls the training at NAWDC first class, but the training constantly evolves.

Cmdr. Jack Keilty, who hails from Oklahoma City, is in his first of two years. He flies the No. 2 Hornet.

“It’s going pretty good, and it’s challenging at every stage but it’s a natural progression,” he said. 

By the end of the season, Keilty said the pilots are flying in a tighter formation. Keilty also praised the instruction he received at the Top Gun school. He said the fun thing about coming to Reno is to have some integration with the pilots at Fallon. 

Keilty said the Blue Angels team represents them and the 800,000 active and reserves of the Navy and Marines.

“We’re so close to Fallon, which they will never get a chance to see what we do,” he said. “Here’s the opportunity so I’m very excited to provide the opportunity to the community. The training is world class, and it is also constantly evolving, constantly changing to be as good as it can be.”

As the weekend slowly came to an end, Bret Lynch and the other members of the Blue Angels were enthusiastically received in Reno. 

“A girl came up wanting my autograph,” Bret Lynch said. “It was amazing to see people’s faces light up.”

Touching souls, he said, is what makes him and the other members of the team feel happy no matter where their latest stop is.