Blue Angels select 2020 team

PENSACOLA, Fla. The Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron announced July 15 that a number of new officer personnel will be joining the team for the 2020 air-show season, including Marine Corps pilot, Capt. William Huckeba of Hoover, Ala., one of two pilots of a new version of the ‘Fat Albert’ C-130 aircraft. The Blues selected two F/A-18 demonstration pilots, two C-130 pilots, maintenance officer, and public affairs officer to replace outgoing members of the 2019 team. “We had a phenomenal group of applicants this year,” said Capt. Eric Doyle, current commanding officer and flight leader of the Blues. The 2020 campaign will be the team’s 74th show season. The Blues select finalists for interview annually at its home base at NAS Pensacola during the week of the Pensacola Beach Air Show each year, and make selections at the end of that weekend. The 2020 selectees include FA/18 pilots Marine Corps Maj. Frank Zastoupil of Kingwood, Texas, who is currently flying fifth-generation F-35B Joint Strike fighters at Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University; and Navy Lt. Julius Bratton of Woodlawn, Tenn. He is an F/A-18 Hornet pilot currently assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 106. He is a Naval Academy graduate. C-130 Pilots: Huckeba, currently assigned to Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Va. He graduated from the Naval Academy, and Marine Capt. Rick Rose of Napa, Calif., currently assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152. He graduated from California State University-Sacramento. Maintenance Officer, Navy Lt. Brian Abe of Richardson, Texas, is currently assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 83. Public Affairs Officer: Navy Lt. j.g. Chelsea Dietlin of Detroit, who is currently assigned to Navy Public Affairs Support Element-East. She graduated from Michigan State University. The new CO and flight leader will be Cmdr. Brian Kesselring of Fargo, N.D., who recently was commander of Strike Fighter Squadron 81; and XO Navy Cmdr. Todd Royles of Willow Grove, Pa., who currently is executive officer of Training Squadron 86’s Squadron Augment Unit at NAS Pensacola. The new team members will officially begin training for 2020 season following the Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show at NAS Pensacola on Nov. 9. After that show, the team will depart the Gulf Coast for its winter training season at El Centro, Calif. (Source: Blue Angels media release 07/15/19) The Blues has its first F-35B pilot, Marine Maj. Zastoupil. He's currently assigned to the "Warlords" of the South Carolina-based Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, but will be flying the F/A-18 aircraft for the Blues. "This is the first [pilot] we've had that's been permanently attached to an F-35 squadron," Chief Petty Officer Chad Pritt, the Blue Angels' public affairs chief, told Military.com.