Blue Angels Crew Chief: Harry Chesnut (1969 - 1971)

Produced by Ryan Nothhaft
email: [email protected]
Website: www.blueangelphantoms.com
Twitter: @blueangelf4
Instagram: @blueangelphantoms

Harry Chesnut is a former Blue Angels Crew Chief and served on the team from 1969 to 1971. Having several years of experience working on F4 Phantoms in the early sixties, including a tour with VF-154, Harry was selected to the Blue Angels in 1969, the same year the team transitioned to F4 Phantoms from F-11 Tigers.

During the 1969 season, Harry served in the Blue Angles Air Frame shop, before being selected as Steve Shoemaker's crew chief for the 1970 show season. 1971 was Harry's final year on the Blue Angels, where he was the crew chief for Bill "Burner" Beardley in the #3 Phantom.

In total, Harry served 38 years in the Navy and is an active Director of the the Blue Angels Alumni Association.

Also special thanks to:

David Marlow for allowing me to use video footage from the movie Threshold. (See link below to purchase the DVD) which features the 1970 & 1971 Blue Angel teams. The history behind each of the pilots featured in the film is absolutely amazing. The film also features a look at how time-intensive it is to maintain the F4 Phantom and gives a glimpse behind the scenes of the maintenance team that kept the planes up and flying so that the Blues never missed a show.

Threshold: The Blue Angels Experience
http://www.thresholdtheblueangelsexpe...