First Blue: The Story of World War II Ace Butch Voris and the Creation of the Blue Angels [Hardcover]

Robert K. Wilcox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2004

The Remarkable Story of a True Hero of American Aviation

The U.S. Navy's Blue Angels are the most famous flight demonstration team in the world. While millions of aviation enthusiasts see their shows every year, the story of the man who formed the squadron has never been told. He is Roy Marlin "Butch" Voris, a World War II Ace and one of only two aviators ever to command the Blue Angels twice.

First Blue details the epic journey of an unassuming man whose strong character and desire to fly launched him into a life of drama, heroism, and accomplishment unique in his field. Because he wanted to serve his country during World War II, a young Butch Voris found himself flying fighter planes as part of the pitifully prepared and outmanned front in the early stages of the Pacific theater. He was nearly killed there but went on to be a leader in one of the most fearsome naval air squadrons in the Pacific. As a pilot, Butch is unquestionably in the same class as more recognized aviator heroes such as Chuck Yeager and Pappy Boyington.

While his World War II experience alone could comprise a book, Butch may be best known for his efforts in the creation of the naval air demonstration team, the Blue Angels. After the war, Voris was personally chosen by Admiral Nimitz to start the Blue Angels and to lead them, first in prop planes and later in jets. The story of his efforts is as exciting as it is inspirational, and it's told here in meticulous detail and with great humor. Today the Blue Angels still follow traditions established by Butch.

Butch's involvement in military flight didn't end with the Blue Angels; he became a major player in the development of the F-14 Tomcat and NASA's Lunar Explorer Module for Grumman. Butch dedicated his life to his work, and here, finally, is the remarkable, untold account of this true American aviation pioneer and hero: a man whose life had unparalleled influence on naval aviation and whose legacy continues to inspire millions of Americans each year.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Opening with a graphic account of a mid-air collision, this bio of Voris, who founded the Navy’s famed aerial acrobatic team, gets the job done, but without the group’s pluck and aplomb. Before the founding, Voris flew two combat tours as a fighter pilot in the South Pacific, from 1942 to 1944. Among the numerous descriptions of his wartime experiences, the book includes accounts of his first landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier, his first aerial combat and his participation in the aerial melee known as "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot"—in which 300 hundred Japanese planes were shot down. Wilcox (Black Aces High) presents vivid interviews with Voris himself about this period ("This voice... came on the radio and said ‘Shut up and die like a man.’ ...That’s the kind of attitude people had... Shut up. We got our own fight to deal with..."). In April 1946, Voris was tapped, as part of a Navy postwar public relations campaign, to form the Navy’s flight exhibition team—The Blue Angels. A landing gear collapse upon landing, the use of a captured Japanese Zero fighter for simulated aerial dogfights, and the death of one of his wartime comrades who crashed into the ground during air show acrobatics are all covered, along with the recruitment and the development of acrobatic maneuvers. Relinquishing command of the Blue Angels in 1947, Voris did stints in Korea, with the re-formed Angels, and later worked for Grumman and NASA. His mid-century pilot’s life comes through loud and clear here, as does the Navy’s internal workings—and those marvelous planes.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Ray Marlin "Butch" Voris joined the U. S. Navy during preparations for World War II. He became a fighter pilot who fought in three campaigns and ended as an ace with eight kills. After the war, when Admiral Nimitz proposed the precision flying team that became the Blue Angels, Voris served twice as its leader. During the second stint, which followed a tour of duty in Korea, he survived a disastrous midair collision to retire as a captain. His service to his country wasn't over, however, for he went to work for Grumman aircraft on the development of the F-14 Tomcat and the lunar lander, and his career ended at NASA. Wilcox is a master of aviation history, research, and the declarative sentence. Employing those attainments, he has produced a solid, readable biography of an outstanding member of the group of junior officers who were on WWII's front lines and gave further service after the war without receiving the honors they deserved. In the case of Butch Voris, consider that lack remedied. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (September 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312322496
• ISBN-13: 978-0312322496
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #742,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert K. Wilcox is the award-winning, bestselling non-fiction and novel writer of such works as Scream of Eagles, Wings of Fury and Target:Patton: The plot to assassinate Gen. George S. Patton. His latest book is The Truth About the Shroud of Turin. In addition to his writing for film and television, he has reported for The New York Times and written for numerous national and international publications including the Miami Herald's Tropic magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and National Geographic. He started his career as a reporter and editor for the Miami News. During the Vietnam War he was an Air Force Information Officer. He lives in Los Angeles. His website is www.robertkwilcox.com .

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The First Blue Angel, September 27, 2004

By 

nofty (Silicon Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Blue: The Story of World War II Ace Butch Voris and the Creation of the Blue Angels (Hardcover)

The Navy's Blue Angels are ambassadors of American ingenuity, prowess and accomplishment in the air. They are the premiere flight demonstration team in the world and proud symbol of not only Naval Aviation, but the entire US Navy. Their aerial acrobatics thrill million of spectators every year. Their show is always a major highlight of Commissioning Week at Annapolis. Nobody knows reliably how many people were influenced to join the Navy by the Blue Angels, but it is a considerable number.

How did they start? How have they endured for 58 years since their founding in 1946? What basic tenets underpin their success?

This, and much more, is the subject of a new book, "First Blue: The Story of World War II Ace Butch Voris and the Creation of the Blue Angels" by Bob Wilcox. This Book should appeal to anyone who has felt the thrill of aviation in their veins while watching a Blue Angels air show. It should also appeal to a broader audience. With a great story to tell, Wilcox has crafted a stirring naval action narrative that often reads like an adventure novel-covering Voris' entire life. The story ranges from heroic, tragic, humorous to absurd, but is always spellbinding.

Today Butch Voris is one of approximately 70 inductees in the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor in Pensacola, Fl. When he was selected to start the Navy Flight Demonstration Team, he was only a 26 year old, Pacific veteran and ace, a fighter pilot passing along the hard lessons learned in WWII by teaching tactics at NAS Jacksonville. With the war over, the Navy, worried about recruitment, decided they needed something special to attract positive attention for recruiting purposes.

The years before the war had seen military flight demonstration teams come and go. There was trepidation about starting another because the nation was reaping a peace dividend and Congress might see an air show enterprise as superfluous. The Navy decided to go ahead anyway. Voris was told to take his startup practices out over the Everglades so that if there were any crashes, only the alligators would know. Resources were initially limited to those on hand in the training command.

What magic has carried the Blue Angels from these humble beginnings to world renown? How did a newly minted LCDR, a product of the NavCad Program, with only two years of college education, come to be selected as the first leader of the Blues.? "First Blue" succinctly covers the events that shaped Voris in the crucible of the Pacific War and prepared him, after little more than five years Navy service, to create the Blue Angels and the Blue Angel culture of success.

After seeing a naval aviation recruiting poster, he started his career in early 1941. By fall 1942, he was on the Enterprise in some of the darkest days of the Pacific War. He participated in several of the Naval Actions in the Battle for Guadalcanal. Voris also flew to Guadacanal, became part of the vaunted "Cactus Air Force," shot down his first Japanese Zero, was in turn shot down, nearly dying in the process.

But he survived and came back for a second cruise with Hornet and the fast carriers in 1944 as they hit Tarawa, Guam, Iwo Jima, Chi Chi Jima and other islands through the Central and North Pacific. He was involved in several key battles like the Battle of the Philipine Sea including key subplots the Marianas "Turkey Shoot" and the "Mission into Darkness." He is credited with eight air to air victories over Zeros during two tours along with some amazing flying feats like participating in the Navy's first night fighter squardron.

Through this intense combat, he got to work for and with some of the finest leaders the US Navy has ever produced. O'Hare, Flately, Dean, Clark, and Thatch to name a few. This on the job training, coupled with a solid family upbringing, provided a lifetime of leadership training. This proved to be invaluable, along with Voris' passion for perfection and amazing flying skills, in forming the Blues.

Applying these basic tenets of leadership and organizational development almost by instinct, Voris created an organization that is an extension of the Navy's finest WWII aviation leaders, with the excellence and momentum to sustain, adapt and improve over time. Teamwork; competitive spirit; demanding and accepting only the best from personnel and equipment; striving for perfection with true dedication and a real sense of urgency ; learning from every show, practice and team member; never being satisfied: and perhaps most important, leading by example from the front, but with a sense of confident, humbleness. The Blue Angels represent the best the Navy has to offer. Voris planned it that way. "First Blue" tells this definitive Blue Angel story well.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Take charge. Go do it.", February 2, 2005

By 

James Armstrong (Placentia, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Blue: The Story of World War II Ace Butch Voris and the Creation of the Blue Angels (Hardcover)

First Blue is a sterling biography of one of the best known and most admired Naval aviators of the 20th century--Butch Voris, who not only started the Blue Angels after WW II, but restarted them after the interruption of the Korean War. In detailing Butch's career from his aerial combat in the Pacific to his service with NASA and the space program, Wilcox shows us a man of unflagging courage, devotion to his craft and his country, and constant pursuit of perfection in the performance of his duties.

In incident after incident, Butch's character emerges dramatically--the character accurately understated in a 1943 fitness report by his first skipper, Jimmy Flatley: "He has a very strong personality." His perfectionism saved the lives of his flying teammates, as well as his own life, many times over. The hair-raising air show disaster Wilcox opens the book with is only the first of a series of near-death experiences for Butch. As zealous in implementing good ideas of others as in pursuing his own innovations, he improved on almost every aspect of Navy practices and procedures he came in contact with, including the squadron-basing system for the Pacific fleet and methods of choosing and developing the best aircraft for the Navy's needs.

Wilcox is especially informative on the politics that cause turkeys like the F7U Cutlass to be purchased by the Defense Department--but rejected by Butch for the Blue Angels. And he reveals how Butch's detective work was instrumental in exposing the dishonesty in General Dynamics' development of the F111B fighter, crediting Butch with "raising the F-14 [Tomcat] from the F111B's ashes." A vivid encounter with Defense Secretary Robert McNamara helps us understand how a brilliant business leader can disastrously mislead the government and the armed forces.

Honesty and loyalty were rarely, if ever, in conflict for Butch. He repeatedly risked his reputation and career for the sake of both. Wilcox often reveals Butch's motivations through his own words: "Every time you are put to a test and survive, you learn something more. I think it was just my nature. Take charge. Go do it. I'm a great believer in that. It's my basic instinct."

First Blue is as informative on the technicalities of flying a hot fighter plane as it is on military-industrial politics. Wilcox's description of the difficulty of landing a prop-driven fighter on a pitching aircraft carrier deck is the best I've read, and for an encore he vividly shows us how doing it in a jet fighter is even trickier.

Wilcox also includes countless nuggets like how Butch got his name, how he had an unexpected chat with Winston Churchill after the war, and how he saved the fledgling Tailhook Association from the risks of south-of-the-border partying.

Butch Voris will forever be inseparable from the Blue Angels, the foremost precision flight team in the world, but this book shows convincingly that his contributions to America's superiority in the air and in space were far more numerous than that. The honors showered on him for these achievements make your head spin, leaving you unprepared for the revelation of the weaknesses in the Navy's promotion system that allow it to lose a superb officer like Butch.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Time, Interesting Person, October 26, 2004

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Blue: The Story of World War II Ace Butch Voris and the Creation of the Blue Angels (Hardcover)

In March of 1941, Butch Voris joined the Navy as a pilot trainee. This was a time of peace. But before his training ended, it was no longer peace time. The country and soon Butch Voris was at war. The planes they flew were Wildcats, not exactly the best machines to use up against Zeros. Not to many of the early fliers survived the war, but in spite of a number of close calls Butch did.

After the war Butch was personally selected by Admiral Nimitz to set up a demonstration team to attract people to join the Navy. He did, it was called the Blue Angels. Before too long, another little situation came up called Korea. After that Butch went back to the Blue Angels, the only person ever to command it twice. Butch Voris eventually left the navy and went ot work for Grumman, being involved in the development of the F-14.

The book is well written, and covers an interesting period of an interesting person's life.