Wings of Blue celebrates 50th Anniversary May 16 Published May 16, 2014 By U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The U.S. Air Force Academy Wings of Blue parachute team will celebrate its 50th anniversary May 16 with a ceremony featuring prior team members and a parachute demonstration which can be viewed by the public from the Cadet Chapel outlook. A "Blue Suit" ceremony for the Class of 2016 in the Arnold Hall Auditorium, hosted by the 98th Flying Training Squadron Commander, Lt. Col. Sean McLay, is scheduled 3 - 4:30 p.m. today in the Arnold Hall Ballroom. Original parachute team members retired Col. Stu McCurdy and retired Lt. Gen. Jay Kelley, are expected to attend. Wings of Blue will demonstrate its precision parachuting 5 - 6 p.m. on the terrazzo east of the Cadet Chapel. The team's inception came in the spring of 1962 when several cadets, including Medal of Honor recipient Lance Sijan, made numerous jumps at their own risk and expense, including the Academy's first collegiate-national appearance in Wisconsin, where they won a gold medal. Official club status came after the Academy accepted a challenge from the U.S. Military Academy to compete in a parachute meet in May 1964; in September 1964, the club made its first jump on Academy grounds. The club eventually became known as the Wings of Blue. "It's been the honor of a lifetime to command such a historic and high performing organization as the Wings of Blue," McLay said. "The leadership, character and confidence required by our instructors to give their students the confidence to stand in the door and willingly exit a perfectly good aircraft at 11,000 feet is very similar to that required by a flight-leader to lead his formation in harm's way in a combat zone." Each year, Wings of Blue makes more than 22,000 training jumps and awards more than 700 jump wings to cadets who pass through the Academy's Airmanship 490 Program. "The 98th Flying Training Squadron has been my family for the past three years and I have grown a lot as a leader, follower, friend and overall person on the Wings of Blue," said Wings of blue member Cadet 1st Class Lindsay Johnson. "Nothing compares to teaching your peers how to jump out of a perfectly good airplane." The team has received national recognition as both U.S. National and Collegiate National parachuting champions (Collegiate Champs for the 34th year), as well as the 12th Flying Training Wing "Top Operations" squadron. (Dona Fair, 12th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs, contributed to this report)