Not BS, I've seen this in person when I was a kid living in southern California at the Miramar air shows (though that was over ground not water). These guys are so damn good it is mind blowing. And yes that cloud is water vapor, you can see the same sort of thing when a jet is at high speed and suddenly changes to a high angle of attack.
You can see the water vapor starting to shake off here:
http://mysteve.com/BelieveItorNot/up...gel-750273.jpg
Which then turns to this:
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircra...llingVapor.jpg

Also called "pulling vapor".

Those telephoto pictures are also very deceiving as to how close the jet was to the boats and spectators. Judging distance between two objects laterally in a telephoto image is next to impossible, so often it appears as if two objects are much closer than they actually were when the image was captured. I very much doubt anyone was close enough in reality to get hurt by the jet's repercussions. The Blue Angels are extremely professional and would never pull a stunt that would endanger the public so recklessly.

I googled around to see if there was backup for this. In the process, I found this page, which has some really nice Angels pics.

This page has a similar pic with an AP byline. So I'm guessing the photo is valid.

I'm a'jump--I say I'm a'jumping on the BS Bandwagon. Not for the vapor cloud, but for the proximity to the boats and people in general. Big Brother is very strict about where you can and cannot generate sonic booms. I believe the powers that be would frown MIGHTILY upon the pilot who pulled this alleged stunt. Definitely PS'ed. Cool pic though.

According to my quoted text, this is a stunt that is performed elsewhere, and it's sub-sonic. It's loud, but not sonic boom loud.

And the comment Bullitt made about a telephoto lens compressing a picture is right on. It's very likely that there's a mile or more of open water between the boats in the foreground and the boats in the background. That jet is nowhere near the boats.

i find it funny how many people jump on the "shopped" wagon, i really dont find this shocking or anything, just youtube some F-16 Vids and you will see this is nothing special

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fJGVXp...elated&search=

The plane is just reaching the 'sound barrier' and the cloud produced is the shock wave.

It can also happen well below the sound barrier, especially if the humidity is very high.... ie, close to the water.

Oh, yeah, I'm sure it isn't photoshopped. This is just another 100 million dollar plane flying 1300+ miles per hour less than 50 feet off the ground in a bay loaded full of boats.

$35 million
These pilots have extraordinary skill in flying these airplanes
Shut up with the omg its $hopp3d comments, all of you

Here's a third picture of the same event. Is this one photoshopped too?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/84/26...6a7b233f1e.jpg

And a fourth one.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2226/...22e0538dbf.jpg

And a fifth one.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/119/2...4a2758ab0d.jpg
And a sixth one:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/122/2...a0a1d597a6.jpg

And a seventh one:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/90/26...e2ccf68ec1.jpg

These are all images found at Flickr under the Fleet Week San Francisco heading. There are plenty more where these came from. They can't all be photoshopped.

A picture used to be worth a thousand words.
Now it's worth a thousand denials.

Awsome shots!

An eighth one:
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/2...xde7jr3xp0.jpg
:)

:lol:

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO too funny.
Ok, ya'll have me convinced that it may not be shopped. I just found it seriously hard to believe that they would be that close.
Color me corrected. :blush: