PENSACOLA, Fla. — Investigators looked through wreckage yesterday to determine what caused a Navy Blue Angels jet to crash during a maneuver, while the military identified the fallen pilot as a young lieutenant commander who was performing in one of his first air shows with the team.

Lt. Cmdr. Kevin J. Davis, 32, of Pittsfield, Mass., was in his second year with the Blue Angels, the team known for its high-speed aerobatic demonstrations, Lt. Cmdr. Garrett Kasper said.

In South Carolina, at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, the site of Saturday's crash, a somber crowd watched yesterday as six jets flew overhead in formation. Smoke streamed behind one of the jets as it peeled away from the others to complete the "missing man formation," the traditional salute for a lost military aviator.

"The spirit of the pilot is in the arms of a loving God," said Rob Reider, a minister who was the announcer for the air show.

The crash happened as the team was performing its final maneuver Saturday afternoon. The team's six pilots were joining from behind the crowd of thousands to form a triangle shape known as a delta, but Davis' jet did not join the formation.

Moments later, his jet crashed just outside the air station, hitting homes in a neighborhood about 35 miles northwest of Hilton Head Island, S.C. Debris — some of it on fire — rained on homes. Eight people on the ground were injured, and some homes were damaged.

The squadron's six, F/A-18 Hornets routinely streak low over crowds of thousands at supersonic speeds, coming within feet, sometimes inches, of each other.

The Navy said it could be three weeks before it announces what may have caused the crash. The squadron returned to its home base of Pensacola Naval Air Station late yesterday.

Ernie Christensen, a retired rear admiral and former Vietnam fighter pilot who flew with the Blue Angels and later commanded the Navy's Top Gun fighter school in California, said the intense flying leaves no room for human or mechanical error.

"When you are working at high speeds, close to the ground and in close proximity to other aircraft, the environment is extremely unforgiving. That is the reason they practice so many thousands of times," Christensen said.

Pensacola Mayor John Fogg flew with Blue Angels in 1973 and 1974.

Fogg, who flew more than 200 combat missions in Vietnam, said Blue Angels flying is more demanding than any other type of flying — including dodging surface-to-air missiles.

And he said that hasn't changed through the decades.

"It's tremendously difficult work. The only thing that compares to it is the last four or five seconds of a night carrier landing because if you do it just right you are just right at the end of the boat," he said.

Friends and neighbors in Pittsfield, where the pilot was raised, said yesterday that Davis was fascinated with planes from the time he was a child.

During his Navy career, he earned "Top Stick" status in his class at Fighter Squadron 101 at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va., while training in F-14 Tomcat jets.

He flew missions supporting the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and graduated from Navy Flight Weapons School in 2004.

"He was fascinated with airplanes from the time he was little," former neighbor Betty Sweeney said.

"He knew what he wanted to do, and he did it. That's the only relief, that he went doing what he wanted to do."

Associated Press writers Bruce Smith in South Carolina and David Weber in Boston contributed to this report.