The New York metro area blew off social distancing Tuesday, with hundreds packed shoulder to shoulder to catch a glimpse of the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds as they roared overhead in a tribute to coronavirus front-line workers.

Photos from throughout the region show large crowds jammed together in waterfront parks and venues in New York and New Jersey, looking skyward for a glance at the famous jets.

There was little that local officials could do to stop them.

“It’s just difficult,” Weehawken, NJ, Mayor Richard Turner told The Post when asked about photos showing hundreds of his constituents tightly packed on the Hudson River waterfront. “You do the best you can and you also have to rely on people’s common sense. There’s not much more you can do.”

Turner said he had several streets closed off, sent out telephone alerts to residents and even had cops hand out 500 protective masks — but none of the measures stopped residents from flocking to the waterfront.

“It’s a very nice gesture, but whenever there’s an attraction for large crowds, we have to be as proactive as you can be,” he said of the federally organized flyover.

Similar scenes were reported in the five boroughs, where hundreds gathered to catch the high-flying spectacle in defiance of coronavirus social distancing rules.

“I’m not worried about it,” said Arthur Moss, 41, who caught the show with friends at Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City. “If you’re outside, you don’t need to wear a mask.”

Actually, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said folks must wear masks outside when social distancing is not feasible, such as on crowded sidewalks — but Moss, of New Orleans, apparently didn’t know that.

“It’s a beautiful day,” he added. “I’m from New Orleans and I always used to see the Blue Angels. I’m out here to support the front-line people.”

One local, who identified herself only as Margaret Ann, said she tried social distancing but found it nearly impossible.

“We tried, but the piers are 10 feet wide, same with the sidewalks,” the 34-year-old mom said. “When these many people come at once, there really isn’t much you can do.”

Nearly 500 people gathered along the park, many leaving cars double- and triple-parked along Center Boulevard to rush out to the piers so as not to miss the show.

The 40-minute, joint flying demonstration by the Navy’s Angels and the US Air Force T-Birds launched a nationwide display of airborne shout-outs to first responders and health care workers, with the jet teams taking to the skies above Manhattan, Long Island and New Jersey.

The jets first zoomed over the George Washington Bridge around noon, then veered west over Newark, before flying east over Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. After that, they buzzed out over the Long Island Sound, looping around Westchester County before heading south toward Pennsylvania for the next leg of the tour.

Video shows the war birds flying in delta formation over Downtown Brooklyn.

Dubbed “Operation America Strong,” the 12-jet precision flying crew will put on shows all the way to Texas, according to Air Force Magazine.

The Thunderbirds were founded in 1953, and the Blue Angels in 1946, in the wake of World War II.