Blue Angles are BACK!!!!

Gerhardt said:
I've always wondered how they were so synchronized. I understand that they're great pilots, but that's just perfect flying. More than once I've thought that maybe the controls were synched by computer. Or maybe there really are pilots that are just THAT good.
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They are that good, and the way they get that good is the same way you get to Carnegie Hall -- practice, practice, practice.
 
On the subject of the Blues in F-4s, I highly recommend the DVD Threshold- the Blue Angels Experience. There's stuff in that movie (South America Air Show) that you can't believe they did back then. Far more restrictions these days.
 
Oh the memories.... I used to see them every time they came to Dobbins AFB in Georgia. I remember one year they were doing their simulated combat zone (I guess), and the grass caught fire. My old desk at work was lined up perfect with the runway. The last two times they came to GA, I spent the whole day watching them perform. It was very impressive to see them from the a few miles out heading directly towards my window, and they were getting there fast. I've taken my kids to see them, but they weren't as impressed as I hoped they would be. I was like a little kid again. My mom and I have been planning on going to Pensacola to catch their home base show. I've heard that it's a lot better, since they are over they water.

I don't believe I've seen Threshold, but I do remember a seeing a documentary about them that possibly came on TLC ~2007. This was at least a 4 part documentary, that covered them getting selected, practicing, performing, etc. It may be on youtube.
 
Correction, the one I seen was Blue Angels: A Year In The Life and it was a 4 part mini-series on the Military Channel. Here's the IMDB on it.
 
Velocity173 said:
On the subject of the Blues in F-4s, I highly recommend the DVD Threshold- the Blue Angels Experience. There's stuff in that movie (South America Air Show) that you can't believe they did back then. Far more restrictions these days.
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I'll have to check that one out.

I have "Wingtip to Wingtip" on VHS. It has some awesome historical footage, including the Phantoms, A4s and Hornets.

"Blue Angels-Rolling In The Sky" DVD is pretty cool too. It includes some awesome footage of the preflight briefing with the flight leader verbalizing the maneuvers!
 
I think I have about six different Blues DVDs. If anyone wants, I'm happy to lend them out.
 
Lawreston said:
They're booked for Great State of Maine Airshow 2015. If then you need a place to stay, call me; the guest room shall be open. I'm 15 minutes from KBXM. Fly into Wiscasset; I'll pick you up.

Rockland, you say? On a bad day!

HR
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And you'll enjoy excellent hospitality if you do.

Lawreston said:
Great State of Maine Airshow 2012; Thunderbirds. We usually have the Blue Angels but that year they became unavailable(and I don't remember the reason unless it was the budget cuts). Shown here are four sequential shots. I hadn't yet bought my $2000 70-400mm lens; thus these images are the result of some serious cropping of the originals.

HR
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They were practicing as we went by on our way back to Boston that day. Glad you had fun at the show.

Ron Levy said:
They are that good, and the way they get that good is the same way you get to Carnegie Hall -- practice, practice, practice.
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And I've got that shirt and the one that says, "Ask me about my debut at Carnegie Hall." Yes, I've sung there (along with about 300 other people on that stage). Quite an experience.
 
I was at their family open house and got a personal tour of their Pensacola facilities and flight line in 2013 (My unit coworker at the time was a Navy commander who was good friends with the Ops CO) unfortunately not really impressed with the show. Thats a tough pill to swallow since I am a HUGE fan of their work which is much better than the Thunderbirds in routine and precision. But that goes to say after a few shows their routine gets tighter and tighter. Too bad sequestration hit...I may have been the one of the few to see their routine last year but they certainly had time to work on things!

I'm ecstatic that they are at Sun n Fun this year, and look forward to some quality military demos! Demonstrations really help the public put some appreciation into the work of our country's finest professional aviators.

I bet its going to make me feel a little nostalgic about being on the flight line with JP-8 burning and mind numbing teeth rattling noise.

Wont be long before the AF paints a couple of F-35's Red-White-Blue. By the way, if you want the definition of noise...listen to an F-35 do a full AB steep turn.... unnecessarily loud for a single!! (Personal Experience being stationed on Eglin AFB for the last three years)
 
davidm767 said:
Wont be long before the AF paints a couple of F-35's Red-White-Blue.
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Yes, it will be a long time. The T-birds will be in F-16's until the Viper is retired. Ditto the Blues with the F/A-18. It's a budgetary thing, and there just won't be enough F-35's to spare for demo squadrons as long as there is another suitable operational choice. That's why the Blues were flying A-4's long after the last A-4's left active service (ditto the Blues and the F11F Tiger, and the Thunderbirds with the F-100). The retirement of the F-4 from this job in both services after 1973 was primarily a matter of the airframe's demonstrated unsuitability for the task of low-level aerobatic demonstrations, as well as cost issues.
 
Ron Levy said:
Yes, it will be a long time. The T-birds will be in F-16's until the Viper is retired. Ditto the Blues with the F/A-18. It's a budgetary thing, and there just won't be enough F-35's to spare for demo squadrons as long as there is another suitable operational choice. That's why the Blues were flying A-4's long after the last A-4's left active service (ditto the Blues and the F11F Tiger, and the Thunderbirds with the F-100). The retirement of the F-4 from this job in both services after 1973 was primarily a matter of the airframe's demonstrated unsuitability for the task of low-level aerobatic demonstrations, as well as cost issues.
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What exactly was it about the F-4 that made it unsuitable, Ron? Just curious.

No doubt it's the most bad-ass looking fighter ever made.

I wonder why the F-15 has never been tasked for this duty for the USAF? I presume because of cost and that the F-16 already did a great job of it.
 
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david0tey said:
I almost cried when the 2013 season was cancelled...seriously.
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Right there with you. After they came to Charleston harbor I couldn't wait for them to come back. They could do it weekly and I'd be out there every time! I had the added benefit that my business is on a creek they were using as a flight path into and out of the maneuvering area so they were screaming overhead for 3 days before the show. Hard to concentrate on work. I knew it was going to add at least another year to the unknown return date for Charleston.
 
Blues went from the F-4 to the A-4 for a couple reasons. First the energy crisis was going on and the F-4 just guzzled to much gas compared to the A-4. The F-4 was far more costly to maintain than the A-4. Finally and not directly related but they had several accidents with the F-4 including the middair with Skip Umstead that Ron mentioned.

The Tbirds went with the T-38 for the same reasons until the infamous Diamind crash in 82. Then we had a whole different economic situation and the need for a new aircraft (F-16) only made sense. Gen Creech was behind getting them out of a training command aircraft and into a frontline fighter.

It'll be years before they replace the 16s & 18s with F-35s. If these budget restraints keep up I wouldn't be surprised if the Blues looked at going to the T-45.
 
nddons said:
What exactly was it about the F-4 that made it unsuitable, Ron? Just curious. .
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Lousy low-altitude maneuverability at lower speeds. Corner velocity was about 440 knots, so hard maneuvering at lower speeds resulted in a big, fast loss of energy, and keeping the speed higher than that a) meant running in burner all the time, which meant about 20 minutes to dry tanks, and b) spreading the show over too large an area (both for containment and for spectator viewing).

No doubt it's the most bad-ass looking fighter ever made.
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...which is why it was called the "Double Ugly" or "Rhino" in its day.

I wonder why the F-15 has never been tasked for this duty for the USAF? I presume because of cost and that the F-16 already did a great job of it
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Primarily fuel cost -- one F100 engine runs a lot cheaper than two.
 
Velocity173 said:
It'll be years before they replace the 16s & 18s with F-35s.
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Agreed, but eventually it will happen.
If these budget restraints keep up I wouldn't be surprised if the Blues looked at going to the T-45.
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Not happening. One of the major reasons for going to the F/A-18 and F-16 was political -- to showcase our top fighters before the taxpayers and Congress. "If those old planes (A-4/T-38) are as great as the Blues/T-birds make them look, why are we spending all these billions to buy new ones?" And that's why the single-engine F-35 will eventually fly with both teams if it eventually flies in quantity (but not the twin-engine F-22 -- fuel cost and small numbers).
 
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Ron Levy said:
Lousy low-altitude maneuverability at lower speeds. Corner velocity was about 440 knots, so hard maneuvering at lower speeds resulted in a big, fast loss of energy, and keeping the speed higher than that a) meant running in burner all the time, which meant about 20 minutes to dry tanks, and b) spreading the show over too large an area (both for containment and for spectator viewing).

...which is why it was called the "Double Ugly" or "Rhino" in its day.

Primarily fuel cost -- one F100 engine runs a lot cheaper than two.
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Thanks.

Growing up in the 1960s I had built models of the F-4, F-102 (or 106), Convair B-58 and a B-52 hanging from my ceiling, in addition to the requisite WWII planes. I planned on flying the BUFF when I grew up, but no such luck. But I do have 0.3 hours in my logbook and 100% of my multi-engine and tail wheel time in a B-17, so I've got that going for me, which is nice. :)
 
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Actually, my favorite aircraft the Blues flew was the A4. Something about that 720 degree per second roll rate. :hairraise:

Steve
 
It would be a much more exciting air show if they both just went with T-6s. Simply the whole process and save the tax payers a bunch of cash...problem solved.
 
Velocity173 said:
It would be a much more exciting air show if they both just went with T-6s. Simply the whole process and save the tax payers a bunch of cash...problem solved.
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As noted above, political considerations prohibit the use of a trainer.
 
Ron Levy said:
As noted above, political considerations prohibit the use of a trainer.
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Yeah I wasn't serious about T-6s. That would be as exciting as watching grass grow. Although I will say I saw the Brasilian team in Tucanos at Nellis in 97 and they put in quite a show.
 
nddons said:
I wonder why the F-15 has never been tasked for this duty for the USAF? I presume because of cost and that the F-16 already did a great job of it.
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I'd second the expense but also we've got a lot more F-16's laying around than F-15's. They are all expensive and until recently (well after the T-clones switched to the 16) there weren't any spare Eagles to be had.
 
EvilEagle said:
I'd second the expense but also we've got a lot more F-16's laying around than F-15's. They are all expensive and until recently (well after the T-clones switched to the 16) there weren't any spare Eagles to be had.
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T-clones?
 
Saw the Blue Angels perform both Friday and Saturday at Sun 'n Fun. What a fabulous show. It never gets old.
An F22 also put on a performance display both days. They truly do the impossible.
 
Lance F said:
Saw the Blue Angels perform both Friday and Saturday at Sun 'n Fun. What a fabulous show. It never gets old.
An F22 also put on a performance display both days. They truly do the impossible.
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Yes!!!

Saw the Raptor perform two years in a row at the Jones Beach airshow (flown by Maj. Paul "Max" Moga of the Military Channel). Blew my mind!

I got some good video.
 
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I'm still having issues with hearing the announcer say "Boeing F/A-18"
 
St Louis this weekend. Looks like the schedule has got a good line up of other top performers as well. Too far to go for me. I'll be all over Smyrna, Tn next month though.
 
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