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Future Blue Angels/thunderchicken aircraft
- Thread starter snake020
- Start date
Here are some of the choices the Air Force has been looking at.
View attachment 3605
And the pilots competing for the program. (Look closely, they're camoflauged...)
View attachment 3606
View attachment 3605
And the pilots competing for the program. (Look closely, they're camoflauged...)
View attachment 3606
I wouldn't look for a change anytime soon. While both demo teams fly legacy jets, both the Hornet and Viper models have continued to be updated. They're not going to waste HDLD assets like F-22 or F-35 in those areas until they run out of the relatively newer versions of the legacy aircraft they fly now. After that, they won't have much choice, will they?
Brett
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
^^Concur. The Blues changes side numbers more than you would think. They constantly get jets from the fleet that would be headed for the bone yard but still have some life counts left on them. They'll be supplied with Hornets for many years to come I would guess.
If either (or both) teams eventually go to F-35s, I wonder if they'll have any V/STOL versions in the mix. That could add some new maneuvers to their routine.
If either (or both) teams eventually go to F-35s, I wonder if they'll have any V/STOL versions in the mix. That could add some new maneuvers to their routine.
More proof for the pot. They recently (as in the past month or so) recieved another aircraft. Its kinda funny seeing a grey Hornet flying in formation with the Blues.
[Warning: Sea Story follows...TINS]
Before the Blues ever started flying the A-4, the Navy wanted to know how it would hold up structurally to the demands of many air shows. So they obtained an A-4, hung it high inside a hangar at NADC. They then surrounded its wings, tail, and fuselage with several hundred hydraulically actuated pressure points.
These hydraulic pressure points were controlled by a computer that had programmed the G and aerodynamic stresses of every Blue Angel maneuver. They then ran continuously, 24 hours a day, every practice and every airshow the Blue's would do in a year, on that test aircraft.
As I watched the trussed up A-4 in that hanger, being artificially twisted, turned, and bent hydraulically by the simulated G and aerodynamic forces, two things stood out:
1. I could not believe how much an A-4 (an aircraft I flew at the time) did actually bend and twist in flight. I thought it was a stiff, tight little aircraft with minimal flex. I was wrong.
2. Without the roar of an engine, and in the relative quiet of the hangar, I could not believe how very loud the noises were made by the aircraft twisting and turning. The creaking groans and popping sounds of metal on metal, as the aircraft went through its simulated airshow maneuvers, was sickening to me.
I avoided that test hangar after that. But I gained a greater appreciation of the Navy' due diligence, and the expertise of the aero design and structural engineers…not to mention Mr. Ed Heinemann himself.
Before the Blues ever started flying the A-4, the Navy wanted to know how it would hold up structurally to the demands of many air shows. So they obtained an A-4, hung it high inside a hangar at NADC. They then surrounded its wings, tail, and fuselage with several hundred hydraulically actuated pressure points.
These hydraulic pressure points were controlled by a computer that had programmed the G and aerodynamic stresses of every Blue Angel maneuver. They then ran continuously, 24 hours a day, every practice and every airshow the Blue's would do in a year, on that test aircraft.
As I watched the trussed up A-4 in that hanger, being artificially twisted, turned, and bent hydraulically by the simulated G and aerodynamic forces, two things stood out:
1. I could not believe how much an A-4 (an aircraft I flew at the time) did actually bend and twist in flight. I thought it was a stiff, tight little aircraft with minimal flex. I was wrong.
2. Without the roar of an engine, and in the relative quiet of the hangar, I could not believe how very loud the noises were made by the aircraft twisting and turning. The creaking groans and popping sounds of metal on metal, as the aircraft went through its simulated airshow maneuvers, was sickening to me.
I avoided that test hangar after that. But I gained a greater appreciation of the Navy' due diligence, and the expertise of the aero design and structural engineers…not to mention Mr. Ed Heinemann himself.
Good question... but I don't know the answer.
Regarding the A-4 tests, although they were certainly unclassified, they still were kept very quiet.
They had computers back then? I guess you could classify ENIAC as a computer... I keed, I keed. Interesting stuff.
It was indeed a massive mainframe, (no keeding
)...and likely with much less capability than a cheap desktop today.
I was an SNA in Flight Systems (API) in Pensacola when the Blue Angels first flew in from El Centro in their brand new F-4's. Their first public appearance in them. All classes were let out in mid morning, and we all went to Sherman Field for an impromptu airshow. They came smoking in from the west (literally) and proceeded to stoke the fires of several hundred young flight students. Great motivation
