I was exploring in my closet “Boneyard” this afternoon and came across the planes in the photos below. Sorry Tom, I built these while the Blues were still flying the A-4 and I never got around to building a Hornet to finish out the line up.
L to R, back row: McDonnell Douglas TA-4J, A-4F, Grumman F9F-7 Cougar & F9F-5 Panther. Front row; Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat (Beetle Bomb), McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom, Grumman F11F Tiger & F8F-2 Bearcat. The yellow F8 was used to simulate the “enemy” in parts of the show.
Republic F-84G, somebody got in the wrong line-up!
If I remember correctly there was a Cutlass, or a pair of them, used for a short time. I also seem to recall that the first team used Hellcats. Anyways, it is a nice display of Blues. The Blue angles have a web site, check it out.
Has anyone gotten definative information on the early paint colors? FS numbers maybe? I have been wanting to do that same kind of display in 1/48 for the Blues and the T-Birds. If the model makers keep putting out better models of the early jets (1950s and 60s) the only difficult part will be the paint and decals.
Vance & Rangerj
Yes, the Blues started out in the F6F Hellcat. I didn’t include that because I couldn’t find the appropriate decals. The F7U-1 Cutlass was used by the Blues for a short period as a “solo” aircraft. They had two of them, but they weren’t very good airplanes. The only models of the F7U is the dash 3 model and that is the same basic aircraft, but a whole lot different. OOPs, I forgot the old Lindbergh dash 1, but that was 1/48 scale. CnadienwargamerW
Yes, those prop jobs are F8F Bearcats. This was Grumman’s last piston powered “Cat”
It was too late for WW-II and too obsolete for Korea. They did see combat with the French Air Force in Algeria and Indo China. When the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu, the South Viet Nam Air Force inherited several Bearcats and used them for awhile against the Viet Cong. There used to be one on a pedestal in front of the VNAF Officer Club, just inside the main gate at Tan Son Nhut Air Base when I was there in 1966. It had disappeared by the time I went back in late 1967.
Just saw it Darwin. That’s a fine lineup of Angels, and I don’t even care if there’s no Hellcat. I always think of them as starting out in Bearcats anyway. And the Buttless (or Gutless, it was know as both, and deserved both names as well, as the planform proves and the performance record reflects) spent very little time in BA livery, and as pointed out, it was only used as a solo act with the F9F-5’s.
Of course, for short time on the demo team, nothing can beat the six Thunderbirds F-105’s. One show and that was enough. Back to the F-100 they went. I wonder how much money went down the toilet on that aborted transition? I mean, couldn’t somebody have figured out that the Thud wasn’t a nimble airshow performer, or capable of hair’s-breadth formation aerobatics, BEFORE they painted the airplanes, assembled the whole squadron and huge support apparatus, and put together a routine over months and months of flying time? Someone should ask Jack Broughton. The good Col., who seems to have a very emphatic opinion about everything in the world, sort of glosses over this in his two memoirs.
Sorry, I got off the point.
Darwin, sometime in the next ten months I am producing a two-seat F/A-18B with every AM part I can get the gear (metal) to support. And if I can, I’ll use Miliput to mold my own butt print to the back seat. Then the set will be complete. Thanks for bringing the Blues out of the hangar for a photo day.
TOM
I will make a slight correction to your comment about the brevity of the F-105s time as a Thunderbird. The T-Birds started the 1964 season with the Thud and did 6 shows, some references say 4. They were doing a show at Hamilton AFB, California, in Marin County just north of the Golden Gate Bridge when they had a fatal accident. When they started the tactical break, Major Gene Devlin was flying left wing and his aircraft broke in half and crashed. The accident investigation concluded that this airframe had been involved in a hard landing during it’s service before being selected as one of the demo planes. This landing damaged the splice plate in the top of the fuselage. It failed completely during the demo. Subsequent inspection of all F-105s found this same problem in several more airframes. Since the F-105 would not be cleared for demonstration flying for awhile and the Viet Nam War was heating up, the decision was made to transition back to the F-100 using the D model instead of the C model as before.
The Thunderchief would be similar to the F-4 Phantom. It wouldn’t turn real tight, but would be an awesome spectacle with the sight, sound and feel of 4 or 6 of them in formation in full burner. Each of the planes used by the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds has it’s own good and bad points, but there is absolutely nothing compared to 4 or 6 Phantoms making a low level burner pass.
Does anyone recall seeing a group photo of the Blues and the T-birds when they were both flying F-4s? I have this mental image of both teams airborn in a group photo.
However, I cannot remember where I saw it or where it was taken. For some reason St. Louis and Mac D (not the hamberger folks) comes to mind. Anybody remember seeing this photo? This oldtimers is a bear!
Wow, Yardbird! What a great collection…I love it - and Johan is right - never to late to add a plastic bug to the lineup.
And thanks for the interesting info about the 105. I didn’t know that.
As a devotee of the Blues, I salute you. Just finished my 1/48 Hasegawa Hornet as the opposing solo from 1987. Hope to post some pics soon.
Thanks for sharing, John
