Blue Angles Aircraft

Blue Angles Aircraft - Maintainability very much guided the design of the F/A-18 Hornet, with squadron maintenance personnel able to change out engines in just 20 minutes and sophisticated radar equipment positioned on a track that allowed it to be rolled out quickly for inspection and repairs.

At the end of World War II, naval hero and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, ordered the formation of a flight demonstration team to keep the public interested in naval aviation and to boost Navy morale.

Blue Angles Aircraft

The team was established on April 24, 1946, and performed its first flight demonstration on June 15, 1946, at its home base, Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville, Florida, flying the Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat. If you've ever seen the Blue Angels fly, you've likely noticed the trail of smoke left behind by the aircraft.

The Team Was Established By One Of America’s Great Naval Heroes

The non-hazardous smoke is produced by pumping biodegradable, paraffin-based oil directly into the exhaust nozzles of the aircraft, where the oil is instantly vaporized into smoke. The Blue Angel F/A-18s have the nose cannon removed, a smoke-oil tank installed and a spring installed on the stick which applies pressure for better formation and inverted flying.

Otherwise, the aircraft that the squadron flies are the same as those in the fleet. A multi-mission aircraft designed to replace the F-4 Phantom II and A-7 Corsair II, the F/A-18 Hornet became the front line naval strike fighter shortly after fleet introduction in the mid-1980s.

Equally at home in air-to-air or air-to-ground missions, the aircraft is highly maneuverable and instrumented to optimize single pilot control of numerous weapons systems. This F/A-18A Hornet (Bureau Number 161959) is in the markings of the Blue Angels Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron to which it was assigned before acquisition by the Museum.

This last one's not a historical photo. Since Hellcats were used so long ago and for such a short amount of time, we weren't able to find any actual pictures of the Blue flying in them.

The Smoke Trail Enhances Safety

This one is a good reference of what they looked like though. The Blue Angels plan to kick off its 75th season with the Super Hornet starring in the 2021 year's first air show at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida.

The Blue Angels are slated to appear at a total of 30 locations throughout the year. That's almost twice the speed of sound or about 1,400 mph! During an airshow, however, the Hornet flies at about 700 mph (just under Mach 1 — the speed of sound — for the sneak pass maneuver) at its fastest.

The general public is advised to use "Pearl Harbor Visitor Center" as the GPS destination when visiting Pearl Harbor. Our Museum is located on a military base; non-military visitors will not be able to drive on and must take the shuttle bus from the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center.

The Super Hornet is 25 percent larger, can fly 40 percent further, remain on station 80 percent longer, and carry more weapons than its predecessors. The Super Hornet F/A-18 E/F models have deployed with battle groups since 2001.

The F/A- Can Reach Speeds Just Under Mach

Fourteen squadrons equipped with the F/A-18 Hornet logged combat missions against Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm. Two pilots from VFA-81 off the carrier Saratoga (CV 60) demonstrated the F/A-18 Hornet's inherent versatility on January 17, 1991. While en route to attack a ground target, Lieutenant Commander Mark Fox and Lieutenant Nick Mongillo engaged two Iraqi

MiG-21 fighters approaching the target area. After shooting them down with air-to-air missiles, the pair destroyed their assigned targets with 2,000-lb. bombs. Another F/A-18 pilot flew fighter escort for attacking A-6 Intruder aircraft, knocking out an enemy radar with a high-speed anti-radiation missile (HARM) and then delivering bombs on a target at an enemy airfield, his single airplane

performing three distinct missions on one flight. The Blue Angels began flying the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet in 1986, on the team's 40th Anniversary. On November 4, 2020 they conducted their final flight with the legacy F/A-18 C/D Hornets over Pensacola, Florida, marking the end of its service life with the flight demonstration team.

Deliveries of the F/A-18 Hornet began in May 1980, with assignment to VFA-125, the Navy's Fleet Replacement Squadron for training Hornet flight crews. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 became the first operational squadron to receive the F/A-18, accepting delivery of its first Hornets on January 7, 1983. The first carrier deployment of the F/A-18 Hornet occurred in 1985 when

The Blue Angels Transition To The Super Hornet In

VFA-25 and VFA-113 completed a cruise as part of CVW-14 in the carrier Constellation (CV 64). There are only a few differences between the Blue Angel Hornets and the fleet model: The Blue Angel F/A-18s have the nose cannon removed, a smoke-oil tank installed, and a spring installed on the stick which applies pressure for better formation

and inverted flying. Otherwise, the aircraft that the squadron flies are the same as those in the fleet. NFDS | The Blue Angels Public Affairs 390 San Carlos Rd. | Suite A Pensacola, FL 32508-5508 Phone: (850) 452-3955

El Centro, CA (Winter Training) Phone: (760) 339-2608 During the Diamond 360 maneuver, the Hornets will fly just 18 inches apart from each other! In the maneuver, Blue Angels #1 leads a pack of four who fly closely – just 1 ½ feet from each other – in a diamond shape.

In fact, it's so close, that in 2019 two jets touched while practicing a Diamond 360. There were no injuries and no damage to the aircraft, other than a small scratch. When introduced, the Hornet brought significant changes for naval aviators accustomed to climbing into cockpits with an array of gauges and dials.

The F/A- Hornet Has Served As The Demonstration Aircraft For Years

Instead, designers reduced conventional instrumentation in favor of a heads up display (HUD) displaying critical information so that the pilot would not be distracted by repeatedly having to look down at various controls. Additionally, critical switches used in combat actions were all located either on the throttle or the control stick.

A number of aircraft in naval aviation history have possessed the versatility to provide true multi-mission capabilities, among them the F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsairs of World War II and the venerable F-4 Phantom II. In 1974, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the Navy sought development of a lightweight, low coast multi-mission aircraft capable of performing air-to-air and air-to-ground missions.

Before development of a new aircraft could commence, Congress directed the Navy to investigate two aircraft designs then competing to be a the new lightweight fighter for the U.S. Air Force, which ultimately selected the YF-16 design that in production was called the F-16 Falcon.

The Navy eventually selected the YF-17, which was more adaptable to the rigorous structural requirements for carrier operations, with McDonnell Douglas and Northrop teaming up to develop it as a strike-fighter that was eventually designated the F/A-18 Hornet.

Fleet Service Highlights

The Hornets assigned to the Blue Angels have reached their limit when it comes to operational flying from aircraft carriers. To this end, the airplanes that thrill air show audiences around the nation each year are among the longest-serving F/A-18s in the Navy's inventory, each with extensive history.

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