posted
Um, I've seen the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds both, but I don't exactly thing this merits an entire thread AND the excessive cursing...
-------------------- "Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
-Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney, LeMans
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Thunderbirds, pleh. A rip off of the Blue Angels.
Hell I use to live on the same Navy base they were stationed at, Sherman Field, Pensacola Naval Air Station, when not on tour and watched them practiced several times a week. Nothing's cooler than seeing a group of F-18s flying in formation above your city.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
posted
Um, I think the Thunderbirds were created before the Blue Angels. They used F-86 Sabers, and later moved on to I believe F-104 Starfighters and F-4 Phantoms before coming to the current F-16 Fighting Falcons.
The Blue Angels started with F-6F Hellcats in 1946 before moving to the F-8F Bearcat and then F-9F-2 Panther. After being used in combat during the Korean War, they returned with the faster F-9F-5 Panther, then moving up to the F-9F-8 Cougar. Follow that with the F-11F-1 Tiger and then finally the twin-engine F-4J Phantom II. Follow that with the A-4F Skyhawk II and then finally their modern F/A-18 Hornet.
The Blue Angels also have a support craft called "Fat Albert", a modified C-130 Hercules with 8 JATO solid-fuel rockets.
posted
Whatever. I'm a Navy brat, my support goes to the Angels.
The Angels were formed in 1946, flying Grumman F6F Hellcat at Craig Field, Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville, Florida.
Changed to Grumman F8F Bearcat, August 25, two months after the first demonstration.
At the end of the 1940s, the Blue Angel Team was flying its first jet aircraft, the Grumman F9F-2 Panther.
The Angels were reorganized in 1951 and reported to NAS Corpus Christi, Texas where the team began flying the F9F-5, the faster version of the Panther.
The beginning of 1955 brought the team to its present home, Sherman Field, NAS Pensacola, Florida where it transitioned to flying the swept-wing Grumman F9F-8 Cougar.
In 1957 the team began flying the Grumman F11F-1 Tiger. By 1969 the team was performing in its first dual-engine jet, the McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II.
The Blue Angel Squadron also donned a new aircraft in 1974, the McDonnell Douglas A-4F Skyhawk II.
On November 8, 1986, the Blue Angels completed their 40th anniversary. During the ceremony the squadron unveiled its present aircraft, the sleek McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F/A-18 Hornet. The Hornet is the first dual-role fighter/attack aircraft serving on the nation's front lines of defense.
Oh, and the Thunderbirds were formed in May 1953. After the Angels.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
(well, yes - actually I would have to give more props to the Blue Angels as I would guarantee that they're better than the Thunderbirds, even though I've never seen them. And if this school had NROTC, I'd be there instead of AFROTC, but thems the breaks)
But anyway, the spectacle mine eyes have been witness to this weekend has certainly the merit of it's own thread. And that wasn't excessive cursing, if you want to, I could prove my sailor leanings.
But my god how I love this school. I can see the Thunderbirds parked out on the runway from my dorm room - not to mention it's support plane (though sans a nifty paint job like Fat Albert), and the two F-15s that were also part of the airshow.
This airshow being to commemorate the 75th anniversery of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (along with other acts). When the TBs and F-15s (and the P-51 and F-86) would take off for practice or the airshow, they'd circle right over our school.
Today, the TBs came back from the second airshow performance (on the beach) during play rehearsal. Myself and a few others went out and watched them as they looped around the school to land, not more than 50 feet above us. I could see the guy in the fucking plane, for chrissakes!
And perhaps even cooler than the TBs was the F-96, F15, and P-51 flying in formation.
Fucking cool shit, mother fuckers. Fuck ya.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
posted
I don't know...I find it hard to respect a bunch of marionettes, no matter how impressive their flight skills.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Oh good. Jeff has now started goading Simon.
Why am I expecting to wake up one day and see Jeff at the bottom of my bed staring at me?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
posted
I've been goading Simon all week. See, all the continuity talks in the dedicated 'Trek' forums made me want to start some continuity in the "Real Life" forums, so I'm going to be a prick to a bunch of people over a couple weeks -- Mim and Simon, check check (and I think my favorite verb The_Tom -- and Charles -- are rather irritated too) -- and then be nice again. People can say, "hey, remember when Jeff was an asshole a few months back?" Except for Omega, 'cuz I'll always be a prick to him (and even when I'm not, people'll think I'm being a prick to him, so why bother?)
But seriously, Navy rules. Why? It has its own Air Force (who are skilled enough to fly off mobile platforms bouncing around on the high seas). It has its own army (the U.S. Marine Corps) and a highly respected and well trained Spec-Ops force (the SEALs). Not to mention really cool submarines and surface ships.
Shit, who needs the Army?
(All kidding aside, I mentioned all this to a friend of mine in the USMC, and he told me that while yes, the Navy is the best of the US Military -- after the Marine Corps -- the Army and Air Force still play vital roles ... well, if he says so ... )
[ November 12, 2001: Message edited by: Malnurtured Snay ]
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