Best Display Team

[Gainesy]

Any genre, any era.. .FWIW I always really admired the Italian Air Force Frecci Tricolori when they were on Fiat G.91s. Would love to have seen some of the 1930s biplane fighter team displays at Hendon though

[spekesoftly]

Don't know about "the best" - but some of my favourites from the past .... The 'Manby Macaws', The 'Linton Gin Team', The 'Blue Angels' (F4s), Fred's Five (Sea Vixens) and of course the 'Red Arrows' (Gnats).

'Linton Gin' team subsequently renamed 'The Linton Blades' in the Seventies ..... some senior RAF Officer apparently was not happy with the 'alcoholic connotation' .... 'PC' in the making!!

[ 19 February 2002: Message edited by: spekesoftly ]</p>

[BEXIL160]

Difficult if not impossible to pick "the best" but a few of my favorites:

The Blue Herons Hunter GA11s late 1970s early 1980s

The Rothmans Aerobatic Team SV4 Stampes 1970s, Pitts S2As later.

The Sharks Gazelle HT2, 1980s (okay so I'm biased)

.... and, despite my dark blue inclinations, I still can't help but admire The REDS. Always a great show, and brilliant seeing them wow the crowds in the USA, who hadn't seen anything like it <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Rgds BEX

[Biggles Flies Undone]

Has to be the Red Arrows - great everywhere, but the most impressive I saw was at Fowey, a small port in Cornwall where they were well below the hilltops.

I've got some old 8mm film of the Rothmans team in their Stampes and still admire the aeros they flew with such limited performance.

Scariest I ever saw was at Biggin in the early 70's. A couple of Belgian (or was it Dutch?) air force Starfighters doing very low opposition passes right along the crowd line. The instant they passed we were enveloped in their smoke. I wonder how many years they would get for doing that now?

[WebPilot]

"Scariest I ever saw was at Biggin in the early 70's. A couple of Belgian (or was it Dutch?) air force Starfighters doing very low opposition passes right along the crowd line".

The Belgian 'Slivers'. I saw them at Alconbury in 1976 or 1977. Absolutely terrifying! What would I give to see that sort of display again!

There's an excellent site about the Slivers here:. .<a href="http://home.planet.nl/~harrylui/slivers/" target="_blank">http://home.planet.nl/~harrylui/slivers/</a>

Features diagrams of the display routine (opposed barrel rolls? In an F104?) and photos.

[ 21 February 2002: Message edited by: WebPilot ]</p>

[fradu]

I am bias, I only saw the Blue Herons once and they were great <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

The Italian team is probably my top team of the present day, followed closely behind by the Reds.

Only my opinion

Best wishes

Mark

[Kermit 180]

Never had the opportunity to see the Red Arrows, but there have been anumber of aerobatic and display teams here in NZ that deserve a mention.

Kiwi Red (A4 Skyhawks, famous for the 'plugged in' air to air refuelling barrel rolls), the Red Checkers (CT4, famuos for the mirror pair), and the Roaring Forties (a NZ Warbird team flying ex-RNZAF Harvards).

Kermie <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

[SilentHandover]

I simply cannot believe that this thead has gone on for so long without mention of the finest display team of the modern era.

The Turkish Stars, if purely for the commentary that goes with them :)

[Feather #3]

GA & worldclass; the Northern Lights.

GA Radial; the Southern Knights [Aust], Roaring 40's [NZ], or the Red Barons [USA]

Mil; the Red Arrows overall [only seen the Italians on video, so not qualified. This is all personal opinion, afterall! <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> ]

G'day

[Edited 'cause I forgot the Kiwis; Sorry!! <img src="redface.gif" border="0"> ]

[ 21 February 2002: Message edited by: Feather #3 ]</p>

[BeauMan]

Undoubtedly Ray Hanna's Breitling Fighters. Every display I've seen them fly has been faultlessly professional, and a wonderful tribute to Mark.

[tiger burn]

Kermie, I remember a great evening at Pine Park a couple of years ago when the Red Checkers put on a display for participants in the MVR. It was absolutely awesome, but made even more memorable when a certain Tiger Moth accidentally joined the formation - mercifully the pilot managed to get wheels down PDQ - before she was forced into the mirror manoeuvre!

Roaring 40's are fab, great aircraft & characters, 'specially 98.

Away from the heavy metal, the UK Tiger Moth squadron "Diamond Nine" who have sadly disbanded were always a treat to behold. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[Rusty Cessna]

My favorites have to be the Breitling Fighters and Patrolle Suise (spelling?) with their F-5s I believe.

Rusty

[Vfrpilotpb]

The Black Arrow's, were I think the first jet display team? and as a boy I was fixed rigid to the gound watching them produce their fantastic arobatic moves so close to eash other you would swear they would touch, as well as being the absolute best looking fighter of all time(jet that is) could be wrong about the first jet team though, was there a Meteor team?. .Peter B :)

[Loc-out]

If memory serves me correctly, the first jet arobatic team was the RNZAF with Vampires.

[Flatus Veteranus]

vfrpilotpb

I do not know which was the very firstjet aerobatic team, but I will open the bidding by having seen the 54 Sqn Vampires and the 263 sqn Meteor 4s perform at Gatwick in 1947. I believe 54 crossed the Atlantic and displayed there. 208 were not well known, because they operated entirely in the Middle East, where they held the RAF display franchise in the early 50's. We looped and rolled a Diamond 9 of Meatbox 8/9s at the standard presentation in 1954 at Abu Sueir. With live ammo aboard and guns cocked, necause we finished the demo by shooting the **** out of an old wreck in the middle of the airfield. That was well before the Black Arrows - who were admittedly superb. But, of course, they had powered controls and a trimmer button on the stick.

I think choice of "best display team" has to have some regard the type of aircraft used. If you just want bags of noise and a tight 4-ship, then the USAF F-16 team are hard to beat. If you want intricate formation changes and beautifully timed cross-overs in front of the crowd, then the Arrows are probably the most artistic, although the Patrouille de France run them close. But for sheer skill at formation-flying, the propellor teams must have it. The Jordanians I saw at RIAT a few years ago made me boggle for their smooth transitions from positive to negative 'g'and back, and for what they achieved with limited reserves of power. Having been box-man in the CFS piston Provost team (the "Sparrows") in 1956, I appreciated the magnitude of the Jordanians' accomplishment!