Blue Angels Convert to F/A-18E/F

[ORAC]

i suppose it was inevitable as the USN is rapidly buying more SH and replacing the remaining front line units.

Alert 5 » Boeing gets contract to convert 11 F/A-18E/Fs into Blue Angel configuration - Military Aviation News (http://alert5.com/2018/08/15/boeing-gets-contract-to-convert-11-f-a-18e-fs-into-blue-angel-configuration/)

Boeing gets contract to convert 11 F/A-18E/Fs into Blue Angel configuration

Starting from 2022, the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels will be flying the F/A-18E during airshows. Boeing has received a $17 million contract to convert nine F/A-18Es and 2 F/A-18Fs into the Blue Angel configuration.

[TBM-Legend]

Don't you lust love jet noise? Now even more...

[typerated]

Shame they missed out on the F-14.

[57mm]

They didn't miss out on the F4. Somewhere out there is a knockout video of their F4 display, complete with film from the box man looking straight at 2 pink burners....

[Minnie Burner]

Some good bits in this, perhaps it should go in Fantoom Friday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfbDzF0raJI

[57mm]

Many thanks Minnie; how I miss that beast.....

[Minnie Burner]

I suspect, 57, that the F-18E or F (your choice) would be a suitable antidote to your affliction.:)
As in their F-4 period, the Blues seem to have maintained a flexible attitude towards using flap for take off. Note (at around 6:00) 5 & 6 in this video: perhaps to accentuate the difference in their flightpaths. Most airborne shots of the 4-ship appear to have a touch of flap but I suspect that might be commanded by the FCS as sometimes, when inverted for example, they appear to be clean. Can any Hornet jocks elucidate?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkrnpO5v0z8

[Just This Once...]

The F/A-18 wings are effectively continuously variable camber with the FCS selecting the amount of full-span leading edge and inboard trailing edge flap required for optimum performance. The 'ailerons' also join in the action at low speed becoming differential 'flaperons'. The F/A-18 pre-landing checks are remarkably brief.

[glad rag]

Well that was a first mb. If you ever wanted a demonstration of brute power, that was it.

The F4, in that guise, makes everything else effeminate.

[RAFEngO74to09]

One of the best air shows ever for me as a teenager was the RAF Upper Heyford 1973 Open House at which the Blue Angels performed with the F-4J. There was a year when both the Thunderbirds (F-4E) and the Blue Angels (F-4J) were there - not sure if that was 1973 or a year or so later.

20 TFW had only recently (September 1970) made the huge transition from the F-100 to the F-111E and numerous NATO air arms displayed singleton / pairs / teams of F-104G - always loved that J79 howl !
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/1594x1010/alpinto13_f35a3b3b622e9c3cb714a0b7a4accf631dd6462e.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/1484x978/alpinto14_750d10f9aadf624d813f20f0ff0505fe8fe50d31.jpg

[Airbubba]

Now, this is no s***t, or should I say "once upon a time..."? ;)

In spring of 1974 I ran into Jimmy Carter at a college in New England. He was an obscure Georgia governor a thousand miles away from home and I was the only one in the student union who knew who he was. He was glad to chat with me for a few minutes.

I had seen him arrive at NAS Atlanta the previous summer (or was it the one before?) in the number 7 Blue Angel F-4J (BuNo 153076) prior to the Blues' performance that afternoon. The pilot was fellow Georgian Bill "Burner" Beardsley. After landing, a state flag was presented at a minor ceremony, not sure who kept it from the pictures.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/2000x1064/jimmy_carter_s_blue_angel_ride_2_5bb9130e0781885169738a12a62 85be608267c91.jpg

Jimmy said his Phantom ride took him down to his farm in Plains, Georgia and Burner rolled inverted to give the Governor a good look at his property. He remembered the sweat rolling into his hair as he hung upside down in the straps. The future First Lady Rosalynn was with him and an aide was tugging his sleeve as we chatted. It turns out that he was doing early groundwork for his 1976 presidential run in the off-year New Hampshire House elections.

The Blues in Phantoms were the most awesome airshow act I've ever seen. :ok:

[Minnie Burner]

Good dit. What's with the rear canopy?

[Just This Once...]

I've asked that question in the past and was told it was required for solo flight (ie nobody in the boot) but without an explanation as to why it was needed. The photo above suggests it was fitted during a pax flight so something does not add up.

[ORAC]

1959 McDonnell F-4H-1F "Phantom II" For Sale. Under Restoration to Fly (http://www.platinumfighters.com/phantom2)

This Could Be Your Only Chance To Buy A Potentially Flyable Phantom Fighter Jet - The Drive (http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19325/this-could-be-your-only-chance-to-buy-a-flyable-phantom-fighter-jet)

[Commando Cody]

There was a documentary filmed in the 1971 season called Threshold: The Blue Angels experience. It w3as released in 1974, ironically the year when the Blues transitioned to the A-4F. Leslie Nielsen was the narrator, and it's a very '70s kind of film (the closing song is terrible), but about the best film you'll find of the F-4J serving with the Blues.

It was originally on VHS and later released on DVD. The DVD, though, is just a direct transfer from VHS to DVD, not remastered. I suppose they didn't have the money to do that. It's still for sale; I have both versions of it. There's a version that appears to be from a foreign source on YouTube.

One interesting thing: A signature maneuver of the Blues with almost all their jets (including the Phantom), was all six making the final landing simultaneously in the triangle/wedge formation (runway width permitting). although this was one a few times with the Hornets, it was dropped early on. I've heard that it has something to do with the Hornet's stability on touchdown that precludes doing that. Since this maneuver is something unique to the Blues and has no operational significance, it really wasn't worth figuring out modifications to address that since the aircraft is perfectly safe for all normal touchdowns.

[Minnie Burner]

Mr Cody,
That's probably the film 57mm was referring to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk8pLDAqgmY

[57mm]

Many thanks, Minnie, that's the one; boy, its suddenly got dusty here.....

[exhorder]

On a completely unrelated note to the thread title: what exact version of the F-4J did the Blue Angels fly back then? I'm asking because, although the bulbuous nose and lack of IRST clearly indicate an F-4J, the engine nozzles do not - they seem to look like those of the earlier F-4B/C/D variants with their J79-GE-8 donks.

[TEEEJ]

On a completely unrelated note to the thread title: what exact version of the F-4J did the Blue Angels fly back then? I'm asking because, although the bulbuous nose and lack of IRST clearly indicate an F-4J, the engine nozzles do not - they seem to look like those of the earlier F-4B/C/D variants with their J79-GE-8 donks.

The Blue Angels F-4Js were fitted with J79-GE-8s.

The Navy agreed to let McDonnell complete and deliver the first of the Js with lead ballast in the nose (hence the nickname) and the B's -8 engines. Otherwise the airplanes were identical to the J configuration: removal of the IR detector under the radome, bulged inner wing for the bigger main landing gear tires introduced with the Air Force F-4C, lift improvements introduced late in F-4B production, etc.

See following.

https://pacaeropress.websitetoolbox.com/post/the-short-tragic-operation-of-the-f4-phantom-by-the-blue-angels-9304356

[Rhino power]

In addition to what, TEEJ added, the Blue Angels did received some -10 engined F-4Js as attrition replacements. And, as an aside, the first 17 production F-4Js were all delivered with -8s, 153071 - 153087...

-Dazza

[Airbubba]

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/2000x1316/blue_angel_no_7_jul_72_193fb2f53400554bdb3daa7a2c028118c95eb 908.jpg

I'm thinking Jimmy Carter's Phantom ride was probably on July 4, 1972. The narrator's name on this plane looks like Greg or Gary something in this scan, I may be able to find the original 45 year-old Kodachrome slide somewhere. Anybody have the Blues' rosters from that era? There are team pictures online but the names are hard to make out. What years was Bill "Burner" Beardsley on the team, anybody know?

[tdracer]

Us Aero Engineer types have long looked at the F-4 Phantom as proof positive that you could make damn near anything fly if you put a big enough engine (or engines) on it...

[exhorder]

Thanks TEEEJ and Rhino power, very interesting link. Losing eleven out of fourteen jets :eek: - imagine the sh*tstorm if this happened in our times.

[sandiego89]

My earliest clear aviation memory is the Blue Angles at the Pt. Mugu airshow with the Phantoms. We left the main show early to watch the blues from the perimeter road on the extended centerline of runway 3. Several Phantoms made a special, and very low passes directly overhead for our pleasure. Most impressive, and impressionable.

Pt. Mugu was a special place for airshows in the 1970's as the live range lies just offshore the runway and they would do live sidewinder shoots, strafing runs, and ejection seat firing (with a dummy!) from a white Phantom. I was not born in time for the alleged Q-Privateer shoot down for the 1950's airshows!!!

[Airbubba]

Pt. Mugu was a special place for airshows in the 1970's as the live range lies just offshore the runway and they would do live sidewinder shoots, strafing runs, and ejection seat firing (with a dummy!) from a white Phantom. I was not born in time for the alleged Q-Privateer shoot down for the 1950's airshows!!!

I seem to remember an ejection seat dummy demo with a T-A4 and an RA-5C dump and burn at the NAS Atlanta airshow in the early 1970's. I'm hoping to someday find more slides from that show. The highlight of the Blues' performance for me was the Delta Vertical Break with six roaring F-4's doing half-Cuban eights and crossing on three levels simultaneously at show center.