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

[Airbubba]

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 - 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]

Originally Posted by sandiego89

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.