Some pics of the recent Blue Angels airshow

Mike682

It's one thing to see pics and movies of fighter jets, but a totally different experience when you see these things in person. The sheer power, agility, loudness, and rumble of the fighter jets is just amazing. The pilots are also outstanding. They displayed some serious skills during the show.

janmike

Thanks for sharing Mike. I always love aerial shots.

Schris22

nice pics! I'm trying to go to an airshow but somehow I always forget =(

Chris

Refefer

I remember seeing them at Andrew's AFB about 10 years ago. Talk about some skill there. Quality pics Mike.

starchaser

Nice pics! Have only seen them on TV. Watched the thunderbirds practice a long time ago but i've always wanted to see and HEAR the sound of freedom echo from an Angel.

cfrizz

Please describe 5th picture! It looks like 4 totally different types of airplanes.

ohskigod

yeah, I found that interesting too. looks like an a10 warthog, an f15, an F16, and I'm bad with the old school prop planes

George Grand

That'd be a P-51.

Fireman32

I saw the Blue Angels last year. It's amazing to see them in person and feel it as they go almost supersonic 100ft above you. Cant wait to go again

ohskigod

George Grand wrote:

That'd be a P-51.

doh!!!! I'm not big on the prop planes, but I SHOULD have known the p-51 mustang

thanx George

venomclan

Cool pics,
I saw the Blue Angels and a lot of the other planes last month. I work near the beach in Ft. Lauderdale. Every year there is a Land N Sea show with over 2 million people attending and I think every division of the armed forces. The week before the show, all the planes do practice manuevers over my office. Every 5 minutes for a week something blasts by.

It is cool because if you go into any fast food joint during that week, it is as if there was an invasion of the military.
Venom

scottnbnj

the thunderbirds are at willow grove pa in a couple of weeks (17-18th). their show is a little bit louder than the blue angels if you're into that sort of thing. i read somewhere that there might be a b-2 fly-by on sunday too.

http://www.willowgroveairshows.com/

)

bert26

Those pictures are beautiful! Those things give me goosebumps, even standing still. My favorites are the WWII era fighters and bombers.

If anyone ever wants to meet at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, feel free to ping me. I am always up for that.

Chris

cfrizz

Sigh!:rolleyes: Which is the warthog, which is the f15 & which is the f16?:D And what kind of jets do the Angels use?

There are some of us who have never seen any of these things up close & personal & have no clue!

The F's I assume are fighters based on shape (look very manueverable). What is a warthog used for?

How the the P51 able to keep up with the jets? I would assume that it would be too slow to do so.

ohskigod wrote:

yeah, I found that interesting too. looks like an a10 warthog, an f15, an F16, and I'm bad with the old school prop planes

bert26

Hi CFrizz,

In the picture that Lou was referring to the A10 is at 6 o'clock, the F15 is at 3 o'clock, and the F16 is at 9 o'clock.

If I am not mistaken, the Blue Angels fly F/A-18 Hornets.

The A10 is a ground attack/support aircraft that is very effective in a tank killing role. The others are all fighters.

I assume that the Mustang can throttle up while the others throttle down and have enough "crossover" in their velocity to stay together.

I am by no means an expert and I know that there are some professionals on the forum that can shed more light on the topic.

Cheers!
Chris

cfrizz

Thank you Chris!:D

jcaut

Bert beat me to it, but I'll go ahead and post mine anyway.

Regarding that pic of the P-51, F-15, F-16, and A-10: That's something they call "Heritage Flight" or something like that. Tribute to the warplanes of the past, present and fu.. well, maybe not... I don't know, really. They did it at the airshow I went to a few months ago, but it's not as if I could actually HEAR the PA.

The Warthog is the ugly one Their primary role is close air support of troops on the ground. They're hell on tanks and such, but not designed for air-to-air combat. The Blue Angels fly F-18's.

Here's a picture where they did that Heritage Flight. They had an F-4 instead of an F-16, though. Picture is not real great since they were in such a bright part of the sky, although not quite as bright as in Mike's picture. Here's an A-10 and an F-16 (Thunderbirds) thrown in for good measure.

jcaut

And, BTW, nice pictures Mike! That little A620 grabs some nice images, even in difficult lighting.

Those pictures I put up are from the only airshow I've ever been to. There's a funny story about how one of my co-workers decided that he'd just hop over the orange fence, rather than going "the long way" through the entrance to the airport... but this isn't really the place for that. Anyway- Very impressive. I'm going to plan on making it to the next one, too.

Jason

Mike682

Regarding that pic of the P-51, F-15, F-16, and A-10: That's something they call "Heritage Flight" or something like that. Tribute to the warplanes of the past, present and fu.. well, maybe not... I don't know, really. They did it at the airshow I went to a few months ago, but it's not as if I could actually HEAR the PA.

Jason you are correct. Here is a link to the list of planes at our show:

http://www.jonesbeachairshow.com/usaf_heritage.html

Mike682

jcaut wrote:

And, BTW, nice pictures Mike! That little A620 grabs some nice images, even in difficult lighting.

Jason

Thanks Jason

During the show, there was a haze throughout the sky and passing clouds too. The A620 did pretty well. It has very good dynamic range for a non-dslr.

The A620 is an excellent compact digicam. I am very happy with it.

cfrizz

Wow cool pics Thanks! The Thunderbird plane is one pretty jet! I like how all of them except the F15 have the little star & bar insignia on the belly of their wings.

jcaut

cfrizz wrote:

Wow cool pics Thanks! The Thunderbird plane is one pretty jet! I like how all of them except the F15 have the little star & bar insignia on the belly of their wings.

The F15 does, too. It's just hard to see in my pictures, and since the plane is a darker color. Here we go:

Mike682

A few more..

cfrizz

#2 is beautiful! # 3 is :eek: :eek: :eek: & WTH are those skinny things hanging down off of the tails in the last picture?

Demiurge

Catch for carrier landings?

wodom1

cfrizz wrote:

#2 is beautiful! # 3 is :eek: :eek: :eek: & WTH are those skinny things hanging down off of the tails in the last picture?

Those are tailhooks. When landing on an aircraft carrier, they slam onto the deck, grab one of four cables (preferably the third) and that is what stops them.

cfrizz

Thanks. Ouch that sounds painful!

wodom1

cfrizz wrote:

Thanks. Ouch that sounds painful!

Yeah, it's basically a controlled crash. If you ever see any shows on Discovery or History that shows carrier traps, you'll notice that as soon as the plane hits the deck, they go to full power. They do this in case they miss the cables (known as a Bolter) and have to take off again.

cfrizz

Ungh! Sounds suicidal to me!!!!