 |
 |
 |
 |
| The
spare pilot would be Capt. Bob McCormick. Like the Pattillo
brothers, he also had demonstration team experience, having
flown right wing with the “Sabre Dancers,” a predecessor to
the Thunderbirds. 1st Lt. Aubrey Brown would serve as
maintenance officer for the team. He, with his senior enlisted
man, MSgt. Earl Young, selected 21 enlisted men to help maintain
the team’s aircraft. Capt. Bill Brock was the final officer
selected for the team serving as the information services
officer and team narrator. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
From
these humble beginnings and this group of men, the Air Force
Thunderbird legend was born.
The
first aircraft selected for the new demonstration team was the
straight wing F-84G Thunderjet built by Republic Aviation. Their
straight wing configuration was considered well suited for
aerobatic maneuvers, and although the aircraft could not exceed
the speed of sound, like some military aircraft, it easily met
the needs of a demonstration aircraft.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The
original demonstration sequence consisted of a series of
formation aerobatics lasting 15 minutes. The spare pilot
took-off a few minutes in advance of the Diamond to run a
weather check, advise of any encroaching traffic, reiterate the
location of obstructions and then landed to be used as a spare
aircraft. As the season progressed, the opportunity was utilized
to perform ‘solo’ maneuvers with the spare aircraft while
the Diamond burned off fuel and repositioned out of sight of the
crowd.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Mindful
of their mission to show the Air Force’s best aircraft, the
Air Force selected the swept wing F-84F Thunderstreak as their
second aircraft in 1955. The Thunderstreak was modified for the
team by adding smoke tanks for the first time, and red, white
and blue drag chutes.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| With
the move from the F-84F to the F-100 Super Sabre in 1956, the
Thunderbirds became the world’s first supersonic aerial
demonstration team. That same year, the Thunderbirds moved to
Nellis Air Force Base,
Nevada
, simplifying
logistics and maintenance for the aircraft.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Although never a routine part of the Thunderbird show in
1956, the solo would fly supersonic at the request of the air
show sponsor. Eventually, the Federal Aviation Authority, a
precursor to the Federal Aviation Administration, banned all
supersonic flight at air shows and consequently, today’s
sequence is entirely subsonic.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Almost a footnote in the history of Thunderbird aviation,
the Republic-built F-105B Thunderchief performed only six shows
between April 26 and
May 9, 1964
. Extensive modifications to the F-105 were necessary, and
rather than cancel the rest of the show season to accomplish
this, the Thunderbirds quickly transitioned back to the Super
Sabre. While the switch back to the F-100D was supposed to be
temporary, the F-105 never returned to the Thunderbird hangar.
The F-100 ended up staying with the team for nearly 13 years.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The
Thunderbirds started the 1969 training season still in the
F-100Ds, but in the spring of 1969 the team received the first
of the new McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom IIs and began the
team’s conversion.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The
F-4’s conversion was the most extensive in the team’s
history. Among other modifications, paints that had worked on
the F-100 made the F-4 look patchy because of multicolored
alloys used in the F-4 to resist heat and friction at Mach II
speeds. As a result, a polyurethane paint base was developed and
used to cover the problem. The white paint base remains a part
of today’s Thunderbird aircraft.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Compared
with its predecessors, the F-4 was immense. It was big. It was
heavy. It was powerful. With the earth-shaking roar of eight
J-79 engines from the four diamond aircraft, no demonstration
aircraft accomplished the mission of representing American
airpower more impressively than the Phantom.
|
|
Sky-Flash
Home
|
