Tag Archives: display team

Sneak Pass

Leave a Reply

C59F5630.jpgI have seen a large number of displays by the Blue Angels over the years.  Their display is a good one generally (although the ground portion is a little time consuming in my opinion).  The sequence does not vary much from year to year but it works well enough so that is probably no big surprise.  One of the fun parts is the sneak passes.  The four ship head off in one direction to distract you and a solo jet streaks in from the left at low level and high speed.  This catches a lot of people by surprise.

C59F5638.jpgJust as everyone is getting over this, the other solo jet does something similar from crowd rear to make you all jump again.  The displays that are held over water provide an added option for the first sneak pass.  With no obstacles, the aircraft can end up very close to the water.  This makes things look even more impressive.  Also, the high speeds can result in some impressive vapor formations in the shock waves.

C59F5622.jpgThe Fleet Week display on the Friday had great weather conditions but, surprisingly for the Bay Area, the humidity levels were not terribly high.  Consequently, while the sneak pass had its usual surprise impact, it did not result in any vapor on the jet.  The upside of this was that the optical distortion caused by the shock waves was visible in some shots when a reasonable amount of background was included.  Not what I was aiming for but not a bad alternative.

Thunderbirds With One Extra

Leave a Reply

QB5Y4965.jpgWhy is this different and why should I look? Thunderbirds shots are not hard to find online. I have tons of them myself and an appearance by the team at any show is going to result in a ton of shots from the people there. These are shots with a slight difference though. These were taken in Chicago at the Air and Water Show a number of years ago. However, they weren’t taken on the main show days. Instead, they were taken during the Friday practice.

QB5Y5007.jpgBecause it was a practice day, the team carried out their display with a spare aircraft loosely in formation. It was a twin seater so I assume the backseat had a photographer occupying it. (I am not in the least bit jealous of course!) The team flew their normal display routine and the extra jet would position itself around the formation and (hopefully) get some shots of them with some excellent backdrops of the city.

QB5Y4911.jpgFor me, it meant getting pictures of formations that you don’t normally see. I imagine the excess power of the F-16 means there is some scope for the spare jet to position itself well around the formation without running out of energy. It must provide scope to get some cool shots. They had better be cooler than the ones I got that day given the position they had. I am happy with mine all the same.

Thunderbirds and the Missing Pylon

Leave a Reply

wpid13554-CRW_7987.jpgA discussion on Facebook between a few people I know recently turned to a discussion about the USAF display team, the Thunderbirds. While I can’t now remember how ended up the way they did, at some point, there was discussion about the time the Thunderbirds touched in mid-air with one aircraft losing part of the wing tip missile rail. This occurred at the Chicago Air and Water Show and I was there that day.

wpid13556-CRW_7992.jpgAt the time, not many people knew anything had happened. Indeed, for a while they flew on before pulling out of the display routine and orbiting overhead and then eventually returning to Gary to land. No-one on the ground had any idea what was going on. I did not capture the contact between the jets. However, when I looked through my shots afterwards, I realized I had a shot of the four ship formation with one aircraft missing the rail and another showing some signs of damage on the tailplane where the rail had impacted. Below is one shot to prove they started out intact!

wpid13558-CRW_7974.jpg