Originally posted by waynos
I don't think you can really split them, the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels are both highly skilled and very professional display teams, therefore I would put them both equal in joint 2nd place, everyone knows the Red Arrows are the kings of display flying.

, funny... You are British, not because I know it or because it says on your "avatar"... No i know it because you love the Red Arrows... It's actually quite strange to use the Hawk in a team like that... (many oter countries does the same thing) Couldn't they use the EF or the Harrier wich go faster...?

PS: I love the Midnight hawks... The Finnish team, they use Hawks too...

Nope, just get lucky! A good camera helps too. Actually, some of those were taken by my 15yo daughter.

She's tallented... You sure can tell her that... Those pics are awesome

Blue Angels Baby !!!

being former Navy man here.......

I was in Myrtle Beach SC last summer and the BA's were going to be performing at an airshow the upcoming weekend. I knew that they always fly in a day or two early to practice, so there we were driving down the main drag, and out of no where, about 300 ft or so over the beach.... it was amazing....

I pulled over and sat and watched them for about 20 - 30 minutes...

I was wondering where they would be "parked" for the night and got out a map and sure enough, there's a "former" military base there, landing strips and all, I drove around until I found my way behind it... also still behind the fence and there they were....

all the Blue Angels and even thier cargo plane.... about 1000 yards away... I snapped a few shots... and there were other people showing up looking through the gates... a couple of the crew members came over to the fence and was talking to the people.. that was pretty cool....

I didn't get to stay for the actaul show, our reservation was up and I had to head north....

but that's my Blue Angel experience...

Yes, of course I am biased FMF, but it is nonetheless the truth

There was a programme about them (as there often is) where they flew in the USA and pilots of the Tbirds and Blue Angels interviewed, intercut with footage of Red Arrows manouvres, where the US guys unanimously praised the Red Arrows and acknowledged them as the 'guys to beat'. Of course they may just have been polite but then agaion it mmight be their genuine professional opinion?

The reason why we use trainers instead of fighters is entirely down to cost, the last frontline fighter to be flown by a UK display team was the Lighning and the treasury shat itself and made sure it wouldn't happenm again.

The belief that the teams that use fighters must be better is a misnomer as all display flying is carried out at subsonic speed anyway so the Arrows are performing at the same speeds but with more aircraft and with tighter manouvers, this is a fact that was acknowledged by the other pilots in the programme.

Yeah, they had to hold the rest of the airshow for a bit 'cause he set the runway on fire!

The Thunderbirds were just in town last weekend. They are fun to watch, but so are the Blue Angles. They tend to take turns coming here every other year or so. I like them both. I don't think I could choose one over the other. One year we had the Blue Angles, Thunderbirds and the Snowbirds all in one show, (well we always get the Snowbirds regardless) but it was too cloudy that year for any of them to fly

Originally posted by elevatedone

I was in Myrtle Beach SC last summer and the BA's were going to be performing at an airshow the upcoming weekend. I knew that they always fly in a day or two early to practice, so there we were driving down the main drag, and out of no where, about 300 ft or so over the beach.... it was amazing....

LOL, I was there for that as well. It was right after the biker week right?

In any case, they put on a hell of a show. I haven't seen the Thunderbirds, but I can't imagine they are better then the Angles. As it has been said, they are probably equals.

Red Arrows are awesome... saw the few years back at LIAS99
Midnight Hawks ain't that bad either they were at LIAS05 about a month ago... both beat the crap out of any US teams

...just kidding, i have to give props to a Finnish guy who did a good solo show with Gloster Gauntlet (only surviving airframe of the kind) and ffs its almost 80 years old plane

Which team is better? That was the original question.. I have seen both teams fly and I would have to say that the Blue Angels rule the sky.. Why you may ask.. Because I have a lot of respect for a pilot who can land on a moving cork so to speak.. Navy pilots take off and land on moving aircraft carriers and snag a wire to come to a stop, Air Force pilots land on a runway on solid ground! Gotta have respect for the Navy pilots for that! Sure Air Force pilots learn how to land on a carrier but how often do they actually have to do it? Navy pilots have to do it each time they fly. To me that makes them the better pilots overall!

Actually there are quite a few USAF pilots that land on carriers every day now too. There's at least one squadron of EA-6Bs that flies off carriers that are flown by USAF pilots.

Originally posted by waynos
Yes, of course I am biased FMF, but it is nonetheless the truth

There was a programme about them (as there often is) where they flew in the USA and pilots of the Tbirds and Blue Angels interviewed, intercut with footage of Red Arrows manouvres, where the US guys unanimously praised the Red Arrows and acknowledged them as the 'guys to beat'. Of course they may just have been polite but then agaion it mmight be their genuine professional opinion?

The reason why we use trainers instead of fighters is entirely down to cost, the last frontline fighter to be flown by a UK display team was the Lighning and the treasury shat itself and made sure it wouldn't happenm again.

The belief that the teams that use fighters must be better is a misnomer as all display flying is carried out at subsonic speed anyway so the Arrows are performing at the same speeds but with more aircraft and with tighter manouvers, this is a fact that was acknowledged by the other pilots in the programme.

Yes, well said... I also think as you in this matter... Of course it's nice to see a Hornet or an F-16 "hitting the gas", but what's really nice is to see when the Hawks, those small, nearly soundless planes do those trics, That's cool...

Originally posted by Zaphod58
Actually there are quite a few USAF pilots that land on carriers every day now too. There's at least one squadron of EA-6Bs that flies off carriers that are flown by USAF pilots.

The last shuttle's commander Eileen Collins had some 1000 carrier landings t oher credit I think!!

Yeah, You really have to be a good pilot to do those things.. It's a lot harder to do them with a heavy plane...

Yeah.. well I'm partial to the Surya kirans then!!