U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds

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Thunderbirds

The Thunderbirds perform an echelon pass, flying between 18" and 24" apart at an average speed of 400 mph.
Country:	United States
Aircraft Currently Flown:	12 F-16Cs
Sponsor:	United States Air Force
Base Airfield:	Nellis Air Force Base
Colors:	Red, White and Blue
Date Formed:	June 1, 1953
Crest/Logo:

The Thunderbirds are the Air Demonstration Squadron of the United States Air Force. As such, they tour the United States and much of the world, performing aerobatic formation and solo flying in specially-marked USAF jet aircraft. The U.S. Navy has its own air demonstration squadron, initiated in 1946 and known as the Blue Angels.

[edit] History

The Squadron was activated, after 6 months training in an unofficial status, on June 1, 1953 as the 3600th Air Demonstration Team at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. They flew their debut exhibition at Luke a week later, and began public exhibitions at the 1953 Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The team had flown 26 shows by that August. The first team leader was Major General Dick Catledge, and the first plane flown by the squadron was the F-84 Thunderjet. As the F-84G Thunderjet was a single seat fighter, a 2 seat T-33 Shooting Star served as the narrator's aircraft and was used as the VIP/Press ride aircraft. The T-33 served with the Thunderbirds in this capacity, in the 1950's & 1960's.

The next year the Thunderbirds performed their first overseas air shows, in a tour of South America. A year later, 1955, they moved to the F-84F Thunderstreak aircraft, in which they performed 91 air shows. The aircraft of the squadron was again changed in June, 1956, this time to the F-100 Super Sabre, which gave the pilots supersonic capability. This switch was accompanied by a move of headquarters to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada on June 1 with their first show after the move being held on June 23. It also signaled a shift in their performance routine—for example, the Cuban 8 opening routine was dropped, and emphasis was placed on low, screaming flyovers and demonstrations of takeoff performance. For a time, if the show's sponsor permitted it, the pilots would create a "sonic boom" (this ended when the FAA banned supersonic flight over the continental U.S.)

In 1960 a decision was made to allow the tail (vertical stabilizer) of the #4 slot plane, blackened by the exhaust of the other planes, to remain black. (Contrary to rumor, the stabilizer was never painted black.) This practice remained in force through the 1973 season. In 1961, the team was compelled to discontinue the vertical bank maneuver due to an FAA regulation prohibiting aerobatics that pointed the nose of the aircraft toward the crowd. 1962 saw the introduction of dual solo routines, and the Thunderbirds went on their first European deployment in 1963, the year after the disbanding of the "Skyblazers" (see below). The team switched to the F-105 Thunderchief for a brief period, but returned to the F-100 in 1964 after only six airshows, following Capt. Gene Devlin's death resulting from structural failure of the aircraft in a high-G climbing maneuver. The F-100 was also judged to be more maneuverable for demonstration displays.

The Thunderbirds flew F-84F Thunderstreaks in the 1950s.

By 1967, the Thunderbirds had flown their 1,000th show. In 1969, the squadron adopted the noisy and huge F-4E Phantom, which it flew until 1973, the only time they would fly jets similar to those of the Blue Angels, as it was the standard fighter for both services. A special white paint had to be developed to cover high-temperature metals, replacing the bare metal paint scheme of past planes. The white paint scheme has been continued to the present. Due to the 1973 oil crisis, the team was grounded for some time. In 1974 they switched to the more economical T-38 Talon, a supersonic trainer based on the F-5 fighter. Five T-38s used the same amount of fuel needed for just one F-4 Phantom. The switch to the T-38 also saw an alteration of the flight routine to exhibit the aircraft's maneuverability in tight turns, and also ended the era of the black tail on the #4 slot plane, which would now be regularly cleaned & shined like the others.

In 1982, there was another disaster for the Thunderbirds, occurring during pre-season training on January 18th. While practicing the 4 plane diamond loop, the formation impacted the ground at high speed, instantly killing all four pilots: Major Norm Lowry, leader, Captain Willie Mays, Captain Pete Peterson and Captain Mark Melancon. The cause of the crash was officially listed by the USAF as the result of a mechanical problem with the #1 aircraft's control stick actuator. Despite the fact that the accident investigative board had not uncovered any evidence to support this theory, there was heavy pressure from the pilots' families and top Air Force officials to arrive at this conclusion. During formation flight, the wing and slot pilots visually cue off of the #1 lead aircraft, completely disregarding their positions in relation to the ground. In this accident, this is the root cause for all four aircraft impacting the terrain, not just the lead jet with the problem.

Many in the fighter community felt that the cause was most likely a result of the lead pilot's error due to a simple miscalculation, the equivalent of controlled flight into terrain.

Thunderbirds F-16s (including three spare aircraft, for a total of nine) precisely lined up on the ramp at Nellis AFB just prior to the team's last performance of 2004.

In 1983, the team returned to front-line fighters with the General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon. It has only one of the F-15 Eagle's engines, but similar flying performance. They would change to the updated F-16C (now Lockheed-Martin) in 1992, which has proven its outstanding effectiveness in both air-to-ground and air superiority competitions.

In 1986, the Thunderbirds did a fly-by for the re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty in New York City, which was viewed by tens of millions. They also performed the first American military demonstration in a Communist country when the team visited Beijing, China in 1987. Their 3,000th air show was performed in 1990. In 1996, the team participated in the Atlanta Olympics' opening ceremonies, which were viewed by an estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide. The squadron celebrated its 50th anniversary on June 1, 2003. In June, 2005 the Thunderbirds accepted Captain Nicole Malachowski as the squadron's first ever female pilot.

Later that year, the Thunderbirds experienced a very close call at Mountain Home AFB in southwestern Idaho. On September 14th, 2003, Thunderbird #6 (opposing solo) failed to pull out of a dive but safely ejected at a very low altitude (140 feet), just 0.8 seconds before the aircraft smashed into a fireball and tumbled violently into the sagebrush. The event was the Gunfighter Skies 2003 air show with 85,000 in attendance on a cloudless late summer Sunday afternoon. This mishap occurred while #6 was attempting to perform the opening "Split-S" maneuver, about twenty seconds after takeoff. Pilot error (insufficient altitude) was later determined as the cause and the pilot, 31 year-old Captain Christopher Stricklin, was unfortunately reassigned to a desk job at the Pentagon. Although the desert terrain is similar, the ground elevation at the Idaho base (2996') is over 1100 feet higher than their home at Nellis AFB (1867') outside of Las Vegas. The pilot had climbed to only 1670 feet above ground level (rather than the required 2500 feet), which did not allow enough room for him to safely pull out of the dive. Upon realizing his unrecoverable mistake, the pilot steered the F-16C away from the crowd just before ejection. Fortunately, the pilot incurred only minor injuries, and waved to the crowd after safely landing, signaling he was physically OK. There were no injuries to anyone on the ground, and other than the loss of the $20 million aircraft, there was no damage to property. The cockpit video of the ejection is in the External Links section below, and a picture is available here.

In 2005, the Thunderbirds temporarily grounded themselves pending an investigation into a minor mid-air incident during the Chicago Air and Water show on August 20th. During a diamond formation slow-roll pass, the tip of the missile rail on the right wing of the slot (#4) aircraft contacted the left stabilator of the right (#3) aircraft. A four-foot section of the missile rail snapped off, while the #3 aircraft sustained damage described by one of the Thunderbirds pilots as a "medium deep scratch" to the red paint of the stabilator. Amateur video showed the missile rail falling into the "safety box" on Lake Michigan away from boaters. While there were no injuries and the aircraft remained apparently flightworthy, the demonstration was immediately terminated, all aircraft returned to the Gary International Airport, and the Thunderbirds did not return for the second day of the Chicago show. The Right Winger (#3) was Major D. Chris Callahan, and the Slot position (#4) was flown by Major Steve Horton.

[edit] Aircraft

Republic F-84G Thunderjet 1953-1954

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak 1954-1956

North American F-100C Super Sabre 1956-1963 The USAF's first operational supersonic aircraft.

Republic F-105B Thunderchief 1964 (only 6 shows flown in type) Largest and heaviest single engine fighter ever produced.

North American F-100D Super Sabre 1964-1968

McDonnell F-4E Phantom II 1969-1973 The largest, fastest and most powerful aircraft ever flown by the Thunderbirds.

Northrop T-38 Talon 1974-1981 The world's first supersonic trainer aircraft. The T-38 was more fuel efficient and less costly to maintain than the larger F-4. It had a superior roll rate and the ability to keep the action in front of the show center-line with its tight turning radius.

General Dynamics F-16A/B Fighting Falcon 1983-1991 During the switch to the F-16A the Thunderbirds acquired new block 15 aircraft which they operated for about 10 years making the team one of the last USAF units flying the older F-16A's before transitioning into new C's. They also operated the two-seat F-16B during this time for training new pilots and for VIP flights, these being replaced by the F-16D when the rest of the squadron transitioned to the F-16C.

Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon 1992-Current The block 32H/J aircraft currently assigned to the Thunderbird's were built in 1986 & 1987 and are some of the oldest operational F-16s in the Air Force. (Lockheed purchased the General Dynamics division which makes the F-16 (Fort Worth, TX) in 1993.)

[edit] Transition to F16s

In 1982 the team switched to the F-16A Fighting Falcon; this transistion had been under consideration before the "Diamond Crash" in January. The team sat out the 1982 airshow season and spent that year retraining and transitioning over into the new aircraft to ready themselves for the 1983 season.

The team continues to fly the F-16 today, having switched from the "A" to "C" version in 1992. These are nearly identical to current combat aircraft; it takes just a few minor modifications for an F-16C to be made ready for the Thunderbirds. These changes include the replacement of the 20mm cannon and ammunition drum with a smoke-generating system, including its plumbing and control switches, the removal of the jet fuel starter exhaust door, and the application of the Thunderbirds' glossy red, white, and blue polyurethane paint scheme. All of the modification work is performed at the maintenance depot at Hill AFB near Ogden, Utah. If necessary, the planes could be made combat-ready in less than 72 hours.

A nerve-tensing opposing pass performed by the USAF Thunderbirds opposing solos.

[edit] Current Thunderbirds

These are the current members of the Thunderbirds Team:

• Lt. Col. Kevin Robbins (Commander/Leader)
• Major Scottie Zamzow (Left Wing)
• Major Nicole Malachowski (Right Wing)
• Major Steven Horton (Slot)
• Major Brian Farrar (lead solo)
• Major Ed Casey (Opposing Solo)
• Major Jeremy Sloane (Operations Officer)
• Major Tad Clark (Advance Pilot/Narrator)
• Major Dan Mirski (Flight Surgeon)
• Captain Todd Randolph (Executive Officer)
• Major David Moreland (Maintenance Officer)
• Capt. Angela Neff (Public Affairs Officer)

[edit] The Routine (The Demo)

Thunderbirds performing their signature "bomb burst" maneuver

From the end of the runway the 4-ship Thunderbird team get ready to begin their take-off roll with the words "Thunderbirds run em up!" being retransmitted from the team leaders mic through the PA system for the anxiously awaiting crowd to hear.

Diamond: As Thunderbirds 1 through 4 lift off the slot aircraft slips immediately into position behind 1 to create the signature Diamond formation in the climb passing by the crowd and into a rolling turn at the departure end of the field and set up for their first pass the diamond clover loop.

Solos: Thunderbird 5 takes to the air next performing a clean low altitude aileron roll followed by 6 who performs a split-s climbing in a near vertical maneuver rolling over and diving back toward show center pulling up just above the runway and exiting in the opposite direction. *Note* Thunderbird 6 has not been executing any opening maneuver yet this 2006 season (This is the maneuver in which the mishap occurred in Idaho in September 2003.).

Thunderbird 5's first trick is an inverted pass followed by 6 who does and inverted pass with a 360 aileron roll at show center.

Much of the Thunderbirds display alternates between maneuvers performed by the diamond, and those performed by the solos. The diamond performs maneuvers in tight formation such as formation loops and barrel rolls or transitions from one formation to another. The opposing solos usually perform their maneuvers just under the speed of sound, and show off the capabilities of their individual F-16s by doing maneuver such as fast passes, slow passes, fast rolls, slow rolls, and very tight turns. Some of their maneuvers include both solo F-16s at once, such as opposing passes (where the solos fly towards each other in what appears to be a collision course, and seem to narrowly miss each other) and mirror formations (their two F-16s being flown back-to-back in the calypso pass or belly-to-belly. In such formations, one Thunderbird must of course be inverted, and it is always Thunderbird number 5. In fact, the "5" on this aircraft is painted on upside down, and thus appears right-side-up for much of the routine). At the end of the routine, all six aircraft join in formation, forming the Delta. There is also an extra amount of humor regarding the inverted performance of Thunderbird Five: the pilots all wear tailored flight suits with their name and jet number embroidered on the left breast. The 5 is sewn inverted.

[edit] Fatal Accidents

The Thunderbirds have performed at over 4,000 airshows worldwide, accumulating millions of miles in hundreds of different airframes over the course of their 53+ years of service.

Flying high performance fighter jets is inherently dangerous, when flying in extremely close formation the danger is compounded, multiply this risk times the 4,000+ airshows, countless number of practice, training and check flights and when put into perspective the team has fared very well, suffering only two fatal crashes during an actual air show.

The first was the loss of Major Joe Howard flying Thunderbird 3 on June 4th 1972 at Dulles Airport during Transpo 72 when his Phantom (F-4E s/n# 66-0321) experienced a loss of power during a vertical maneuver, Maj Howard ejected as the aircraft fell back to earth from about 1,500 feet tail first, he descended under a good canopy but the winds blew him into the blazing crash site.

The second tragic loss occurred May 9th 1981 at Hill AFB, Utah when Captain David "Nick" Hauck from Mingo Jct, Ohio flying Thunderbird 6 crashed while attempting to land his ailing T-38 after an engine malfunctioned and caught fire. With black smoke bellowing from the exhaust and the aircraft losing altitude in a high nose-up angle of attack the safety officer on the ground radioed Capt Hauck; "You’re on fire, punch out" to which he responded; “Hang on... we have a bunch of people down there”, the aircraft continued to fight to stay airborne for about ½ a mile before hitting a large oak tree, a barn, then sliding across a field and flipping as it traversed an irrigation canal ultimately erupting into a fireball just a few hundred feet from the runways end, no one on the ground was injured even though the wreck occurred adjacent a roadway packed with onlookers.

On October 9th, 1958 14 men aboard the Thunderbirds support C-123 perished in a crash 50 miles NW of Boise, Idaho while transiting an airshow.

September 24, 1961 TSgt John Lesso of the Thunderbirds C-123 crew was killed when an Air Force C-123 carrying the Army Golden Knights crashed on take-off at an airshow in Wilmington, NC, he was aboard the aircraft as an observer.

Eighteen other pilots of the Thunderbirds have perished in jet accidents.

Dec. 13, 1954: Capt. George Kevil is killed during solo training at Luke.

Sept. 26, 1957: Lt. Bob Rutte is killed in solo training at Nellis.

March 12, 1959: Capt. C.D. Salmon is killed in solo training at Nellis.

July 27, 1960: Capt. J.R. Crane, advance pilot and narrator for the team, is killed during a solo proficiency flight at Nellis.

April 6, 1961: Maj. Robert Fitzgerald, commander and group leader of the team, and Capt. George Nial, advance pilot and narrator, are killed during training at Nellis.

May 9, 1964: Capt. Eugene J. Devlin is killed when his F-105 breaks in two as it enters the vertical while in a 3 plane formation following a low pass over Hamilton Air Force Base, California.

Oct. 12, 1966: Maj. Frank Leithen and Capt. Robert Morgan are killed during a flight at Indian Springs Auxiliary Field in Nevada.

Jan. 9, 1969: Capt. Jack Thurman is killed in solo training at Nellis.

Dec. 21, 1972: Capt. Jerry Bolt and Tech Sgt. Chuck Lynn are killed during a flight test at Nellis.

July 25, 1977: Capt. Charlie Carter, Thunderbird pilot and narrator, is fatally injured during maneuvers at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.

Sept. 8, 1981: Lt. Col. D.L. Smith, commander of the Thunderbirds, is killed when his aircraft ingests seagulls and stalls while leaving Cleveland. Smith crashed into Lake Erie without attempting to eject.

Jan. 18, 1982: The "Diamond Crash" becomes the worst training crash in Thunderbird history. Maj. Norm Lowry, Capt. Willie Mays, Capt. Pete Peterson and Capt. Mark Melancon are killed while flying the famous diamond formation during training at Indian Springs. The crash resulted from insufficient back pressure on the T-38 control stick during the loop. This major crash with associated fatalities led to the Thunderbirds getting the F-16 Fighting Falcon as a replacement aircraft. In part, the F-16 was to showcase a highly maneuverable frontline fighter. In the background, the F-16 continued to male-only Thunderbird composition because women were not allowed to fly frontline fighters at the time and a significant number of highly qualified female T-38 intructor pilots were being denied Thunderbird admission solely on the basis of gender. The single-engine F-16 was less costly to operate than the other air-to-air fighter of its day, the twin-engine F-15 Eagle. In order to rebuild the Thunderbird Team, the Air Force reached back to previous Thunderbird pilots still on active duty to "come out of air show retirement", qualified each in the F-16A, and had them begin flying "two-ship" through all the maneuvers, and expand - one airplane at a time - up to the full six airplanes. The "new" F-16 Thunderbirds were led by Major Jim Latham.

[edit] Lineage

Organized as 30th Aero Squadron on 13 Jun 1917. Demobilized on 14 Apr 1919. Reconstituted, and redesignated 30th Bombardment Squadron, on 24 Mar 1923. Activated on 24 Jun 1932. Redesignated: 30th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 6 Dec 1939; 30th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy, on 28 Mar 1944. Inactivated on 1 Apr 1944. Activated on 1 Apr 1944. Redesignated: 30th Bombardment Squadron, Medium, on 10 Aug 1948; 30th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, on 1 Jul 1961. Discontinued, and inactivated, on 1 Feb 1963. Consolidated (19 Sep 1965) with unit constituted as USAF Air Demonstration Squadron, and activated, on 13 Feb 1967. Organized on 25 Feb 1967.

[edit] Relationship to Other USAF Aerial Demonstration Teams

The first USAF jet-powered aerobatic demo team was the "Acrojets," performing early in 1949 with F-80Cs at the USAF Fighter School at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, and was headed by Col. Howard W. "Suede" Jensen. This team flew together until August 1950, when it was deactivated due to the American commitment to the Korean War. Additionally, there was also a later USAFE "Acrojets" team in Germany, this one made up of USAF T-33 instructor pilots at Fürstenfeldbruck AB in the mid-1950's.

The "Skyblazers" were the USAF demonstration team representing the United States Air Forces Europe (USAFE) from the late 1940's through the 1950's. This team was formed in early 1949 by a group of 22d Fighter Squadron pilots from the 36th Fighter Wing at Fürstenfeldbruck AB in Germany. At this time they were flying Lockheed F-80B "Shooting Stars." The unit transitioned to the F-84E in 1950, the F-86F in 1955 and the F-100C in 1956. Unlike the Thunderbirds, the Skyblazers seldom appeared outside of the realm of USAFE operations in Europe.

The Skyblazers were disbanded in January 1962 when their home squadron was rotated back to the United States and their assigned aircraft transitioned to the F-105 Thunderchief.

[edit] Image Gallery

USAF Thunderbirds flying the F-16	The USAF Thunderbirds form up into the Delta near the end of an airshow.	The USAF Thunderbirds start their routine at Moffett Field's 2004 airshow the way they start every routine - with a sneak pass, overhead from behind.	The USAF Thunderbirds opposing solos fly two mirror formations.
A USAF Thunderbird taxis out just before the demo at Edwards AFB's 2003 airshow.	A USAF Thunderbird performs a sneak pass at high speed and full afterburner at the Nellis airshow, 2004.	The USAF Thunderbirds diamond performs a loop while in tight formation, at the Nellis AFB 2004 airshow.	Thunderbirds over the new United States Air Force Memorial in Arlington, VA.

[edit] External links

• Thunderbirds' official website
• Skyblazers history page
• USAF Museum link for USAF aerial demonstration teams
• Fighter mechanic details Thunderbirds tryout in book
• F-16.net Idaho ejection video of 14-Sep-2003