Stunning Pictures Of All The Aircraft Ever Used By The Blue Angels Past And Present

Best Of Their Time.

The Blue Angels are arguably the best military display team in the world, seen by 11 million spectators each year. Sure, the Red Arrows, Thunderbirds and Russian Knights are great, but when it comes to viewership, the Blues have it on lockdown.

That’s no surprise, however. The Blue Angels have been around since 1946 which is the second longest performing aerobatic team after the Patrouille de France who were flying since 1931. According to research, so far 260 million folks have seen and were stunned by the precision and dedication of the Blue Angels and since they’ve been around for such a long time, they’ve flown various types of aircraft.

We thought it’d be neat to dig up some historical pictures and show you folks all of them, so here we go.

Grumman F6F Hellcat | June–August 1946

Grumman F8F Bearcat | August 1946 – 1949

Grumman F9F Panther | 1949 – Winter 1954/55

Grumman F9F Cougar | Winter 1954/55 – mid-season 1957

Grumman F11F Tiger | mid-season 1957 – 1968

McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II | 1969 – December 1974

Douglas A-4F Skyhawk | December 1974 – November 1986

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A/B/C/D Hornet | November 1986 – present

As an added bonus, we found a drawing by a talented United States Navy artist showcasing all the airplanes on one page and to scale.

Also, if you’re interested, here’s the Blue Angel’s 2018 Schedule. 

As an extra added bonus, here’s a compilation of Blue Angel’s sneak passes from their hometown of Pensacola, Florida.