Stunning Pictures Of All The Aircraft Ever Used By The Blue Angels Past And Present
USN / Public Domain
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.
