the first time i saw the Thunderbirds was in 1969. i was stationed at Laredo AFB. they came in early in the morning flying low over the base in afterburner. landed and parked on the flightline where we could check out the F4-Es. a year later i got to crew the F-4s in vietnam.
During the F-100 and F-4 eras, that was a deliberate thing the Thunderbird did -- they let the slot aircraft's vertical tail remain smudged to show the crowd how close they flew. With the T-38 and later, the slot aircraft gets the tail cleaned as needed. Hey, thanks for watching and commenting.
Mid-90s? I'm not so certain. I would swear I'd seen them at McGuire AFB in New Jersey, circa 1989, flying the F-16s. To cement that memory my wife, my daughter and I tried getting into the Ground Round restaurant in Bordentown, NJ, that day and we had to wait 45 minutes to get a seat from the outflow of airshow patrons that had the same idea. Yes, pretty sure there were F-16s in 1989. A really early memory of the Thunderbirds at McGuire AFB is from the early 1960s when my parents took me to an airshow. Getting on to the base we turned past a large hanger and I recall seeing the colorfully painted tails of the Thunderbirds' aircraft. In memory it strikes me as the tails of F-105s but that is virtually impossible unless they were being held at the base for some reason. My memory is conflicted on this point. I did read that the Thunderbirds used the F-105 for only a very short period. I wish I could be more sure of what I had seen back when I was, probably, eight or nine years old.
the first time i saw the Thunderbirds was in 1969. i was stationed at Laredo AFB. they came in early in the morning flying low over the base in afterburner. landed and parked on the flightline where we could check out the F4-Es. a year later i got to crew the F-4s in vietnam.
Diggit man, Far out! Happening in our scene and it will be psycholovely with a little love inspiration totes. Peace and love, man
The Phantom was THE best jet for the Thunderbirds! After that, they needed to clip baseball cards to the compressor blades to get any noise!
That is groovy man. Just groovy.
I find it funny that no.4's tail got turned pitch-black from No.1's engine exhaust.
During the F-100 and F-4 eras, that was a deliberate thing the Thunderbird did -- they let the slot aircraft's vertical tail remain smudged to show the crowd how close they flew. With the T-38 and later, the slot aircraft gets the tail cleaned as needed. Hey, thanks for watching and commenting.
I swear I saw the F-4 Thunder Birds when I was a wee lad in the mid 90s,
Then they converted to the F-16s
Mid-90s? I'm not so certain. I would swear I'd seen them at McGuire AFB in New Jersey, circa 1989, flying the F-16s. To cement that memory my wife, my daughter and I tried getting into the Ground Round restaurant in Bordentown, NJ, that day and we had to wait 45 minutes to get a seat from the outflow of airshow patrons that had the same idea. Yes, pretty sure there were F-16s in 1989.
A really early memory of the Thunderbirds at McGuire AFB is from the early 1960s when my parents took me to an airshow. Getting on to the base we turned past a large hanger and I recall seeing the colorfully painted tails of the Thunderbirds' aircraft. In memory it strikes me as the tails of F-105s but that is virtually impossible unless they were being held at the base for some reason. My memory is conflicted on this point. I did read that the Thunderbirds used the F-105 for only a very short period. I wish I could be more sure of what I had seen back when I was, probably, eight or nine years old.
i have a modle one of these
lol trying to make the military cool with the kids at a time when the kids were not cool with the military
Every kid I knew was cool with the military