"Pete" wrote in message
...

"Kevin Brooks" wrote in message
...

Granted the majority of the show has to be done at lower speeds, but I
don't
know if they *never* get close to that speed... I remember as a kid
watching
the Thunderbirds every summer at Langley AFB, and one of the features of
their show was the "everybody has their attention on the four aircraft
to
their front, and along comes the solo from behind the crowd screaming
overhead like the hammers-from-hell at *very* high speed" bit. Wouldn't
be
surprised if the solo was not doing every bit of M0.9 (plus) during that
event.

Brooks

I was at the Langley show over the weekend, and they did exactly that.
4-ship moving left to right in front of the crowd. As everyone's attention
was following the team off to the right, Solo comes screaming in from the
left. I don't know about 0.9+, but damn fast.

I'm not sure if I caught his pass on tape, but will be checking tonight.

Haven't seen them in years now. I can remember seeing them as a kid at
Langley, from the time they were flying F-100's and F-4's through the T-38
and into the F-16 era (the last I saw at Kingsport, TN, having left the
Langley area before the transition to the current mount). I went to their
official website and found that they have not uploaded the page on the show
characteristics, so no real info on demonstration speeds are available
there. I did see an interesting photo of a Blue Angels F/A-18 on another
website during the Fort Lauderdale airshow, doing a high speed low altitude
pass with the shock wave being apprently visible towards the rear of the
aircraft, and a notation that he was doing "just under" M1.0...

Brooks

Pete