Blue angles and Thunderbirds

"John" wrote in message
ups.com...
As a small child (as opposed to the big child my wiser friends consider
me to be now), I saw the Blues flying the F-11-F Tiger, and later
several times in the A-4 Skyhawk. I missed the F-4J period completely
. . . but I am told that the show was awesome, especially from the
noise point of view. I did see the Birds in the F-4E's as a teen and
thought they were awesome.

Of all the possible choices, I think an F-8 Crusader team would be a
great mix of maneuverability and noise. I wonder how they would
compare to the current F/A-18's?

Not very good. Wing transition for the diamond T/O would have been
interesting. The show would have been big (real estate wise), almost as big
as the Phantom. The dirty inverted would have been challenging. Dirty
roll on T/O as well. As a form airplane the F-8 was good, not great
(roughly comparable to the Phantom). Of course, smokin' along with the oil
cooler door open woulda made the best kind of music.

The F-11 was the sweetest jet strictly from the form standpoint. Like a
rock on the wing (this from several friends who flew them ... not personal
experience). The A-4 was a great show bird. Tight show. Nice flying
airplane, good T/W.

The F-18 has good T/W, and of course that high alpha capability (watch the
solos AFTER the pass when they're setting up for the next maneuver). Looks
like hard work in the diamond. I've only seen the F-18 show a couple times,
but the Blues have never looked sharp on those occasions. Early in the
season? One of those days? Not that good a form bird? Don't know.

R / John