HISTORY
In 1907
the United States Army was the first branch of the service to establish an
aeronautical division, but in 1912 it was the United States Navy that apparently
first used warplanes to promote its mission at “air shows.” However the
First World War accelerated the development and popularity of aviation and
resulted in an explosion of air shows across the county. The American Navy’s
motivation for its first official flight demonstration team began when Navy
fighter squadron member D.W. Thomlinson attended a Spokane Washington air show
in 1927 and saw the jaw dropping aerobatics of James “Jimmy” Doolittle and
the graceful coordinated routine of the Army’s “Three Musketeers” flight
demonstration team. These Army flyers had completely outclassed the Navy’s
offering at Spokane -- three pilots who had apparently been chosen at random
from three different squadrons. After training in secret in their squadron’s
Boeing F2B-1 fighters, Thomlinson’s Navy team gave its first performance the
next year during a San Francisco air show and was promptly dubbed the “Suicide
Trio” by the press. Desiring to be masters of their own – more reassuring --
name, team members decided to call themselves the “Three Sea Hawks.” Other
teams from other Navy squadrons soon followed under such names as the “High
Hatters,” the “Three Gallant Souls” and the nautically appropriate
“Three Flying Fish.” The Second World War, however, put a temporary end to
Navy demonstration teams – good pilots were needed elsewhere.
After
World War Two ended, the Navy renewed its recruiting strategy to a war weary
nation and sought to extend their search for potential recruits even into
landlocked middle America far removed from coastal bases. This time, however,
the idea for an aerial demonstration team began not at the individual squadron
level but at the top – either the Secretary of the Navy (according to some
historians) or Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Chester Nimitz (according to
the Navy’s official history). Lieutenant Commander Roy M. “Butch” Voris
– a decorated fighter ace with seven victories to his credit – was chosen to
form and train the Navy’s new flight demonstration team. In addition to
recruiting new sailors and showing the public the Navy’s colors, Voris
admitted the new squadron’s mission -- like that of the very first Navy team
decades earlier – was to “beat the Army; then it was the Army Air Forces.”
To do that, he later recalled, they would “have to put a little risk into this
thing” and “give them [the Army] something to jump at.” Voris hand picked
the men to fly and maintain the team’s planes – all bachelors because: “We
were not going to worry about children at this stage of the game.”
The first
flight of the Navy’s “Flight Exhibition Team” was on May 10, 1946 and its
first show was held on June 15, 1946 at Jacksonville Florida. The highlight of
their routine was the shooting down of a “Zero” – actually a SNJ trainer
that would set off a smoke bomb, eject a dummy pilot filled with sand and then
dive to disappear behind some obstacle. Only later did they name themselves
“The Blue Angels” -- reflecting the color of their Navy planes and borrowing
from a classy New York nightclub called the “Blue Angel” which Voris’ wing
man had read about in a New Yorker article.
THE KITS
In my
naive way, I started this project thinking all I needed was to win an E-Bay
auction for the 1970’s era and out of production Minicraft/Hasegawa “Blue
Angels History in Miniature” set. It had five planes used by the Blues
from the 1950’s through the 1970’s in 1/72 scale. (A newer Hasegawa set adds
the present fighter but then deletes one of the earlier planes the
older set had included). After getting the old set, the only thing needed to
be complete would be the easily obtained model and decals for the team’s
current mount that they began flying in the 1980’s … right? NOPE! The
Blues started flying in the 1940’s and have actually flown eight
different aircraft as part of their formation flying: the “history” set
(the old and the new) lacked their first two planes -- the Hellcat and
Bearcat. What follows is a brief description of my overall approach to
building the Angels’ planes, a summary history of their use and the
construction and challenges -- some met better than others – each kit posed.
CONSTRUCTION
Because
from their inception the Blue Angels numbered each team plane with an
appropriate sequential digit painted on its tail, I thought this would be a
convenient device to also show the chronological order of the different aircraft
they used (i.e. “1” would be their first plane the Hellcat, “2” would be
their second the Bearcat, etc.) The problem was that the Blues have flown eight
planes over the years (not counting the F7U-1 Cutlass which was a maintenance
nightmare, never flown as part of the formation demonstration team, used for
only a few months as a side act in the 1952 season, and – most importantly --
for which no model in 1/72 scale could be found), and I could find no evidence
the Blues had any formation flight team plane with any higher number on its tail
than “7” -- and the current “7” is a “two seater“ for public
relations use. Indeed some early Angel transport planes, such as the
Douglas R5D-3 and Lockheed Constellation, were identified with tail number
“8.” Accordingly, I built the Hellcat and Bearcat as plane numbers “1”
and “2” (being the first and second types of piston driven aircraft they
flew) and started over for the Blues jets from 1949 to the present. Yes, my
family would say such obsessiveness is “madness” – but hey, at least there
is a “method” to it.
Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat: 1946
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In 1946
the Angels were allowed to choose from the following available Navy fighters:
FM-2 (a General Motor’s built F4F Wildcat), F4U Corsair, F6F Hellcat and F7F
Tigercat. Voris chose the plane he flew in the war -- the F6F-5 Hellcat -- but
because of the on-going “draw down” of forces during that early post-war
period, he was forced to use refurbished Grummans that had already been through
their operational cycle. Voris however had them modified to reduce their excess
weight by removing such non-essentials as guns, armor and ammo boxes. Because
blue and gold are the Navy’s colors, Voris chose to paint the planes either
insignia blue (according to Voris’ recollection) -- or a “semi gloss sea
blue” (according to other authoritative sources) -- and used actual gold leaf
for the “US (no periods) Navy” written on the fuselage sides and the lower
half of their wings, as well as for the individual team number on the tail and
the appropriate Bureau number. Each plane was then highly polished and waxed to
an impressive shine.
From my
father’s kit collection I had inherited an old MPC F6F Hellcat model that had
an option to be built as the appropriate “-5” variant (supposedly a
different engine cowling and canopy from that of the F6F-3), so it was perfect.
Well, not really. Actually, it’s a terrible model. Ill-fitting seams and wing
joints, absent cockpit and surface detail as well as something the instructions
called “wing plugs” – stumpy substitutes for landing gear – were all a
product of this early era of kit development. My project was turning out to be
“historical” in more than just its subject matter. However, I am sure a
master modeler could make this into an acceptable representation. Unfortunately,
I am not a “master” modeler. My final Hellcat product is both a great
disappointment and the worst plane of the project. A good second market set of
“Blue Angels” F6F decals would have gone a long way to improve it – and a
set did exist once (i.e. Super Scale 72-217), but apparently had been long out
of production and so precious no modeler was willing to rob his stash to sell it
on e-bay. Even then, from web reviews the commercially available decals did not
appear to have been gold leaf colored as accuracy required. Accordingly, I had
to settle for tracing in Testor’s gold enamel (#1144) the compatible decals
that came with the model. Finally, as with all the Blue Angels models, the
Hellcat was finished with Model Masters Gloss Clear Lacquer overcoat (#1961).
To me at
least, accuracy together with proper execution makes a good model. In my
execution of the Blue’s first mount, I find solace only in attempted accuracy.
If I ever run across a good 1/72 F6F-5 with Blue Angels decals – this one is
toast.
Grumman F8F Bearcat: 1946-1949
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In August
of 1946 the Blues apparently had sufficiently proven their worth that the brass
approved their transition to the Navy’s then front line, lighter and more
powerful F8F Bearcat fighter. Unlike the refurbished F6Fs they had been flying
for six months, the Angels pilots this time flew directly to Grumman’s
Bethpage factory, did their last Hellcat show for the workers, and flew off with
their freshly painted Bearcats. Their new planes’ overall paint scheme was
changed to a special shade of blue (FS15050), while a unique yellow-gold paint
(13538) replaced the gold leaf previously used for their insignia – which now
had periods after the “U” and the “S” that preceded the “Navy”
emblazoned on their fuselages and on the undersides of their wings. Though it
came too late to have fought in World War Two (the first F8F squadron was
assigned to the carrier Langley but failed to make it into combat before the War
ended in August of 1945), by 1947 the Navy would be operating 23 squadrons of
Bearcats. Its only actual combat use however would be in South East Asia by
other countries -- France, Thailand and South Vietnam. It was the last of
Grumman’s great piston driven fighters and the Blues would fly it for the next
three years. However, it also was the first plane -- but unfortunately not the
last -- in which an Angels pilot would die. On September 29, 1946, at an air
show at their home field in Jacksonville Florida, a wing tip snapped off while
an F8F was performing a “Cuban 8 with a double roll” causing it to crash and
kill its pilot Lieutenant Robby Robinson.
My model
of the Blue’s second make of aircraft again came from my inherited model
collection, but was somewhat more developed on the evolutionary ladder of model
making technology – Monogram’s F8F Bearcat produced in 1967 (about the year
I started making models with my dad). The simplicity of the model is
demonstrated by the fact the instructions consisted of a single illustration
with minimal directions printed on one side of single sheet. However, the fit
was far better than the Hellcat, with little filling at important points such as
the wing roots and a bit more, though still primitive, cockpit detail (i.e.
there was actually a joy stick and instrument panel, sort of). My research could
uncover no currently available decals depicting the Blues’ Bearcat (though
after I had built it I learned a set could be purchased after all -- Super Scale
Decals 720642). Having learned my lesson with the Hellcat insignia, rather than
try paint I instead bought yellow decals from Aero Master (#72-167) containing
“45 degree ID numbers and letters” which allowed me to assemble Blue Angels
insignia that turned out passably well. The obvious paint choice for this -- and
all Blues planes that followed -- was Model Master “Blue Angels Blue” (4687)
and “Blue Angels Yellow” (4684). Because the Angels’ aircraft were
constantly cleaned and polished, painting did not include weathering and offered
few challenges -- spray paint on blue as a base coat, slap on the decals, touch
them up with yellow and spray with a gloss overcoat.
Grumman F9F-2 (“-5”
variant was later used) Panther: 1949-1954
The F9F-2
was the first jet used by the Navy in the Korean War and, for many, it is
forever linked to one of the best movies about that war -- “Bridges at Toko-Ri.”
The Blues’ use of the Panther however began back in May of 1949, prior to that
“police action,” and just a month after the F9F had first been delivered to
operational squadrons. Indeed, the aircraft was so new the Angels had to build
their own support equipment. Further, the Angels quickly learned their new
higher speed planes prevented the show from being performed as close to the
audience as they had flown the slower piston driven Hellcat and Bearcat. When
the Korean War started the following year, the Chief of Naval Operations decided
the Blues should participate and in July of 1950 they gave their last show
before shipping overseas. On March 8, 1951, the Blues leader -- Lieutenant
Commander Johnny Magda -- was killed when his F9F was hit by anti-aircraft fire
while he was attacking the bridges at the Hwachon Dam. He was the first Blues
commander killed during combat and apparently an inspiration for Michener’s
novel “Bridges at Toko-Ri.” During the squadron’s second tour, the Navy
actually shipped two or three of the Blues’ original Panthers with them.
Later, the Blues as a demonstration team were reformed under their original
commander Voris in June of 1952 and started flying the more powerful F9F-5
Panther. However, the same year of its reformation, several Angels Panthers
collided while performing the four plane diamond formation causing the death of
Blues pilot Bud Wood. Nevertheless, within two weeks, the Angels were back
performing.
In the
same way the real F9F-2 was a dramatic evolution from the F8F, so too
Hasegawa’s Panther contained in the “Blue Angels History In Miniature” set
was a step up the evolutionary ladder from Monogram’s 1967 era Bearcat. No
recessed panel lines yet, but the cockpit had improved (e.g. along with a joy
stick, the ejection seat now looks something like the real thing and the
instrument panel and switches are at least attempted to be illustrated by
decals), the wheel wells at least had some detail, the fit was good, and it even
allowed for the airbrakes to be put in the open position. A little lead weight
in the nose worked wonderfully to keep the Cougar on its tricycle landing gear
and avoid it becoming a tail dragger. Though I’ve read some reviews critical
of the decals for the kit (with which I concur as to some of the later Blues
planes in the set), those for the Angels’ version of the Panther seemed
perfectly acceptable to my uninformed eye. Further, in that the Blue Angels
“set” obviously was simply an amalgam of various prior individually sold
Hasegawa kits, the accompanying decals included not just the “Blue Angels
Panther 1949 Pensacola,” but also a plane assigned to the Marine‘s
“VMF-115 1953, Spring, Korea” and one that flew with the Navy‘s
“VF-123.” I’m beginning to learn how helpful it is to have a decals stash.
Grumman F9F-8 Cougar:
1955-1956
The
Cougar was essentially a variant of the Panther with swept wings (to minimize
the shock wave caused by speeds approaching the “sound barrier”) and a
“flying tail” (to maximize control at those higher speeds), a more powerful
engine (which allowed those higher speeds and required a lengthened fuselage)
but without its characteristic wing tip tanks. The F9F-8 also had a dump valve
in its wingtips, which allowed the Angels to add a new feature to their
acrobatics: they dyed the planes’ fuel and released it at strategic points
during their routine. This achieved the desired result of an impressive colored
contrail tracing the path of the formation during its acrobatics. This also
achieved the undesired result of spreading highly combustible and toxic
vaporized jet fuel on the crowd. Their maintenance crew chief would later devise
the simple solution of pumping smoke oil through a copper pipe running down the
outside the plane’s fuselage ending at the exhaust nozzle and thereby
accomplish the same effect without jeopardizing the masses with a petroleum mist
hazard.
Assembling
Hasegawa’s Cougar was not much different from constructing the Panther.
However, the Blue Angels’ F9F-8 had noticeably more bare metal area on the
wing’s leading edges and over the length of the engine intakes than did the
F9F-2. The base blue coat was spray brushed on and then Testers’ silver
(#1146) was brushed on for the supposedly “unpainted“ and polished aluminum
surface. With the larger metallic area being shown, I realized afterwards how
much more obvious brush strokes can be. By the time I got to the Thunderbird
project my supposed masking “skills” improved (i.e. I actually tried it,
with various frustrating results) because I had no choice -- the Air Force’s
early team planes were almost completely bare metal. However, at this early
point in the project I lived with the silver brush strokes for the Angels
planes. As with the Panther, the Cougar’s decals also included insignia for
two aircraft flown by operational squadrons: VF-81 and VT-26. As with the
Panther, the Angels’ decals were not very flashy nor did they pose much
difficulty. Nevertheless, the many various yellow insignia, serial numbers and
informational stencils looked good against the glossy “Blue Angels” blue
finish.
Grumman F11F-1 Tiger:
1957-1968
Just
before the Blues’ new leader Ed Holly took command in 1957, he had witnessed
an Air Force Thunderbird show demonstrating the capabilities of their
supersonically capable F-100 SuperSabre “and the noise it put out.” He
concluded the Angels’ Cougar had become too long in the tooth: the Navy team
needed an aircraft capable of flying the speed of sound too. As Holly later
explained, Grumman’s supersonic F11F “was a stronger airplane than the
F9F-8, but the burner was the main reason for going to it. The afterburner’s
noise was a crowd pleaser.” (Having attended air shows growing up in the late
1960’s and early 70’s, I have to agree. Just as the spine of a World War Two
buff tingles when a classic war bird’s piston engine is heard coughing to life
and then starting to purr, watching a jet fighter suddenly go vertical, hearing
the boom of its afterburners and seeing yellow flames come out of an exhaust
nozzle is a primordial blue collar pleasure not to be denied.) The power of the
Tiger allowed the Blues show to become more vertical than horizontal and thereby
remain within the area of the airfield. The next year, in an air show attended
by the Air Force General Curtis LeMay, the Navy team introduced its
“back-to-back pass” where two planes fly straight and level down the flight
line but the lower fighter is right side up and the plane above it is up side
down. (Supposedly the proud LeMay threw his ever present cigar down and yelled
“I don’t believe this!”) Though over time three team members -- Commander
Nick Glasgow, Lieutenant Commander Dick Oliver and Lieutenant Frank Gallagher --
would be killed flying the F11F in separate accidents, the team continued to fly
this last Grumman Angels mount for over a decade. Indeed, the Blues flew the
Tiger far longer than it had ever been in operational use with the Navy.
Because
the Angel’s Tiger was the first to use a more elaborate yellow trimmed paint
job, the decals were more of a challenge to apply. This was particularly true as
to the elongated arrowhead on the undercarriage. Hasegawa’s F11F kit -- like
all subsequent models in the “Blue Angels History” set -- did not provide
decals for operational units. Far better, however, the decals instead included
all the options for the Blues’ tail numbers including the stenciled names of
various pilots and their respective plane’s corresponding serial numbers. My
plan for the set dictated that the Tiger be depicted as number “3” (the
third chronological jet flown by the Angels). Coincidentally, this was also the
plane in which Lieutenant Commander Oliver was killed during a 1966 fatal
Toronto air show accident. This allowed the F11F model also to be a memorial to
one of the Angels lost in the line of duty.
McDonnell-Douglas F4J Phantom
II: 1969-1973
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When the Blues
were looking for a new plane to replace the aging F11F, America was deeply
involved in the Vietnam War. Accordingly, the Navy at first was not amenable to
supplying the team scarce front line fighters from its depleted inventory.
Again, inter-service rivalry guided the Blue’s history and provided the brass
the necessary incentive. As the team’s Leader Bill Wheat later explained:
“The way we got the F-4 was that we had heard the Air Force was going to get
them” so he argued up the chain of command that it was not fair the
Thunderbirds alone should have the Phantom: it had originally been designed for
the Navy and it was the Navy which had first deployed it. In response, the Navy
quickly found six “lead nosed” F-4’s (which were being used exclusively
for carrier qualifications and had ballast in the nose rather than weapons and
other combat equipment). With the increase in power of the big aircraft, the
Blues were able to go through their familiar maneuvers in less time and thereby
add more routines to the same 22 minute air show. However, the extra power also
had its drawbacks: during a British Columbia air show one of the pilots
unintentionally exceeded the speed of sound and shattered windows for eight
blocks around the Canadian waterfront. Further, several accidents with the
Phantoms occurred in later years, resulting not only in various severe injuries
but also the death of Lieutenant Larry Watters in a 1972 solo accident and a
fatal mid-air collision the following year that killed Lieutenant Commander Skip
Umstead, Captain Mike Murphy and Petty Officer Ronald Thomas. These tragic
accidents and the energy crisis caused the remainder of the Angel’s 1973
season to be cancelled and the fuel guzzling F-4 to be abandoned as the team’s
plane.
Because
the Phantom was the Blue Angel plane of my childhood (I still remember cupping
my hands to my ears in shock as it unexpectedly thundered from behind the crowd
during an air show), I was particularly eager to build it. Though the fit was
good and posed just a few sanding difficulties, the lack of cockpit detail was a
disappointment: regressing to a more primitive era of modeling, the cockpit was
essentially a tub with molded on beefy ejection sheets. Further, the canopy was
molded in the closed position requiring the old hot X-acto knife trick to
separate it for it to be displayed in the open position like its sister
aircraft. Finally, the slender and elongated yellow decals were frustrating to
get properly applied to the complicated bulbous F-4 shape. This is where I
became acquainted with Testor’s “decal solvent” (880901) and
Microscale’s “Micro Set.” I am not really sure whether these products
actually made any physical difference. Perhaps it was instead the therapeutic
effect of repeatedly brushing them over the model that in time allowed me to
actually position and fit the decals to the plane rather than tear them and wad
them into a collective ball. Nevertheless, the F-4 is my sentimental favorite
and looks threatening even in 1/72 scale.
McDonnell-Douglas A-4F Skyhawk:
1974-1985
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Though
the Skyhawk first flew in 1954, it was still being produced (and would be for
another five years) when the Angels first began flying it. It had carried
nuclear weapons during the Cuban Missile Crisis, provided close ground support
and anti-aircraft suppression in the Vietnam War, was used by the Israelis in
the Yom Kippur War, and would later be used by the British in the Falklands War
and -- long after the Blues transitioned to another aircraft -- it was still
being used by the U.S. in the first Gulf War. Indeed, though the Navy recently
retired it in 2003, a retired Blue Angel Commander has assembled a squadron of
A-4’s for his company that he hires out to provide attacking “adversary”
fighters to oppose current U.S. pilots in flight training. In 1974, however, the
Skyhawk was not the first or even second choice of the Blues -- they had first
requested and been denied both the F-14 and A-7. The A-4 was simply the only
remaining fleet plane that would work for the Angels. Nevertheless, the aging
aircraft was affectionately known as the “Scooter” because of its legendary
maneuverability and ably served the Blues for over a decade. After 12 years of
that duty, however, a mid-air collision during a show in 1985 killed Lieutenant
Commander Robert Gershon and sped up the transition to a more modern Angel mount
in 1986.
The
Skyhawk undeniably well served the Blues and our nation’s defense for decades,
yet to me it is the most ascetically unattractive plane they ever flew.
Nevertheless, in the process of building the model I began to have a grudging
respect -- dare I say affection -- for this little homely plane that can still
out maneuver our most modern combat jets. This sentimentality arose despite the
continuing lack of much cockpit detail -- though unlike the Phantom -- its
ejection seat actually looked much more like the real thing, in a thick 1/72
kind of way. As with the Phantom, the clear part of the canopy was molded shut.
However, this time the hot X-acto trick would not work: the structural remainder
of the canopy had been molded into the fuselage. Hence, the A-4 is the only
Angel plane in the set with a closed canopy. Further, its odd lines made the
application of the now even more elongated yellow striping on the top of the
fuselage even more difficult than it was for the Phantom. Though of questionable
alignment, the decals finally somehow got in place -- just do not look too
closely.
McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18A
Hornet: 1986-present (Now the “Boeing” F/A-18 Hornet)
First
flown in 1978, the Hornet was designed as a “dual role” aircraft -- both
interceptor and bomber. Though capable of speeds just under Mach 2, the Hornet
was engineered to handle well at slow speeds for turning tight so as to get
behind an adversary in a dogfight. Accordingly, the F/A-18 was perfect for
demonstration team work and allowed the Angels to include new maneuvers in their
routine. In 1992, the Blues took a page from the Thunderbirds and for the first
time in decades visited Europe and for the first time ever deployed to once
“iron curtain” countries -- including a flight over of the Kremlin itself!
(The Navy was persuaded in favor of a European tour in part by the manufacturer
who wanted to show their product to both present and future foreign buyers.)
Going into its 20th year with the Angels in 2005, the Hornet has the
longest service record with the team of any other formation plane and one of the
best safety records.
In that
all the other Blues jet models I built were from Hasegawa, it seemed fitting to
conclude with their Hornet kit as well. Having done so, what a difference a few
decades make! The F/A-18 kit was a dramatic contrast from the primitive MPC
Hellcat model. For example the cockpit now includes an ejection seat that is
much more like the full size version, the joy stick is back and relatively
convincing decals make the instrument panels much more believable. The evolution
to the much coveted recessed panel lines is now included and the cockpit not
only can be made in the open position but includes a nice hydraulic strut that
keeps it open. The one construction fault I found, perhaps due to my ham-handed
model making skills, is the poor fit gotten when joining the two fuselage
halves. Instead of the traditional left and right pieces, the kit has top and
bottom pieces. This avoids the need to sand the seam that usually runs down the
middle of the aircraft, but creates a new seam on the complicated sides that is
highly difficult to reach in order to smooth out. The decals again helpfully
provide the serial numbers, tail number and pilot names for each of the six
individual planes in the squadron. My example was of course made as number
“6” -- the sixth jet flown by the Angels. Again, however, the long thin
yellow striping was the greatest challenge for this final Blues mount because it
practically runs the entire length of the rolling fuselage and across complex
surfaces -- including an open canopy. Again, don’t look to hard at the stripe
alignment.
CONCLUSION
Though I
am more proud of how some of these models turned out than I am about others, I
am very satisfied with the overall impact of the project. The challenges were
compensated for by the enjoyment of learning new things bout a massive subject.
Of course, in the interest of fairness, one might ask why did I not consider
also building all the aircraft flown by the Blue's Air Force counterpart --
the Thunderbirds? But that's another story.
Dan
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