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Unfortunatly, being a Brit, I havent seen either either display teams. So I have no ability to chose either based on performance, however, gun to my head, I would chose the thunderbirds due to their F16s. I prefer the F16 over the F18 anyday, I think its a characteristic and interesting looking plane whereas the F18 looks, dare i say, generic?

Plus I have a dislike for the F18 for being one of the bigger nails in the F14's coffin.

I miss you tomcat!

JB

I should say that I have seen the Freece Tricolouri & the french team (tho i cant remember thier name  ??? lol) And of course I have seen the magnificent Red Arrows. But to go with a car analogy, im not keen on the americans 'theres no substitute for cubic inches' philosophy, aircraft, on the other hand, I much prefer the big jets over props, as i prefer an F16 rather than the BAe Hawk. So until I see a british display team using tornados or Eurofighters  (;D) I am not going to say the Red Arrows are better than all!

JB

BTW: I know a BAe Hawk isnt a prop... I just dont see it as a proper fighter jet. In my opinion, a militery jet is nothing without an afterburner or two!

Ah but the hawk is a fighter jet. it is an aeroplane which has a jet engine that is used operationally around the world, just because it isn't as prominent as the Eurofighter.

The hawk is actually better fo a display team, in the same way that the Alphajet is for the French and the Aeromacci for the italians.....they are lightweight and very agile.....the perfect criterii for team aerobatics.

I'd pay more to see a Red Arrows display than a Thunderbirds or Blue Angels display any day, but out of the two I would choose the Blue angels due to the tightness of their formations.

Anyhow, you can't really compare the two as the Thunderbirds demonstrate Power, whereas the Blue Angels demonstrate close formation holding and agility.

.Mic

the red arrows using Typhoon. Now that would be a sight to see Not sure it would look that good in red and white though. That and I dont think there will ever be 9 operational typhoons available at one time.

Plus I have a dislike for the F18 for being one of the bigger nails in the F14's coffin.

There were a lot of nails in there. It was mostly outdated. Some designs though, like the B-52 and C-130 just stick.

The hawk is actually better fo a display team, in the same way that the Alphajet is for the French and the Aeromacci for the italians.....they are lightweight and very agile.....the perfect criterii for team aerobatics.

...and above all else, they are cheap to run compared to a front line aircraft, and unlike certain countries our air force has a tight budget...

Of course, technically the Red Arows Hawks could be made Air to air capable too...

Of course, technically the Red Arows Hawks could be made Air to air capable too...

Isn't there a squadron of them that are essentially a last line of defense for the air to air role, or something like that?

BTW: I know a BAe Hawk isnt a prop... I just dont see it as a proper fighter jet. In my opinion, a militery jet is nothing without an afterburner or two!

I meant by this that I know the BAe Hawk is a militery jet, I am just personally a fan of the more afterburnerish jets

How does the Thunderbird display team show power? or is the shear howl of the F16's engine powerful enought... theyre bloody loud arent they!! I really wish I could see a thunderbird display, I have seen video clips of the blue angels but never of the thunderbirds.

Whats your favorite ever air display youve seen? I loved the Freece Tricolouri flypast at Waddington a few years ago. They flew by with red white and green coloured smoke, they were really tightly packed and left a really bright and dense trail accross the sky that hung around for ages

JB

BTW - Green smoke looks awsome

I much prefer the big jets over props

Then you  are gonna hate the danish display team, Baby Blue!

But just because we are one of the few prop displayers, it doesn't mean that we can't fly formation!!
   

And we can do good stuff too!
   

And all performed by some Instructors in T-17s, that only does this as a hobby (Thats right, we don't do this full time! )

I've seen the Blue Angels perform and the Thunderbirds perform a long time ago.  My memory of seeing the Blue Angels was they were outstanding!  Those guys are quite the professionals, what else can I say?

Last year, I saw a Grumman formation flyby, they flew in eschelon formation.  it was awesome!

FA/18 Hornet, F8F Bearcat, TBF Avenger, and an F6F Hellcat

but alas, no Tomcat or Wildcat.  

I've never seen the Blue Angels as I don't think they display much outside the US. I did see the Thunderbirds once, many years ago, when they had the F-100 Super Sabre if memory serves right. They were very noisy & flew tight formations but my main impression was that they were out of sight for half the display. This was when they were allowed to fly over the crowd & it was quite deafening. I remember another team at the same show used the F-104 on full afterburner. Impressively noisy but hardly entertaining.

I've seen most of the European national teams at one time or another & to be honest I prefer the ones that use slower aircraft more suited to formation aerobatics. My favourites were the Frecce Tricolore before the Ramstein tragedy.

PS. The F-16 is very manoeuvrable. The Belgian Air Force solo display pilot could do his whole display routine within the boundary of Shoreham Airport. Now that was impressive.

F100 Sabres?  You are dating yourself!  

The way they do it now is they will do big formation flying, which obviously needs time to set-up, but often they split up so you always see something.

I've seen both prop demonstrations and jet demostrations.  To me there's no comparion, jets all the way!  

....but I have yet to see a jet fly backwards.  

but if I had a choice of seeing a high-speed pass on full afterburners or a prop plane fly backwards, that's a no-brainer!!!!  Light the candle!  

Isn't there a squadron of them that are essentially a last line of defense for the air to air role, or something like that?

Not as such, but 100 Sqn would come pretty close...

[quote]F100 Sabres?

Have you not seen a Harrier? Now, a Harrier formation team would be worth watching.

LOL!!!  You got me there.  I've seen a U.S. Marine Harrier fly, but never a formation demonstration.

Now I come to think of it the most impressive display team I ever saw was the RAF Firebirds with 9 EE Lightnings.

There's nothing like witnessing the demonstration of raw power in performance!