Blue Angels
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The Blue Angels, formally named the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, are a flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy. Formed in 1946, the unit is the second oldest formal aerobatic team in the world, after the French Patrouille de France formed in 1931. The team has six Navy and one Marine Corps demonstration pilots. They fly the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets along with a Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules
The Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornets "1–4" fly in a tight diamond formation, maintaining 18-inch (0.5 m) wingtip-to-canopy separation
Blue Angels' Marine Corps Lockheed C-130 Hercules "Fat Albert" conducting a RATO (rocket-assisted takeoff)
Water condensation in the strake vortices of a Blue Angels Hornet
Lieutenant Commander Tyler Davies, Lead Solo (No. 5), with his crew chief
Grumman F6F Hellcat
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The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second half of the Pacific War. In gaining that role, it prevailed over its faster competitor, the Vought F4U Corsair, which initially had problems with visibility and carrier landings.
Unpainted XF6F-1 prior to its first flight (1942)
F6F-3 aboard USS Yorktown has its "Sto-Wing" folding wings deployed for takeoff (circa 1943-44).
An early F6F-3 in blue-gray over light gull-gray (1943)