The United States Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team was formed in 1953 at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix, Arizona. The underlying purpose of this flight of Air Force fighter aircraft is to display good will demonstrations to United States citizens, and to world wide audiences, the capabilities of highly qualified pilots and their modern jet fighter aircraft in crowd pleasing formation maneuvers. As with their Navy counterparts, the Blue Angels, these demonstrations serve as a highly productive recruiting tool, enticing young men and women to come on board and pursue a military career that offers a wide variety of flying and support functions. The aircraft used are front line tactical machines that can, on short notice in a wartime environment, quickly resume their primary fighter and bomber type missions for which they were designed.
The Thunderbirds have progressed through a variety of aircraft over the years. Beginning with the straight wing F-84G “Thunderjet”, the team then used the F-84F “Thunderstreak”, a totally different swept wing aircraft both produced by Republic Aviation. Two versions of the North American F-100 “Super Sabre”, the F-100C and F-100D models, were flown for many years. The Republic F-105D “Thunderchief” was used for a short term, to be followed by the F-4E McDonnell Douglas “Phantom II”. The next aircraft was the Northrup T-38A “Talon”, a smaller but highly maneuverable craft that has trained and continues to be used as a training vehicle for a multitude of Air Force pilots in their advanced training. For a long period and continuing to this day the Thunderbirds fly the General Dynamics F-16 “Falcon”, a beautiful jet fighter that performs a variety of impressive maneuvers.
Air show demonstration performances by the Thunderbirds, the Blue Angels, and the Army’s Golden Knights are all at no cost to the viewers. The Golden Knights are the only Department of Defense recognized precision parachute team. They routinely perform a crowd pleasing display of parachuting, using smoke trails and unfurling a huge United States flag as the Star Spangled Banner is being played to the attending crowd. Free admission to the public for attendance at these air shows is in line with being good will ambassadors and is in effect a return to the taxpayers of this country.
Pilots and support personnel volunteer for the Thunderbirds elite mission and are selected through a rigorous screening process. Their annual schedule will provide demonstrations at air shows around the globe and the time away from their permanent home base at Nellis AFB, Nevada is so extensive that the wives of members must concur with the awarding of a position on the team. Members are changed routinely, with generally no member staying longer than two years. The pilot cadre support the six aircraft, with a spare available for fill in situations, and another pilot serving as the air show announcer. Enlisted personnel meticulously maintain the aircraft, with their ground support activities a source of pride and military protocol. No air show has ever been canceled due to aircraft mechanical problems.
After less than two years at Luke AFB, the Thunderbirds moved to Nellis AFB which has been their home base since. In 1955 the team made a dramatic return to their point of origination. One late afternoon I happened to be on the ramp at Luke, standing under the wing of an L-20 “Beaver” aircraft which had been transport for five young officers that had performed gunnery range duty on the Gila Bend Gunnery Range Complex in southwest Arizona. At that time the Thunderbirds came out of the northwest, unannouced to anyone but the Luke control tower. The four F-84F’s in tight formation made a low altitude high speed pass over Luke. Their sonic boom reverberated over the base and, as I later found out, was the cause of some extensive glass breakage at the base Officer’s Club. At the time a sonic boom pass was part of their demonstration, but at a later date was forbidden.
Having been a career Air Force pilot and with extensive flying experience in six of the aforementioned eight aircraft that the Thunderbirds have flown, I possess a strong attachment to this demonstration team and its mission. It has been my pleasure to observe the Thunderbirds aerial demonstration at several bases on numerous occasions. I have been able to position my family at strategic locations on Air Force bases, that has afforded a better than average vantage point from which to observe the air show. At Luke AFB in the mid 1960’s, while serving as a flight gunnery instructor, I had two of my students, both graduates of the Air Force Academy, go on to become members of the Thunderbirds demonstration team in later stages of their careers.
In 1958 I, along with three other Lieutenants, were sent on temporary duty to Perrin Air Force Base in Sherman, Texas to participate in an advanced instrument flying training course. This was one of many such short term courses that young pilots would be exposed to in the interest of enhancing their careers and to entice long term service wearing the military uniform. The Thunderbirds made an appearance at an air show at Perrin during that time. We frequently would be scheduled to perform duty within the Runway Supervisory Unit (RSU), where control of the takeoffs and landings would be under direct control of the RSU rather than through the control tower. From this position, normally located abeam the touchdown point between the two parallel runways, the traffic could be observed and controlled from a more advantageous location. Proper traffic pattern procedures, safe flying operations, approved radio phraseology, and assurances of landing profile (gear and flaps extended), could better be observed from this up close and personal position. A more senior pilot would be the chief controller handling the radio and another pilot would be the safety observer and would record the landings, and if necessary make notations to be relayed for flight debriefings.
On this date, since the Thunderbirds were scheduled to perform, all other traffic was at a standstill; nonetheless Squadron Operations scheduled the manning of the Runway Supervisory Unit in the same manner. I was assigned that duty, but knew I would be doing little with only the Thunderbirds flying. I did not object since I knew the observation of the air show from that point would be interesting. The radio frequency that the Thunderbirds would be using was known by me and I selected that frequency prior to their departure. Since they had not had the opportunity of any previous practice over Perrin, they departed and spent a few minutes outside of normal viewing before they began the actual demonstration. I knew they would shortly be inbound but I did not know from what direction.
The runway unit was a relatively small square shaped mobile vehicle capable of being moved from one end of the runway to the other. Totally surrounded by glass so that aircraft could be viewed in any direction, this particular unit was rather old and I noticed a small triangular section of glass was broken on the base of one window pane. The glass was still in place but the cracks were obvious and should have been repaired. I monitored the Thunderbirds as they maneuvered some distance from Perrin, and listened to their rather infrequent interflight communication.
Expecting the arrival soon, I was nevertheless shocked and temporarily deafened as I was greeted by the solo member of the team making a high speed super sonic run right down the runway within five hundred feet of the RSU. This was just prior to the mandatory stoppage of super sonic flight at all of the Thunderbirds’ demonstrations. As I whirled to follow the single F-100D breaking the sound barrier (the speed of sound is approximately 760 mph at sea level) the triangular piece of glass fell from the glass wall. Through sheer luck I was able to position my camera and shoot a photograph of a fast moving jet aircraft as it became a smaller and smaller profile within the area of the triangle where previously a piece of glass had been.
The main four ship F-100 Thunderbird formation then arrived and displayed their varied array of maneuvers that delighted the crowd. But none had my vantage point, and certainly no one had been privileged to view the action caused by a super sonic jet and a piece of glass.
Wings Over Cumberland 