How do the Thunderbirds planes travel?The United States Air Force Thunderbirds are the air demonstration squadron of the United States Air Force. The squadron performs precision aerial maneuvers demonstrating the capabilities of modern fighter jets.
It is the Air Force’s oldest official flying demonstration team having been organized in 1953.The Thunderbirds are assigned to the 57th Wing and are based at Nellis Air Force Base Nevada. The Thunderbirds are the third United States military aviation team to be designated as a squadron and the first to be named after a specific aircraft.
The Thunderbirds are scheduled to perform at approximately 30 air shows in the United States and Canada each year. More than 11 million people see the Thunderbirds each year.The squadron’s name is taken from the legendary creature that appear in the mythology of several indigenous North American cultures.
The Thunderbirds pilots fly the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon and previously flew the Northrop T-38 Talon. The F-16 is a single-engine fighter aircraft originally designed as an air superiority day fighter and has since evolved into a successful multirole aircraft. The T-38 Talon is a twin-engine high-altitude supersonic jet trainer used in a variety of roles because of its design which includes front-line fighter pilot training electronic warfare and reconnaissance.
The F-16 and T-38 are both highly maneuverable aircraft and the Thunderbirds take advantage of this capability by flying a variety of Close and High show formations. The team typically flies between five and six aircraft during their demonstrations and for some maneuvers the entire team may fly as close as 18 inches (46 cm) apart.The Thunderbirds are the first military jet demonstration team to fly the Diamond an echelon formation with all four aircraft on the same horizontal plane wingtip to wingtip.
The team’s show season runs from March to November and each team member spends about two weeks every year in training for air shows. The pilots maintain their proficiency by flying and practicing formation flying and they also spend time on ground school to keep up with the latest fighter aircraft and weapons systems.The Thunderbirds typically fly over 50 demonstration sorties per season and they have performed more than 3800 flybys since the team’s inception in 1953.
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