Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, and more - Operation America Strong Flyovers

Discussion relating to 2020 airshows/fly-ins/exercises/other events. Post news before the event and post your photos afterwards! Please create only one thread per event.
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RyanS
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Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, and more - Operation America Strong Flyovers

Post by RyanS » Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:41 pm

A little back story, there was a post on Sunday that outlined a massive series of flyovers all around the country saying the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels would be teaming up to honor heath care and essential workers just like the Thunderbirds have already done in Las Vegas and Colorado. I know they have no airshows to perform at, but this seemed pretty farfetched.

Yesterday, nine Thunderbirds showed up to Pensacola and thing started to add up. We outlined some of the evidence here:

https://airshowstuff.com/v4/2020/thunde ... e-country/

Today, the two teams are flying around Pensacola for some photo ops:

Last edited by RyanS on Mon Apr 27, 2020 6:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by RyanS » Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:42 pm

Here's a couple more awesome angles:





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Post by RyanS » Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:45 pm

This photo is also going around, outlining a Wednesday flyover of the East Coast. This is not quite in line with what the initial post said, but pretty close. I've also heard that four KC-10s are lined up to provide gas to the jets on Wednesday.

I can't promise this bulletin is real, but it seems like it probably is.
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Post by RyanS » Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:47 pm

You may notice we are being a bit coy about what the actual list of cities looks like. That's for two reasons - the teams obviously do not want it posted at this point so we are following their wishes. Also, it does not seem to be 100% accurate. It is likely that the plan has changed, possibly significantly, since that was posted.

I will continue to post rumors, informed speculation, and evidence here and share any further facts as they are made available.
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Post by RyanS » Tue Apr 21, 2020 7:09 pm

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Post by RyanS » Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:21 pm

Looks like reports of a Wednesday flyover might not be true:



We'll see if this is accurate.
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Post by RyanS » Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:01 pm

This whole flyover plan has been confirmed at a White House press conference today. It is called Operation: America Strong and will feature Blue Angel and Thunderbird presentations at cities around the country

If that wasn't exciting enough, the Thunderbirds have been seen using colored smoke (!!!!!) over Pensacola today!!

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Post by Adam » Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:49 pm

That coloured smoke looks great! It'd be fantastic if it were to become a part of their show, after all this blows over.

But as a cautionary tale, the last time an F-16 team tried out coloured smoke, everyone got very excited, until it suddenly emerged in test runs that the kind of red dye they were using was damaging plants, and the whole idea had to be dropped. I know of another civilian team who tested red smoke to match a sponsor's colours and just ended up staining their aircraft pink and clogging up their smoke system, and it took several weeks to clean up the mess. I'm no expert on airshow smoke - I don't know if the particular product they are using is an established one, or how advanced the team's testing is, but I do hope this is ready for its public debut soon, as it's a great addition to any show.
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Post by RyanS » Thu Apr 23, 2020 8:20 pm

Heads up South Carolina!
To say a heartfelt 'Thank you' to the health care professionals and first responders across the state, on Monday, April 27 the Swamp Fox will fly over hospitals in the state. This is part of Operation American Resolve to salute those at the forefront of the COVID-19 response. Look up and wave and if you get a photo post on social media and tag it with #AFFlyover or #AirForceSalutes.
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