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Here's something to make you feel old...


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The Thunderbirds have now been flying the F-16 (all variants) for longer than they flew every other type they ever flew - combined! First season in the F-16s was 1983. 2015 will mark their 32nd season in the lawn dart!

I remember almost wetting myself when I saw them perform at MacDill in 1983. As petite as the F-16 is, compared to the T-38 it was thunderous!

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Yep. They had F-100Cs and upgraded to D's. I guess you could technically say they did the same with the F-84. Went from the G to the F.

F-84G 1953-55

F-84F 1955-56

F-100C 1956-64

F-105B 1964

F-100D 1964-68

F-4E 1969-73

T-38A 1974-82

F-16A 1983...

I lost track after that.

Edited by Jennings
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Thank OPEC for the switch from the Phantom to the T-38. F-4s drank too much fuel, and if you're old enough to remember seeing the F-4s, you're old enough to remember the miles-long lines to get gas that summer...

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By far IMHO the T-Birds most impressive shows were when they flew the lead nosed F-4E's, you could say in those birds they were "Loud and Proud". The Vipers are good, the Talons left many airshow vets feeling cheated. Any Air Force Base, or any place for that matter they did a show, one of the most highly regarded attractions was their arrival, if you were observant you'd notice the air cleared, and suddenly you heard this resounding "ROAR"; instantly head and eyes turned skyward, and so did a lot of oooh's ahhh's and wows.... :D . Sometimes you got a hint as to the time they were arriving, others times........well :whistle: . I'm sure they got clearance from the powers, but they were low!!!, IDK if it was the same at a civil facility, like Oshkosh though.

Edited by #1 Greywolf
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I was stationed at Nellis (1969-72) where the T-Birds are home-based. I saw the T-Bird F-4E's a lot, especially when they brought one down to the washrack for cleaning. We even got mini airshows sometimes, but not often because they had to close the runway for that.

One of the interesting tidbits about the T-Birds is that they sometimes flew F-4E's painted in a "Euro One" wraparound paint scheme (green and grey, no tan or brown) to practice. I saw some of these camo T-Bird F-4E's in the big field maintenance shop where they were getting repaired after some very close formation flying. One had wingtip damage, while the other had big holes in the side of the fuselage. I have no clue why the T-Birds flew these camo birds...maybe their pretty ones were getting updates or something.

One other item: One day around 1971, the door to the avionics shop where I worked opened and someone yelled in if anyone had any experience working INS on F-4's. One guy in my shop had worked on F-4's at Seymour-Johnson so he spoke up; he was immediately transferred TDY to the Thunderbirds...and we never saw him again!

Edited by Marv
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One other item: One day around 1971, the door to the avionics shop where I worked opened and someone yelled in if anyone had any experience working INS on F-4's. One guy in my shop had worked on F-4's at Seymour-Johnson so he spoke up; he was immediately transferred TDY to the Thunderbirds...and we never saw him again!

Never saw him again ? At Nellis ? Must be the Aliens then.

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Thank OPEC for the switch from the Phantom to the T-38. F-4s drank too much fuel, and if you're old enough to remember seeing the F-4s, you're old enough to remember the miles-long lines to get gas that summer...

Yes, yes I am...

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I was buzzed by the F-100's in the early 60's in Akron Ohio. I still have the image of the four huge round inlets on the roaring monsters coming straight at me.

In 1978 one of my first USAF test projects was cold start testing of JP-8 at Minot in the middle of winter. I worked Tankers, Hill sent a 'hack' F-4E, one of the former T-bird birds now in SEA cammo. Some one remind me of how to post a picture here.

Edited by majortomski
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One of the interesting tidbits about the T-Birds is that they sometimes flew F-4E's painted in a "Euro One" wraparound paint scheme (green and grey, no tan or brown)

this is a Thunderbird 'Lizard', you were saying??

ThunderbirdsLizarda_zps1aa0e862.jpg

Tony

Edited by Snowbird3a
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I saw the T-Birds flying F-100Ds a couple of times, and got to see them in F-4Es once. I remember being rather disappointed when I saw the T-38 show after that. The F-16s brought some much-needed noise back to their performance. I guess I'm old and jaded, because the F-16s don't really do much for me.

Ben

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One of the interesting tidbits about the T-Birds is that they sometimes flew F-4E's painted in a "Euro One" wraparound paint scheme (green and grey, no tan or brown) to practice.

Huh?? Euro I lizard camo didn't even exist as a concept when the T-birds were flying F-4s. Those schemes didn't come into being until the early 1980s, and the T-birds ditched the F-4 at the end of the '73 season. They most assuredly did have some in standard SEA camo. Those are well documented.

Edited by Jennings
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Huh?? Euro I lizard camo didn't even exist as a concept when the T-birds were flying F-4s. Those schemes didn't come into being until the early 1980s, and the T-birds ditched the F-4 at the end of the '73 season. They most assuredly did have some in standard SEA camo. Those are well documented.

Like this: A Thunderbird Lizard Diamond,

ThunderbirdsLizarddiamond_zps002d5082.jpg

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OK gang, I know what I saw and the Thunderbird F-4E's that I saw were wraparound green and grey...no tan or brown. It was unusual because none of us had every seen such a scheme; we were used to SEA camo because that's what was on most of the aircraft there at Nellis at that time, including the F-111A that I worked on. I don't care if the "Euro One" scheme wasn't invented until later, I saw some version of it in 1971 or so at Nellis. That's it from me on this subject. Thanks for all the input.

Edited by Marv
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Sorry Marv, but if you saw such a thing during the Thunderbirds F-4 era, you were the only one who ever saw it, and no one ever photographed it (sound like the SIOP camouflaged B-58). It simply didn't exist. If you can find us a dated photo of a green and grey camouflaged USAF F-4E prior to the early 1980s, I'll believe you. Otherwise it's your memory playing tricks. Nothing personal, but it simply didn't exist at that time. This is very well documented.

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I wouldn't be surprised if evidence of Marv's claims surfaces.... When it comes to music there are sometimes very unusual claims about certain songs being around several years before they were recorded and released and people don't know whether or not to believe the claims. Yet, decades later an audio recording taken from someone's hat surfaces verifying the original claim!

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I saw the T-Birds flying F-100Ds a couple of times, and got to see them in F-4Es once. I remember being rather disappointed when I saw the T-38 show after that. The F-16s brought some much-needed noise back to their performance. I guess I'm old and jaded, because the F-16s don't really do much for me.

Ben

I could have written this word for word except that I saw them in F-4Es twice. To me the F-100Ds were exciting, F-4Es were amazing, T-38s disappointing if not boring, and F-16s were back to exciting the first time I saw them practicing at Indian Springs in 1983. After I'd seen them in F-16s several times I was jaded I guess, and found their show less impressive.

I've seen the F-16s many times and the Blue Angels in their F-18s several times and frankly the Blues fly a more exciting show.

Edited by Scott R Wilson
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I wouldn't be surprised if evidence of Marv's claims surfaces.... When it comes to music there are sometimes very unusual claims about certain songs being around several years before they were recorded and released and people don't know whether or not to believe the claims. Yet, decades later an audio recording taken from someone's hat surfaces verifying the original claim!

I've seen thousands of photos of F-4s including photos of the "lizards" the Thunderbirds trained in, and I agree it seems that Marv is mistaken. Euro-1 gray and green simply didn't exist back in the 1970s. Of course it's impossible to prove a negative, but it's up to Marv or someone else to come up with photographic proof of a Euro-1 painted F-4 from that timeframe. Don't forget they still used white tail numbers and tail codes back then!

Edited by Scott R Wilson
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