In the late 1940’s airplanes slowly started to move toward jet engines, along with the rise of the United States Air Force as a separate division of the military. In May of 1953 a flight demonstration team was put together at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. Due to the Native American presence in the area and the sound emanating from the flight team, it was doubly named “Thunderbirds.” Starting with the F-84G Thunderjet the team has gone through a long list of powerful jet aircraft. It is represented today with F-16 Fighting Falcon. The Thunderbirds bring excitement to any event that they perform at and are another group worth watching, just keep in mind they are loud planes!
Images Captured with Nikon D3, AF-S 200-400 VR, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film