Blue Angels plane (?)

Hey all,

this plane arrived yesterday afternoon near my office (Santa Monica Airport).

it's painted in Blue Angels livery but clearly it's not an F-18...was this done by a fan? or is/was it used by the Navy as a trainer for the Blue Angels, etc?

Best as I can tell it's a A4?

also, there's no "N-number"...just a numerical number on the rear of the fuselage.

sorry for the pics through a chain link fence
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It's a L-39

 

are you sure?

I thought about that but I don't think it is...the details aren't right (granted, not much detail in those pics )

 

no, i'm not now that you mention it... The tail looks different than an L-39's.

 

I'm going to say you were right, pretty sure it's an a-4 skyhawk.
http://www.aerospacemuseumofcalifornia.org/museum_aircraft/a4c.html

 

huh, interesting...so it may have actually been a Blue Angels plan after all (?)

 

Not even close...

They wouldn't fly a foreign plane.


A4 Skyhawk, which were actually flown by the Blue Angels... wonder if it's authentic.

Flew in 70's and 80's... would be neat if it was an original.

 

Yeh, A-4. That would be an awesome plane to fly. I wonder if it's airworthy. May be hard on noise in SMO.

 

You'd be surprised how many people own L-39's in the USA and have them painted like the Blue Angles planes...

 

Yep....it's an A-4 Skyhawk....the BA's used them for years after they retired the Phantoms.

 

Do they also have a vette in the garage with "Indianapolis 500 Pace Car" in big letters on the side?


Paint a Czech plane to look like a BA????

 

Brings back lots of good memories of when I was a kid.
Back when the Blue Angels flew F-4 Phantoms.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AyRKskkpbY[/ame]

 

At least I get your sarcasm, not everyone gets mine

 

it miraculously arrived yesterday afternoon (towed into its current location). not sure if its hangared here or not, but yeah I wondered how it cleared sound at SMO.

 

Cool, so it flew in?

Is it a dual cockpit (hard to tell through the fence)?

Can you take a pic with the lens in a hole in the chain link?

 

I have no idea if it flew in. and those pics were taken with my phone, that's the best I could do

just talked to one of the mechanics at the airport, supposedly it's going in to the museum of flight that is re-opening here soon.

http://museumofflying.com/

 

Definitely an A4,

Here's the 4-ship inside the museum at the Pensacola Naval Air Station

http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/ExhibitsAndCollections/Exhibits-(2).aspx
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Guy,

It looks like a "4" on the tail, yes? They use 1 through 6 on the tails.

Was going to say earlier that if it doesn't have an 'N' number, it's probably authentic.

 

yeah, that's good stuff. Thanks for posting.

 

The A-4 is my favorite "Blues" plane.

 

Notice how the leading edge slats are in the up position- on a "regular" A-4, these would be deployed when the plane is on the ground- they are automatic, and extend due to aerodynamic forces on them, and they have to be "tuned" by hand. There are no electronic or hydraulic systems involved. The one problem with this is that each plane's slats, tuned to the plane, would deploy at slightly different times, and change the handling of the plane, as they are supposed to. This can be bad news if you are 3 feet away from another plane, whose slats have not yet deployed.... So, the BA's bolted them in the retracted position to avoid a potential catastrophe. HTH!

 

Thank you... very interesting.

Didn't know they had 'automatic' LE slats.

 

The ME-109 had them in WW2 and sometimes in high G turns they would deploy unevenly and cause a problem. They pop open when some of the airflow under the wing reverses flow and moves toward the leading edge. They open up allowing the flow to go through the slot and over the wing instead of separating and stalling.

 

Awesome place, I went last summer. That A4 Blue Angels display had my full attention for 15 minutes.

 

ME 262 had them, too. I'm not sure if it was an improved design at that point, but I would imagine so.

I think I remember hearing that the A-4 had the longest operational span of any fighter before or after? Sweet looking little plane!