EntertainmentEvents Calendar

Want to See the Blue Angels Perform Before They Get New Planes?

The U.S. Navy's precision flight team is moving to the bigger, more powerful Super Hornet.

(Photo from Pixabay)

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Find a friend with a boat or house or even office window that looks out across the Annapolis sky or the Baltimore Harbor, and you can still catch the Angels roaring through the sky in their F/A 18 Hornets during 2020.

The Navy recently announced the last shows in our area will be May 20 above the Naval Academy in Annapolis during Commissioning Week, and Sept. 12 and 13 at Maryland Fleet Week and Air Show Baltimore.

To aid safe flight operations and prevent confusion in radio calls, the Super Hornet is informally referred to as the “Rhino” to distinguish it from earlier Hornets. U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Kevin T. Murray Jr. (Released)

The Navy plans to switch from the F/A-18 Hornet to the F/A-18E Super Hornet in 2021 to mark the team’s 75th anniversary.

According to the Navy, the Super Hornet has a 25 percent larger wing surface and can carry more weapons than the Hornet. It can also carry more fuel and has more updated flying equipment.

The Super Hornet will be the tenth different plane the Blue Angels have flown, and the first change since 1986, according to the Blue Angels website. The last one was the McDonnell Douglas A-4F Skyhawk II.

Mary Wadland

Mary Wadland is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of The Zebra Press, founded by her in 2010. Originally from Delray Beach, Florida, Mary is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Hollins College in Roanoke, VA and has lived and worked in the Alexandria publishing community since 1987.

Related Articles

2 Comments

    1. Our intel had the plane before the F18 Hornets as the Douglas A-4F Skyhawk II. We could be wrong. Thank you Richard Leupold for the alert–we will do some further research!

Back to top button