Take the Airailimages time machine back to the 1950s for this great color movie coverage of an Air Force air show: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n7qdo8uYz7fSlnU.html

What a rare treat to see the Blues during the time when they were flying the Bearcat, aka, the "Jellybean", and to see four FH-1 Phantom-1s in flight, is also another rare treat.

airailimages is never disappointing with it's content. This is utterly fantastic footage.

This film is treasure for military aircraft fans.

The good old days.. There's nothing better then going back in time. My Dad used to " Rest his Soul " take me to many of air shows. Here in PA we would go to the Mid Atlantic Air Museum for the World War II weekend. Every first weekend in June this event is held in Honor of D-day. Something that every War puff should see. He always told that if it doesn't have a Propeller. It's not a Airplane !! Enjoy and Remember the Past before it is Lost !!! 👍💪✌✌

aircraft you don't often see in color. thank you, airailimages.

Those days, Those days,Where days of those beautiful machines.

Thanks for all the time spent going through the National Archives to find this amazing footage. I liked the Blue Angles even before they learned to use smoke. lol

Thanks for sharing. I was a little too young to have enjoyed the show, I have a picture of me in a baby stroller just like the one photographed. I enjoyed the white shirts and old cars and the aircraft was new .Photography has sure improved today but the now vintage planes sure looked great ! Thank you for the trip to the past and get the chance to see something I missed. Please keep up the excellent work.

Wow, so cool to see my back yard the way it was...a fully staffed and running naval base.

Fantastic footage ! What a time capsule of memories ! Thanks for all your efforts bringing this to us.

Such spectacular footage...what a glorious time to've been alive!

NAS Grosse Ile, the name and place brought back old memories for me. I began my Naval Aviation career there back in the 60's. It is where I took the qualification test to be accepted for pilot training and entrance to AOCS at Pensacola and the rest is history, retiring near thirty years later and even that is history now. Watching the Blues again brings memories, of course, the aircraft are different but the mission remains the same.

Too bad those quantities of aircraft do not exist. Those navy planes all parked like they were on a flat top. Pretty awesome. Thanks. That would have been great to be there. Thanks for the trip back in time👍🏻👍🏻

At 2:00 in you can see some Corsairs warming up right behind a couple Hellcats. My late father was in one of those Corsairs.

I think it would be neat, if 4 current flying F8F's would replicate the 1948/49 Blue Angels routine, in future airshows.

WOW, great film footage! Looks like Navy Day with all the navy blue, and that line of what looks like Avengers, must be forty of them. Not to mention all the Tigercats as well, great job!

I was at that air show, my father was stationed there and we lived on base.

I was treated to the sound of multiple radial engines burbling on the flight deck of the USS F.D. Roosevelt in 1974, during carrier quals. The orchestra was a squadron of "Stoofs" I believe of VS-31. (R-1820's) Ahh that sound!

Saw the Blues in the summer of ‘46 at Sand Point, NAS Seattle. I think they hadn’t transitioned to the F8F yet but were still performing in F6F’s. I do remember the yellow SNJ that was supposedly representative of an enemy and following a brief dogfight would depart with smoke trailing.

blue angel #4 needs to take archie bell's advice: tighten up!

Great stuff. There's an F9F Panther taking off at 8:14, but doesn't seem to feature anywhere else in this clip. The FH Phantoms seem quite the pedestrian jets (underpowered as they were) - barely quicker than the Bearcat! But the Navy apparently took some pride in having them judging by the promotional mock-up at 1:12.

This is an amazing piece of rare video history - in colour AND in SUCH good condition too ! 😃 Not only the Blue Angels in Bearcats (plus their yellow SNJ) but also some great early footage of "The Flying Professor" Dick Schram, performing in his yellow Piper Cub ! He went on to become rather famous on the airshow circuit for this routine, until he was sadly killed in 1969. But arguably even rarer than film of the Blue Angels Bearcats, are the "Marine Phantoms" team, in the four-ship of FH-1's ! 😲 Perhaps after seeing this, it's hardly suprising that the Blue Angels soon transitioned to F9F-2 Panther jets in mid-1949, given how fast and dynamic the Marine Phantoms were - and how tight their diamond was too ! By deduction, I believe this film dates to 1948 : The Blues were certainly in the last Bearcat colour scheme and their SNJ wears the blue "U.S. Navy" markings, introduced in 1948.... But the SNJ itself was replaced by an all-yellow Bearcat in 1949. The colour scheme of the Marine Phantoms in this film would appear to clinch it - the white numbers/letters and minimal white nose trim were standard markings which they only wore for their first season, 1948 - in 1949, they had special yellow markings applied on the nose, rudder and wingtips. Fantastic footage - thanks for posting ! :-)

The good old days when the crowd use to be able to get right next to the runway and feel the power the planes flying right over you. Today they are so far away you loose that.

My dad grew up in Lincoln park and probably went to this air show. Thank you for sharing

Wonderful trip down memory lane. Such beautiful aircraft. But what was the enchanting soundtrack? That music was the perfect selection for the video. What was that music?

Very cool video. At about the 2:48 mark, a Lockheed P2V-1 Neptune can be seen taking off with JATO assist. I was thrilled to see this, as my late father flew on Neptune's during the Korean War as a radar operator, searching for enemy submarines. Thank you so much for posting this!

In late 1970 I had the opportunity to meet Lyle Shelton, owner of a modified F8F he named "Rare Bear". I was in uniform with another Naval Aviator in Eddie Arcaro's Steak House restaurant in Queens, and he came over to talk with us. During our conversation, he told us about his recently acquired F8F and his plans to make a "hot rod" out of it, take it to Reno, etc. I understand those plans worked out pretty well !!

Terrific video takes me back as a kid.Those were our greatest days .

Simply vintage.

I noticed the Westinghouse J30 engines in the FH-1's were smokeless, a rare situation for the early jet engines of all types.

airailimages thank you so much for posting this! Always wondered what the BA prop plane routine looked like, and here it is! First time I saw BA in person was 1961 at Pt Mugu Spacefair flying F-11 Tiger jets.

love the roll to the left @ 7:01 starting from the finger 4 position transitioning into single file during the barrel roll and back into the original finger 4. So well done. Martin Mauler @ 8:09

Fantastic images.

Wow, great video, I love seeing the old warbirds at airshows, to think that those same old retired birds I love watching today were still in service on the day that airshow was filmed is mind blowing. Thanks you for showing this achived footage.

Love the Hellcat, engine running while on jacks!

Freaking Awesome! and back when you could get close to the action, too! Thanks much for upload!

My real name is Michael McCluskey. I'm number 903 on the thumbs up. Yes, I'm already subscribed to this channel and have been for quite awhile!

Great Thanks, Least said!!!

Love this avaiation video! Especially Blue Angels stationed in Pensacola, FL NAS

Thanks again for all you do and the great video! It's really neat to see the Blue Angels flying prior to the jet aircraft era. As always, God bless you and yours. 😊👍🇺🇸

Pop's was a rear seater in the Helldiver, VB-75. Plank holder on the FDR CV-75. He flew in 3 Memorial Parades, Navy Day, 1 for Nimitz and FDR's Funeral. He ended up flying off the FDR's and into the sea when the Catapult broke in the FFR's maiden voyage.

Earliest color footage I've ever seen of the Blue Angels.

Impressive to see this footage!

Look at all the warbirds parked at 8:23 - 8:27 during the flyby! DAMN!

Saw the Blue Angels at Grosse Isle NAS with the Grumman Tigers about 1961-2 or so . The main attraction was a Mercury capsule! I think I was 10 back then Still had the mad professor and the Cub act. Ray Lane flew his P-51. Big time fun!

My Dad, Lt. Martin Gellart, had a Bearcat take him off the runway on roll out of a landing on summer work ups. Was headed for the river, but had the airframe flip over in a freshly cut down tree line.

Thx for posting!

Awesome footage. The halcyon days of the United States and naval aviation.

The blues obviously tightened things up since then, 4 is consistently out of position.

Awesome footage. Thank you

Wow.

So…..many……Hellcats…….and…….Corsairs……🤤

As much as things change they stay the same. The prop plane with the jet assist take off is still done today at the blue angels shows. “Fat Albert”

Did my flight training on those very same runways. Nice memories

I must've been 5 or 6 years old, when I first saw them in the very early 1960s.....at an airshow in my hometown of Santa Rosa, CA. It wasn't until sometime in the early 1980s that I heard of the Thunderbirds. They were flying the T-38 Talons. Sleek little jets. Now I live in Reno....& one of the two teams show up at the Air Races every year. .

Blue Angels first flew in 1946. Because of the TV cameras and the FH-1 Phantom jet, I’m guessing this was 1949. Preceding the Korean War in 1950.

An engine running gear swing! Now that's something!

Wow! Really amazing collection of Naval Aviation at this air show! Dawn of the Blue Angels and Carrier based jet fighters. Hellcats, Corsairs, Catalinas, Bearcats and did I see some Skyraiders?

This is awesome to watch the beginning of the Blue Angels in Bearcats. One thing for sure the planes may have changed but not the bravery of the pilots flying wing tip to wing tip

Really good history, Fred. Bet you had to go through a few dust bins to find this gem! I'd be happy if the Blues still flew Bearcats...Just sayin'. Great job on a neat old film.

There is a plaque at the old base with names of some of the men that served at one time or another. If interested contact the Grosse Ile Historical Socity. Also listed are some of the men who died during training there.

This Is Some Great Stuff And I Can't To See More Videos Like This 👍 👍

Father-in-law was stationed there after Korea till 1963. Medical Dept.

Some say that pilotless red hellcat is still sitting on the ramp, engine running, cycling it’s gear waiting for people to see!

Where on Grosse Ile was this air base located? I worked as a caddy at the country club located there in the late 1960's early 70's. Used to ride my bicycle all over the island, never saw any signs of the large airbase.

I would never stand anywhere near a plane on jacks with the engine running !

Could the orange hellcat possibly be a drone display as it's running and cycling the gear with no pilot

Would be fun to see how un-developed the Florida panhandle was back that compared to what it is like now.

Those F6Fs had no radar....reserve unit? That orange F6F likely met an untimely end....

At 2:51 was that a Neptune or a Martin Mercator

Looks like 1948..?

It's not a Blue Angels film without Van Halen's "Dreams" playing in the background!!!!😃😃😃😃😃

At 8:09, that’s a Martin AM Mauler, isn’t it?

Why downvote?

God I wish we would have kept more warbirds from getting scrapped. A P-38L, P-51D, Hellcat, Me 109 k-4, Fw 190D-9, etc would look great in my hanger. Lol and if I had a hanger.

I think that the FH-1s outflew the Blue Angels!

More KZfaq gold…….

judging by the banshee fighter this must have been the early-mid 50s.