The "Black Tail" Phenomenon
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 7:53 pm
I was looking through some old photos of the Thunderbirds, and I discovered this "Black Tail." To shorten the story, it turns out that the exhaust from the old jet engines would get all over #4's tail. People seem to have thought that the tails were painted black, but they just weren't cleaned and polished after every show. That stopped when the team transferred to the more efficient T-38 Talon, after the oil crisis.
A photo of the "Black Tail" Phenomenon can be seen here while the Thunderbirds were using the F-4 Phantom.
A photo of the "Black Tail" Phenomenon can be seen here while the Thunderbirds were using the F-4 Phantom.