View & Download over 25 new screenshots (16:9 desktop wallpapers in 1920x1080 resolution) featuring the vintage T-38 by visiting our gallery.
Click: 1) Main menu; 2) Lock On Screenshots, and; 3) T-38 -->
Click the image below to open and browse our gallery.
You can also visit our Facebook page to view these screenshots in low resolution.
3D model by Blaze
First, let me take a moment and mention that the Virtual Thunderbirds, LLC are proud to announce the T-38 Talon by Anthony Echavarria (a.k.a. Blaze) who has graciously donated his free time to provide us with this beautiful 3D model. On behalf of the entire team, Thank You Blaze!!!
Click on the image to download a 1920x1200 wallpaper-sized render.
The Talon era
The Thunderbirds performed in the T-38 between 1974 and 1982. In 1976 the team had two solos for a six ship demo for the first time since the fuel crisis, but in 1977 the team went back to flying only five ships in their demo with #6 being the "Logi" (Logistics Officer - nowadays knows as the Operations Officer), and #7 the Narrator. The 1976 season in particular has some interesting facts during the T-38 Talon era. In 1982, the Thunderbirds suffered a catastrophic loss, occurring during pre-season training on January 18. While practicing the four-plane loop, the formation impacted the ground at high speed, instantly killing all four pilots: Major Norman L. Lowry, Captain Willie Mays, Captain Joseph N. "Pete" Peterson, and Captain Mark Melancon. This tragic accident that cancelled the entire show season for the Thunderbirds and ended the Talon's era with the Thunderbirds.
In tribute to these courageous men who sadly and suddenly lost their lives on the morning of January 18, we're introducing the T-38 Talon in our hangar to once again bring back to life a time that was abruptly ended 28 years ago this coming week. Below you'll find a little history about the "Talon years" and the sad ending.
- 1974
- Transition to T-38A Talon
- Female assigned to team
- First T-38A air show - Paine Field, Washington
- 1975
- Introduction of music to air show
- Organization of TBAA
- 1976
- Thunderbirds become the official Bicentennial organization; aircraft display American Revolution Bicentennial Insignia (1776-1976) on vertical stabilizer instead of the numbers
- Dual solo returns for 1976 show season
- 2000th air show - Mt. Home AFB, Idaho
- Team exceeds 100 air shows in single year - 102
- Second Solo, Lacy Veach #6 (and #5 in 1977) later becomes the second Thunderbird to become an astronaut, flying two space shuttle missions, STS-39 and STS-52
- 1977
- Team celebrates its silver show season - 25th Anniversary
- 1979
- Dual solo routine returns to show
- 1981
- Capt. Nick Hauck fatally injured during an air show at Hill AFB, Utah
- Lt. Col. D.L. Smith fatally injured departing Cleveland, Ohio, cancelling the remaining show season
- Unknown at the time, last official air show in the T-38A - Cleveland, Ohio
- Maj. Norm Lowry becomes Commander/Leader
- 1982
- Diamond crash fatally injures Maj. Norm Lowry, Capt. Pete Peterson, Capt. Willie Mays and Capt. Mark Melancon during training at Indian Springs, Nevada (Thunderbirds lose six pilots in less than nine months during 1981-1982)
- Announcement of transition to F-16A
- No official show season, first F-16A air show - Langley AFB, Virginia 1983
Diamond 82 by Charles Mavoujian
Excerpt from "We Rode the Thunder: The Autobiography of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds":
"Everybody? It Was the Whole Diamond?"
-Jim Jannette, Public Affairs Officer
"I sat there with my finger on the telephone switch button, my other hand holding the handset. Bob Fleer's voice now rolled through my mind, bringing with it familiar dread. His voice had been tight and controlled. Always before when he wanted to talk, he'd blow into my office, comfortable I'd never consider him intruding. This time he asked me to come downstairs. I didn't want to move, my finger planted on the button to hold the world away.
The know in my chest tightened as I descended the stairs to the maintenance offices. We had lost Nick Hauck and D.L. Smith only months ago, and it's what Bob did not say that told me we had just added another name to the list. The third pilot in five months. Once more knock on a family's door. Another wife crying in my arms. A child looking lost...a smaller one confused. I had become an expert I didn't want to be.
Bob sat behind his desk, his face hardened like a thespian's mask, his eyes focused somewhere beyond. The mask said, "Sit down, Jim."
"Who was it?"
He broke his stare and focused on me. "It was everybody."
"Everybody?"
"It was the whole Diamond."
It was overwhelming and incomprehensible. To have lost Nick and D.L. in separate accidents was terrible enough. Now to lose all four of our diamond pilots, wonderful young friends and teammates with so much life ahead of them. I trembled with fear and sorrow. All those dreams and hopes we had shared were now forever shattered. Six pilot deaths in seven months! I remember our flight surgeon, Captain Sue Tilton, and Chaplain Ben Perez immediately coming to the squadron. We made plans to send someone personally to each of the pilots' homes. We made it before the accident made the news.
To fully appreciate the gravity of this terrible tragedy, it's important to amplify on what preceded this accident. In May, second solo Nick Hauck died when his T-38 stalled and crashed during the hi-lo maneuver at Hill AFB, Utah, on Mother's Day. Just a brief four months later, Lt. Col. D.L. Smith died in Cleveland, Ohio, as he in #1 and Jim Jiggens in #2 were taking off for Sheppard AFB, Texas, following what some still recall as the team's best ever aerial demonstration over a three-day Labor Day weekend show. D.L.'s aircraft ingested seagulls. The engines stalled. He ejected, but he didn't get a good chute. His backseater and crew chief, Dwight Roberts, ejected safely. The show season ended.
We were already well into the process of selecting D.L.'s replacement when he crashed. Following the accident, Major Norm Lowry came onboard immediately as our new Commander/Leader. At Colonel Smith's funeral, Major Lowry stood in the #9 position and wore his blue service uniform rather than the Thunderbirds flight suit, paying tribute to the fallen Commander/Leader, waiting for D.L.'s final good-bye before taking his place as the new lead.
Norm sensed the sad, demoralized, but still proud bunch we were. He brought fresh enthusiasm, a warm smile and the brightest blue eyes ever to wear the Thunderbird patch. He had self-confidence without arrogance. he led by example, by enthusiasm and by the ability to make the right decision day in and day out, whether on the ground or in the air. Considering our tragedies and the challenges we faced, Norm Lowry was unmistakably the perfect leader. We saw our new Diamond as the opportunity to put the 1981 tragedies behind us and be the team we knew we could be. Our optimism was sky high.
Later, as Norm, Steve Chealander, Pete Peterson and I went to ICAS for the annual gathering of the air show industry, I remember the pure joy Norm brought to that conference. Being a Thunderbird was as natural to him as breathing. At the conclusion of the conference, we stood silent and tired in a long line at the New Orleans airport, thinking of home. Norm saw some young boys about the age of his sons. He took off for them, his three-folds and pen in hand. His spirit infected us, and, in a flash of time, our suitcases scattered the terminal floor as we gave the youngsters a variety of Thunderbirds public relations materials. It didn't matter where Norm stood; he stood as a natural Thunderbird.
At one point in the training season, Norm's oldest son Jason said he worried about his dad's safety. Norm brought him to the squadron, had him attend a mission briefing, watch the practice mission, and, finally, sit through the flight's debriefing. Jason's dad gave him the kind of personal tour only a Commander/Leader can give. Two days later, Norm Lowry was gone."
Check-Six.com wrote:The Thunderbirds' "Diamond Crash"
At Indian Springs Auxiliary Air Base, Nevada
January 18, 1982
A New Leader...
On September 8, 1981, the commander of the Thunderbirds since 1979, Lt. Col. David L. Smith, 40,was taking off in his T-38 Talon when, shortly after departure from Burke Lakefront Airport, it ingested several seagulls, stalling the engines. Hundreds of spectators and countless downtown office workers watched in horror as the jet plunged downwards toward Lake Erie. Luckily, Smith and Staff Sgt Dwight Roberts, 31, the crew chief riding tandem behind him, both ejected from the plane.
But Smith's ejector seat chute did not have time to open, and he impacted on rocks next to the lake and rolled into the water, killing him instantly.
With the loss of their leader, and with the approach of autumn, the 1981 air show ended for the unit. A new leader, Major Norman Lowry, had already been selected by the Air Force to command the team after Smith. With Lowry leading, a fresh start after the loss of Smith and second solo Nick Hauck, who had been killed in another mishap in May of '81, began.
Four months later...
The four "Diamond" aircraft, Thunderbirds #1, 2, 3, and 4 (tail numbers 68-8156, 8175, 8176 & 8184), were training for an air show at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. Climbing side-by-side for several thousand feet in a slow, backward loop, then hurtling down at more than 400 mph, leveling off at about 100 feet, in a maneuver called a "line-abreast loop," a malfunction in the lead plane, Thunderbird #1, occurred.
"At the speed they were going when they came out of the loop, I just thought, "That's the end of that for them fellows,'" said W.G. Wood of Indian Springs, who witnessed the crash as he drove along U.S. 95. "It happened so fast I couldn't tell you if one hit sooner. It looked like all of them hit at the same time."
George LaPointe, a construction worker, watched the jets disappear behind tree tops, "They didn't come back up," he said. "They were going full tilt, really screaming, and at the time I thought they were too low."
A resident across the highway from the auxiliary base where the flight team practiced said he heard the whine of the red, white and blue jets as they climbed to a high arch, then the scream of the engines as they plunged downward to complete the maneuver.
"Then boom-boom-boom, boom-boom-boom as they hit the ground one after another," said Loren Conaway.
Following their leader to the end, all four planes plowed in the ground. All four pilots were killed instantly.
Caught on Tape...
Technical Sergeant Al King, was filming on the ground that morning at Indian Springs when the accident occurred. While the sound didn’t work, the video part did, and it would help the accident board determine the cause of the accident. The investigation found that there was insufficient back pressure on the control stick of Thunderbird #1 during the loop.
Major Norm Lowry was buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Section 2, Site 1919, in California. Captain Pete Peterson was buried in Culpepper National Cemetery, VA, in Section G, Site 1114, and Captain Willie Mays was buried in his hometown of Ripley, Tennessee. Captain Melancon was buried in Dallas along his father, Air Force Major James Melancon, who died Sept. 24, 1957, when the B-26 he was piloting crashed in a residential area near Dayton, Ohio.
From Left to Right:
Major Norm Lowry, 37, of Radford, VA - Commander/Leader
Captain Willie Mays, 32, of Ripley, TN - Left Wing
Captain Joseph Peterson, 32, of Tuskegee, AL - Right Wing
Captain Mark E. Melancon, 31, of Dallas, TX - Slot
From the Ashes...
The crash opened public debate on such federally-funded aerial exhibition teams, Some argued that groups like the Thunderbirds were "hot-shot stunt pilots" who were spending too much of the taxpayers' dollars, and risking lives in the process.
But cooler heads prevailed - those who understood the value to military recruitment and on January 26, 1982, Congress passed Resolution 248, stating that "The Congress hereby affirms its strong support for continuation of the Thunderbirds program." But the 1982 air show season was cancelled for the Thunderbirds while they rebuilt their team.
The "Diamond Crash," as it was later called, led to the Thunderbirds upgrading their T-38s to the frontline F-16A "Fighting Falcon" jet fighter, built by General Dynamics, for their performances. In order to rebuild the team, the Air Force pulled several former Thunderbird pilots, who were still on active duty, to "come out of air show retirement", get qualified in flying the F-16A, and had them start flying in "two-ship" formations through all the aerobatic maneuvers, starting in August of 1982, and led by Major Jim Latham.
Slowly, the team expanded - one airplane at a time - back up to the full formation of six airplanes.
A memorial in honor of the fallen is located on the western wall of the North Las Vegas Police Department's headquarters. At the United States Air Force Academy, a T-38 painted in Thunderbirds color scheme is decidated to the team and its then-leader, Major Lowry.
Range 65 is now referred to as "The Gathering of Eagles Range" - an annual aviation event that encourages the study of aviation history and the contributions of aviation pioneers at Air Command and Staff College.
In 2005, Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field officially changed its name to Creech Air Force Base in honor of General Wilbur L. “Bill” Creech, who was known as the “father of the Thunderbirds.”