The Lima Lima Flight Team is a precision formation flying demonstration team based in Naperville, Illinois.
Lima Lima Flight team performing at Thunder over Louisville, April 2009.
The name derives from the FAA identifier of the field where the team originated. Naper Aero Club (LL-10) is located in the western suburbs of Chicago. It is an airport community, with 100 homes connected to its two runways via taxiways behind the homes. The original flying club (Mentor Flyers, Inc.) which spawned the Lima Lima team is still based at LL-10, but the founding members who lived there have since moved on, and the team is now a truly national team, with members in Illinois, Ohio, California, and Florida.
The Lima Lima Flight Team flies the BeechcraftT-34 Mentor. The Lima Lima Flight Team flies a civilianized and much-improved version of the original Mentor, with modern avionics and more powerful engines.
The military recognizes different levels of formation skills, from basic tactical formation flying to the air show performances of the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. Lima Lima has evolved in the same way. Charter members of the team were at the forefront of the civilian formation certification program instituted by the T-34 Association in 1983, and eventually adopted by all civilian warbird organizations. The skills developed in this program have been expanded to include a series of formation maneuvers which mirror those of the jet teams.
The Lima Lima Flight Team demonstration showcases the full range of the T-34 performance envelope. Though the T-34 is much slower than the jets flown by military teams, the turn rates are over double those of the F-16 and F/A-18. The result is a performance which has no “dead time”. There is smoke and action in front of spectators for the entire 20 minute demonstration.
The Lima Lima Flight Team celebrates its 19th year of professional air show performances in 2006. In that time, the team has traveled from coast-to-coast and border-to-border and beyond, performing in Alaska, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. The 2006 team is made up of professional airline pilots, retired military pilots, medical professionals, and successful businessmen.
The Blue Angels, formally named the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, are a flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy. Formed in 1946, the unit is the second oldest formal aerobatic team in the world, after the French Patrouille de France formed in 1931. The team has six Navy and one Marine Corps demonstration pilots. They fly the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets along with a Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules
The USAF Air Demonstration Squadron ("Thunderbirds") is the air demonstration squadron of the United States Air Force (USAF). The Thunderbirds are assigned to the 57th Wing, and are based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Created 71 years ago in 1953, the USAF Thunderbirds are the third-oldest formal flying aerobatic team in the world, after the French Air Force Patrouille de France formed in 1931 and the United States Navy Blue Angels formed in 1946.
The Snowbirds, officially known as 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, are the military aerobatics flight demonstration team of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The team is based at 15 Wing Moose Jaw near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The Snowbirds' official purpose is to "demonstrate the skill, professionalism, and teamwork of Canadian Forces personnel". The team also provides a public relations and recruiting role, and serves as an aerial ambassador for the Canadian Armed Forces. The Snowbirds are the first Canadian air demonstration team to be designated as a squadron.
The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School is the Air Force's advanced flight training school that trains experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test navigators to carry out tests and evaluations of new aerospace weapon systems and also other aircraft of the U.S. Air Force. This school was established on 9 September 1944 as the Flight Test Training Unit at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) in Dayton, Ohio. To take advantage of the uncongested skies, usually superb flying weather, and the lack of developed zones in the event of crashing, the test pilot school was officially moved to its present location at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert of Southern California on 4 February 1951.
Naval Air Station Glenview or NAS Glenview was an operational U.S. Naval Air Station from 1923 to 1995. Located in Glenview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, the air base primarily operated training aircraft as well as seaplanes on nearby Lake Michigan during World War II. Reconfigured as a Naval Air Reserve base following World War II, NAS Glenview supported Naval Air Reserve, Marine Air Reserve/4th Marine Aircraft Wing, and U.S. Army Reserve 244th Aviation Group as well as an active duty Coast Guard Air Station.
A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristics and a simplified cockpit arrangement—allows pilots-in-training to safely advance their skills in a more forgiving aircraft.
The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor is an American propeller-driven, single-engined, military trainer aircraft derived from the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza. The earlier versions of the T-34, dating from around the late 1940s to the 1950s, were piston-engined. These were eventually succeeded by the upgraded T-34C Turbo-Mentor, powered by a turboprop engine. The T-34 remains in service more than seven decades after it was first designed.
A naval aviator is a commissioned officer or warrant officer qualified as a crewed aircraft pilot in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps. United States Coast Guard crewed aircraft pilots are officially designated as "Coast Guard aviators", although they complete the same undergraduate flight training as Navy and Marine Corps crewed aircraft pilots, and are awarded the same aviation breast insignia.
Canadian Forces Base Moose Jaw, also known as 15 Wing Moose Jaw, is a Canadian Forces base located 4 nautical miles south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is home to RCAF Pilot training and 431 Squadron, the Snowbirds, which is the RCAF's air demonstration squadron.
A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and dogfighting. A fighter pilot with at least five air-to-air kills becomes known as an ace.
A Weapon Systems Officer (WSO), nicknamed "Wizzo", is an air flight officer directly involved in all air operations and weapon systems of a military aircraft.
Strike Fighter Squadron 106 (VFA-106), also known as the "Gladiators", is a United States Navy F/A-18 Hornet and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Fleet Replacement Squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.
The Chicago Air & Water Show is an annual air show held on the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago's second most popular festival, it has been held every year since 1959. In 2005 it was attended by 2,200,000 people. Presented by the City of Chicago, it is the largest free show of its kind in the United States.
The Wings of Storm is the Croatian Air Force aerobatic display team. Its task is the presentation of the skill, discipline, and teamwork of the Croatian Air Force.
Sherdils is the formation aerobatics display team of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). The Sherdils team is based at the Pakistan Air Force Academy, Risalpur, Pakistan and at present, it consists of nine Karakoram K-8P aircraft.
Sean Doherty Tucker is an American world champion aerobatic aviator. He was previously sponsored by the Oracle Corporation for many years, performing in air shows worldwide as "Team Oracle". Tucker has won numerous air show championship competitions throughout his career, was named one of the 25 "Living Legends of Flight" by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in 2003, and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2008. He has led several efforts to assist youth in learning to fly or becoming involved in general aviation, and currently serves as co-chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)'s Young Eagles program, a role he has held since 2013.
The PAF Blue Diamonds is the national aerobatic team of the Philippine Air Force (PAF). Assigned to the 5th Fighter Wing, the unit is based at Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga. Founded in 1952, the Blue Diamonds is one of oldest formal flying aerobatic teams in the world, along with United States Air Force Thunderbirds founded in 1953, the United States Navy Blue Angels formed in 1946, and the Patrouille de France of the French Air Force formed in 1931. The Blue Diamonds has been inactive since 2005.
The Horsemen Aerobatic Team is the world's only P-51 Mustang, P-38 Lightning, F4U Corsair, F8F Bearcat, and F-86 Sabre formation aerobatic team, composed of three warbird pilots. The mission of The Horsemen is to "bring greater interest to the world of historic aviation and to remind future generations of how these powerful machines helped the Allies change the outcome of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War."
The US Navy had four programs for the training of naval aviators.
The Air & Sea Show is an annual air show founded by producer Mickey Markoff in 1995 in South Florida. The show usually took place on the first weekend of May in Fort Lauderdale, and drew hundreds of thousands of people to the beach to watch. In recent years, the event has been scheduled during Memorial Day Weekend in Miami Beach, Florida around Lummus Park, Miami Beach.
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