Warbird Information Exchange

The timeline on Wiki for the Connie is correct. I'm not sure they had a transport at all for the Hellcat/Bearcat era. They did have a C-46 when they received Panthers and based in Corpus Christi.

One further note about the SNJ "Beetle Bomb". I've actually never seen Mark's photos of it, but when they initially started out with it, the airplane had meatballs on it to look Japanese. The Hellcats would shoot it down, and they would throw a dummy out of the back seat to parachute down. I believe they stopped doing that when it hung on the airplane on one occasion. In some of the photos of the Bearcat "Beetle Bomb", you can see a pod hanging between the gear doors. This was the new parachute pod, since there was obviously no backseat to throw a dummy out of anymore.

Any photos of the Bearcats with no rollover structure, were very early in the program. All photos of them with silver leading edges, painted prop hubs, and "Blue Angels" on the nose were at the end of the Bearcat. If I remember right, that was only for the 1949 season, which was their last in the Bearcat. The two photos showing a Bearcat on a carrier deck, do not actually show a Blue Angels airframe. They never flew with the Blue Angels crest on the Bearcats for starters, but I have also seen other photos done for some sort of PR with that Bearcat and the other types the team flew lined up on the deck. I believe when that photo was done, they were flying Tigers.

Some new (old) Blue Angel Bearcat photos c 1946. Location unknown.
(Source: Blue Angel tribute facebook page)

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Zero Surprise!!...

A theory after reading all the posts and looking at the pics. This might have already been theorized and be a "duh" moment??

I wonder if it had a "0" on the tail to indeed represent a Japanese Zero for the air demo's?

Whilst Bearcats are thin on the ground compared to Mustangs ... what chance a four ship Bearcat aerobatic formo display team some day to honor the Angels
Not an impossible dream surely

And there had better be a Bearcat at Osh this year ...or I want my money back

The Horsemen did a 3-ship Bearcat demo a couple years ago and some passes with Blue Angels #5 & 6 I think. There's a Youtube vid of it.