From ASB:
"How about a three-ship Bearcat for Chino?
With the salute to Grumman aircraft, the Horsemen have decided to fly the powerful Bearcats again for the Chino show. For a very special treat, Mr. Al Taddeo, one of the original Blue Angels will be our guest on Saturday.
From First Blue Angel:
Al Taddeo was one of the original Blues chosen.
“It was a very plum assignment, believe me,” said Taddeo, 87, of Newport Coast, Calif. “All carrier pilots, I don’t care who they were at that time, wanted to get in on the program. Literally thousands of aviators wanted to be on the team.”
“They didn’t know what to expect from us,” Taddeo recalled, remembering the spectators and air show organizers during the team’s first public performance June 15, 1946, at Craig Field in Jacksonville. “We put on the show that we had practiced and unbeknownst to us, we were a tremendous hit. The announcers really went wild over what we were doing.”
The team only had been practicing a month. At the time, three planes in a slow roll formation close to the ground was an incredibly dangerous stunt.
“It was a very foolhardy stunt you might say. But we thought we could do it, and we did it,” Taddeo said.
We will be documenting this in an episode of "The Horsemen Cometh."
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