Ex 162416. First to ALA21 but transferred to ALA 46. ALA 21 was just a short lived Hornet unit.

On 8 Nov'86, the Blue Angels completed their 40th anniversary year and unveiled what would be their aircraft through their 75th anniversary year, the F/A-18A/B. Here, a A is going for a new display in their first year of Hornet ops. 161523 is a FY80 a/c which was seen from late '91 at the dump of the Naval Weapons Evaluation Facility Albuquerque (NM). Here it was used in an investigation programme in which aircraft-weapon interfaces were researched to provide USN aircraft with nuclear weapons delivery capability. It was stored at AMARC (1A0008) from 3 May'95 and was scrapped on 12 Sep'18.

This FY80 Hornet only was short lived, it crashed on 23 January 1990 as Blue Angels #2 at NAF El Centro (CA) during a mid-air collision with Blue Angels #1. #1 landed safely, but #2 crashed in the Superstition mountains (CA). The pilot ejected safely and was recued.

161526 belonged to the first badge of F/A-18As of the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (USNFDS) Blue Angels. Its a F/A-18A-7 of fiscal year 1980 and was factory fresh assigned to the FDS in Sep'87, the month this photo taken. From late '90 up to '95 it was assigned in to the Naval Air Warfare Center-Aircraft Division at NAS Patuxent River (MD) as SD-410. It was withdrawn from service in the fall of '98 and transferred to Fort Leonard Wood (MO) for use with the Chemical School for decontion drills. In '06 it was seen in a very bad shape.

This FY80 Hornet was a limited production version (F/A-18A-7) and was delivered to the US Navy on 30 June 1982. It was assigned to Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 5. It later served VX-4 and Flet Replacement Squadron (FRS) VFA-125 before it was transferred to the Blue Angels. The Hornet was moved to NASA Dryden on 21 September 1989 and became N847NA.

This dual seat Hornet from FY80 crashed with the US Navy Test Pilot School while operating from NAS Patuxent River (MD) on 4 October 1999.

A Fiscal Year 1980 Hornet, preserved as Blue Angels 5 at Moffet Field (CA) since March 1992.

This FY85 Hornet was factory-fresh delivered to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 333 "Fighting Shamrocks" at MCAS Beaufort (SC). After a long career it was stricken on 4 September 2003 and preserved at its homebase from January 2005.

Delivered as a EF-18A in 1983, modified to EF-18A+ in 1993 and again modified to EF-18M in 2009. This tiger was part of the Electronic Warfare Live Training Exercise at Elite in 2008.

Delivered as a EF-18A in 1983, modified to EF-18A+ in 1993 and again modified to EF-18M in 2009. This tiger was part of the Electronic Warfare Live Training Exercise at Elite in 2008. It is seen here with a asymmetric load, two fuel tanks and a training AGM-88 High Anti Radiation Missile (HARM) underneath the right wing as well as two training Sidewinders.

After this 1982 F/A-18B was retired in 2009, the dual seat legacy Hornet was preserved at Chino (CA) from Aprul 2012 onwards.

This 1983 legacy Hornet started its career with the famous Blue Angels late 2005. From April 2017, the Hornet became an instructional airframe at the Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) at NAS Pensacola (FL)

After this 1982 F/A-18B was retired in 2009, the dual seat legacy Hornet was preserved at Chino (CA) from Aprul 2012 onwards.

After this 1982 F/A-18A was retired on 22 February 2010, the aircraft was preserved at NAS Kingsville (TX)

This '84 F/A-18A was used by the USNFDS up to 21 Apr'07. During the final minutes of the air show over MCAS Beaufort (SC), the pilots were doing a maneuver which involved all 6 Hornets joining to form a Delta triangle. 162897 did not rejoin and crashed, eight people on the ground got injured and the pilot, Lt.Cmdr. Kevin "Kojak" Davis (Blue Angels #6), was killed. The mishap was caused by a failure to perform a proper Anti-G Straining Maneuver, resulting in the pilot's suffering from possible physiological effects that contributed to his loss of situational awareness of his rate of descent.