An F/A-18C with a distinguished combat history makes a late-life career change.

“The Blue Angels pride themselves on demonstrating the capabilities of actual combat aircraft, so most of the Blue Angel jets are operationally used airplanes,” says Michael W. Hankins, an aeronautics curator at the National Air and Space Museum. Such is the case with a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C on display at the Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia. Clad in Blue Angels livery, the Hornet’s folded wings are an unmistakable reminder of time spent on the decks of aircraft carriers assigned to the U.S. Navy fleet.

“The F/A-18C hit a sweet spot combining versatility and affordable maintainability,” says Hankins. “The Hornet is a very agile, maneuverable airplane, which makes it effective in combat situations. Those same qualities make it great for airshows too. And because of its advanced electronics and radar systems, it can perform both fighter and attack roles.”

The Museum’s Hornet has an impressive operational history. “It was actually the 11th F/A-18C built, entering the fleet in 1987,” says Hankins. “Two years later, it was part of the squadron that provided cover for the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Beirut.” In 1991, the Museum’s Hornet flew combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, and it spent years enforcing no-fly zones in Iraq as part of Operation Southern Watch. It later flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2015, the Museum’s F/A-18C began a long run with the Blue Angels. First, though, it was modified for the airshow arena. The aircraft’s gun was removed; a smoke generator was installed; the fuel system was altered to better accommodate inverted flight; and a spring-tension system was added to the flight controls to aid the execution of precision maneuvers. “Otherwise, the Blue Angels airplanes are very close to the ones out in the fleet,” says Hankins.

The Blue Angels no longer fly F/A-18Cs (the team switched to the larger Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in 2020), but fans of the C model can be pleased that these jets are now museum pieces. Its perfect paint job shining under the spotlights, the Museum’s F/A-18C gives no clue to what it has endured: hours of high-G aerobatic maneuvers and hundreds of airframe-jarring carrier takeoffs and landings. The McDonnell Douglas engineers who designed the Hornet sure knew how to build them.

Diane Tedeschi is Air & Space Quarterly’s senior editor.

This article is from the Summer 2024 issue of Air & Space Quarterly, the National Air and Space Museum's signature magazine that explores topics in aviation and space, from the earliest moments of flight to today. Explore the full issue.

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