Static Thunderbird

Posted 31 October 2011

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Photo by SSgt. Richard W. Rose, Jr.

The Thunderbirds, the US Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, put one of the team’s former mounts on static display outside the Thunderbirds hangar at Nellis AFB, Nevada, on 31 October 2011. The F-16C Block 32 aircraft (Air Force serial number 87-0323) was flown by the team from 1992 through 2008. In 1992, the team’s first season in the F-16C, this aircraft was flown by Thunderbird commander/leader Lt. Col. Dan Darnell and TSgt. Mark Payne and SSgt. Dale Posey were the crew chiefs. The static display now carries the names of these three Airmen. The project took approximately eighteen months to complete and involved returning more than $5 million in serviceable parts to the Air Force and 360 man-hours of painting.

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