Extraordinary display of jet fighters over Alcatraz
7:17 PM EDT, October 8, 2023
An online video has surfaced of the Blue Angels squadron training over the closed Alcatraz prison. As part of a training session, the pilots put on a show reminiscent of the 1996 movie "The Rock". The remarkable display of these machines clearly stands out against the recent reports of a Russian blunder, where they accidentally shot down their own fighter jet.
A squadron of six Super Hornet fighters (which the US wants to phase out of production) currently stationed in the San Francisco area in California were preparing for air shows as part of Fleet Week. As a reference point for their maneuvers, the pilots used Alcatraz Island located in the middle of San Francisco Bay and the famous prison on it.
The prison was closed in 1963 and now serves as a tourist attraction and a well-known element of the landscape. The prison has appeared in many movies, such as "Escape from Alcatraz," "The Book of Eli," "X-Men 3: The Last Stand," and the aforementioned "The Rock" directed by Michael Bay.
Super Hornet
The Boeing F/A-18E/F SuperHornet is a subsonic multirole fighter that the US Navy introduced into service in the late 90s of the 20th century. One of the first combat applications of these aircraft was an attack on anti-aircraft missile launchers near Al-Kut in Iraq. For the first time in combat conditions, a JDAM bomb was dropped from one of them.
Super Hornets have a wingspan of 44.67 feet and a length of 60.04 feet. Their own mass is almost 30865 pounds, and they operate at an altitude of 49,212 feet above the ground. They are capable of reaching a speed of 1189 mph, and their actual range is 1457 miles. The fighters are armed with an M61 Vulcan cannon, and 11 weapons knots are visible on its underside, to which missiles, bombs, or suspended fuel tanks can be attached. Because of the latter, Super Hornets were often used as flying tankers to refuel other aircraft without landing.
Brilliant show in San Francisco
Six Super Hornets in tight formation used Alcatraz as a reference point for executing maneuvers. They perfectly demonstrated the "break" maneuver in response to the pursuit of an imagined opponent. The show, as seen from the prison island, reminded some of scenes filmed there by Michael Bay.
And below is a longer footage from Blue Angels' training:
