The team increased to eight aircraft and for the first time the use of smoke was introduced. Roig's right wing plowed into the field in a fiery crash. In one of the team's rehearsal over Clark, he tagged along and from a distance followed the aerial repertoire. Capt Antonio Roig had long wanted to join the aerobatics team. Their performance, done in neat precision and audacity stole the admiration of crowds and the respect of foreign flyers and visiting head of states that came to view the vaunted Sabres.īefore the year passed though, another pilot was lost. Weeks earlier, unaware of the formation of the Mustangs contingency team, Lt Gonzalez, together with the 6th TFS pilots, flew hard under fifty hours, wrestling to get acquainted with the first Sabre jets. Unfortunately he died in a Mustang crash a day before the Aviation Week Performance. Abadia was from the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron and he proceeded to forge a team from the fliers in his unit. With the absence of the original members who were into jet transition training, a new team was formed employing the venerable Mustangs, if only to maintain the growing air show tradition.Ĭol Godofredo Juliano the 5th FW Commander designated Lt Lino C Abadia Jr as team leader. A number of fighter pilots and some members of the Blue Diamond were made to undergo jet-flying courses at Clark Air Base and in various USAF service schools. The PAF acquired the more modern F-86F Sabrejets. This temporarily halted the public exhibition of the Blue Diamond as the modernization of the Air Force took place. The prop-driven P-51 Mustangs were gradually phased out and the Filipino pilots transitioned in the first T-33 jet trainers flown in from Japan.
The team stretched to a five-plane formation and thrilled spectators as they swooped to execute complicated exercises. The word Blue was affixed as an apparent referral to the Air Force. The team was officially proclaimed as The Blue Diamond, as identification of their basic diamond formation. The demonstration was termed a historical feat.ĢLt Generoso B Jesena was admitted as the team's second reserve.
The spectators in the know were particularly awed to see Lt Gonzalez’ Mustang hanging inverted on its propeller at the top of the Immelman turn. The team flying P-51 Mustangs, did the roll and the Immelman turn immediately after take –off. November, they participated in an air show during the Philippine Aviation Week. They constituted the PAF's first Aerial Precision Team. Lt Cesar L Raval was taken in as airborne reserve.
By the first quarter of 1953, he had a basic four-man team composed of Lts Isidro B Agunod (left wing), Ricardo T Singson (right wing), Pascual C Servida (slot), with himself as the lead. With the approval of the 6th Tactical Squadron Commander, Major Jose L Rancudo, Lt Gonzalez went from one pilot to another, casually judging character and selecting members. The brief performance, however, served all the more to convince Gonzalez that a precision aerial team was possible. and wingman 2Lt Jose FL Gonzalez were grounded even before they could land at Basa. Immediately, upon airborne, the two planes went on an inverted flight and completed their negative G-climb into a roll. Two Basa-based P-51D Mustangs took off in formation from Fernando Air Base in Lipa city. The Blue Diamonds have utilized a variety of aircraft during its active years, including the North American P-51 Mustang, the North American F-86 Sabre, and the Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter.