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Blue Angels to headline Ft. Lauderdale Air Show with new Super Hornets

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels ground crew performs a check out of the F/A 18 after arriving at the Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood-International Airport for media day in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Thursday. Photo By Gary I Rothstein/UPI
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels ground crew performs a check out of the F/A 18 after arriving at the Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood-International Airport for media day in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Thursday. Photo By Gary I Rothstein/UPI | License Photo

May 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy Blue Angels are slated to headline the 2021 Fort Lauderdale Air Show in Florida Friday and Saturday.

The Navy's legacy Hornets, which were a staple of air shows for 34 years, were retired last fall in favor of new twin-engine F/A-18 Super Hornets that are faster, sleeker and pack 40% more power, Air Show president Bryan Lilley told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

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The show will mark the squadron's third performance of the 2021 season, which kicked off with the Sun N' Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Fla., in mid-April.

The Angels are expected to perform a precision formation flight with aircraft wingtips at two feet apart, inverted rolls, loops and 1,000-miles-per-hour supersonic maneuvers, according to Lilley.

Also scheduled to perform are the Air Force's F-16 Viper demo team, the C-17 Globemaster, the Red Bull Air Force and the Geico Skytypers, according to the performer lineup.

The U.S. Coast Guard is also scheduled to perform a Search and Rescue Demo at the event.

The show will begin at 11:15 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

Planes began rehearsing for the air show Thursday and were expected to do so again Friday, though rehearsal schedules are not released.

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U.S. Navy's Blue Angels perform in Florida

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels perform at The Great Florida Air Show presented by Northrup Grumman in Melbourne, Fla., on Saturday. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo

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