Our Douglas R5D (Blue Angels) model aircraft is modeled and handcrafted using various high-quality grade materials by our renowned master craftsmen. Our Douglas R5D (Blue Angels) model aircraft is uniquely designed and manufactured using the latest innovations and techniques applied in the over-all manufacturing and operation process procedures. The model airplane’s parts including the fuselage, wings and glass cockpit are extremely accurate and precise based on the original. This model aircraft will fascinate anyone, aviation enthusiast and model aircraft collectors alike for its remarkable and exceptional quality. This elegant Douglas R5D (Blue Angels) model aircraft is definitely the perfect gift and collectible you would want to give to your friends and family. Douglas R5D (Blue Angels) History: In 1907 the United States Army was the first branch of service to establish an aeronautical division, but in 1912 it was the United States Navy that apparently first used warplanes to promote its mission at “air shows.” However the First World War accelerated the development and popularity of aviation and resulted in an explosion of air shows across the county. After World War Two ended, the Navy renewed its recruiting strategy to a war weary nation and sought to extend their search for potential recruits even into landlocked middle America far removed from coastal bases. This time, however, the idea for an aerial demonstration team began not at the individual squadron level but at the top – either the Secretary of the Navy (according to some historians) or Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Chester Nimitz (according to the Navy’s official history). Lieutenant Commander Roy M. “Butch” Voris – a decorated fighter ace with seven victories to his credit – was chosen to form and train the Navy’s new flight demonstration team. In addition to recruiting new sailors and showing the public the Navy’s colors, Voris admitted the new squadron’s mission -- like that of the very first Navy team decades earlier – was to “beat the Army; then it was the Army Air Forces.” To do that, he later recalled, they would “have to put a little risk into this thing” and “give them [the Army] something to jump at.” Voris hand picked the men to fly and maintain the team’s planes – all bachelors because: “We were not going to worry about children at this stage of the game.” The first flight of the Navy’s “Flight Exhibition Team” was on May 10, 1946 and its first show was held on June 15, 1946 at Jacksonville Florida. The highlight of their routine was the shooting down of a “Zero” – actually a SNJ trainer that would set off a smoke bomb, eject a dummy pilot filled with sand and then dive to disappear behind some obstacle. Only later did they name themselves “The Blue Angels” -- reflecting the color of their Navy planes and borrowing from a classy New York nightclub called the “Blue Angel” which Voris’ wing man had read about in a New Yorker article.