Blue Angels, Flight Demonstration Squadron, United States Navy

The team soon became known worldwide for its spectacular aerobatic maneuvers. On 25 August 1946 the squadron upgraded their aircraft to the F8F-1 Bearcat. In May 1947, flight leader Lt. Cmdr. Bob Clarke, replaced Butch Voris as the leader of the team, he introduced the famous Diamond Formation, now considered the Blue Angels' trademark.
In 1949, the team acquired a Douglas R4D Sky Train for logistics to and from show sites. The team's SNJ was also replaced by a F8F-1 "Bearcat", painted yellow for the air combat routine. The Blues transitioned to the straight-wing Grumman F9F-2 Panther on 13 July 1949, wherein the F8F-1 "Beetle Bomb" was relegated to solo aerobatics before the main show, until it crashed on takeoff at a training show in Pensacola in 1950.
Team headquarters shifted from NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, to NAAS Whiting Field, Florida, in the fall of 1949, announced 14 July 1949.