Role Aerobatic maneuver | Type Aerobatics Garrison/HQ Matsushima Air Base | |
 | ||
Active April 12, 1960 – present Branch | ||
Blue Impulse (ブルーインパルス, Burū Inparusu), (currently 11 Squadron 4th Air Wing, previously 21 Squadron 4th Air Wing), is the aerobatic demonstration team of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). The team was founded in 1960 as a team of six F-86 Sabres. They changed mounts to the Mitsubishi T-2 in 1980 and then to the Kawasaki T-4 in 1995. They are based at Matsushima Air Base, which was heavily damaged by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Contents
Aircraft
* Number of aircraft used by the Blue Impulse acrobatic team.
** Aircraft service with the Blue Impulse acrobatic team.
History
The first unofficial Japanese aerobatic team was formed in 1958 at Hamamatsu Air Base, flying Mitsubishi-built North American F-86F Sabres without a special colour scheme, disbanded after four demonstrations.
In 1959 the USAF Thunderbirds visited Japan and inspired JASDF commanders to establish an official aerobatic team. In 1960 the new team was formed at Hamamatsu airbase flying five F-86Fs, with three of the pilots coming from the 1958 team.
The first demonstration of the "Tenryū" team, (named after the Tenryū River near the air base), was on 4 March 1960 at Hamamatsu, the name was found to be hard to pronounce in western languages, so the team was renamed Blue Impulse. The aircraft were equipped with smoke generators using five different colours for each aircraft: white, red, blue, green and yellow and painted in silver, light blue, blue and pink; on the leader's aircraft, the blue is replaced by gold. Later, in 1961, all five aircraft received a special paint scheme of overall white with blue flashes.
In 1964, Blue Impulse performed at the opening of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, drawing the Olympic rings in the air with coloured smoke. In 1970, at the opening of Expo '70 in Osaka, the team drew "Expo '70" in the air.
In February 1982, after 545 air demonstrations, Blue Impulse replaced the Sabres with Mitsubishi T-2 trainers, performing their first show with the new aircraft was on 25 June 1982 at the team's new Matsushima airbase.
At Expo '90 in Osaka, Blue Impulse performed at the opening event and drew the "Expo '90" logo in the air.
The team's last performance with the Mitsubishi T-2 was in December 1995, after 175 demonstrations with these aircraft. The new Blue Impulse aircraft became the Japanese-built Kawasaki T-4 trainer, and the first show with these aircraft was on 5 April 1996.
In 1997, the team made their first foreign debut at the Nellis Air Force Base air show in Nevada, USA.
In 1998 Blue Impulse performed at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Blue Impulse also performed at the 2002 FIFA World Cup; on 4 June 2002, they performed at the opening of the Japan versus Belgium match.
Accidents and incidents
Data from:
In popular culture
The mercenary air team "Red Impulse" and its leader from the anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman take their name from the Blue Impulse.
When characters in another anime, Urusei Yatsura, are hit with enough force to send them flying into the distance, they sometimes shout "Blue Impulse!"
The team have since been immortalised in its own videogame, titled Aero Dancing featuring Blue Impulse.
The flight demonstration team called "Green Impulse" in the anime series Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation might have taken their name from the Blue Impulse.
The aerobatics team in the anime 801 T.T.S. Airbats is called Blue Impulse.