Mustangs from Basa

The team traces its origin to 1952, when two P-51D Mustangs rolled inverted straight after take-off at Fernando Air Base, a stunt that grounded both pilots but convinced Lieutenant Jose FL Gonzalez that a precision team was possible. With the backing of the 6th Tactical Squadron commander he assembled a four-ship of Mustangs by early 1953, the air force’s first aerial precision team, which flew at Philippine Aviation Week in November 1953. In 1954 it was formally proclaimed the Blue Diamond, after its basic diamond formation, and grew to five aircraft.

The Sabre years

The arrival of the F-86F Sabre in 1957 brought the team into the jet age, but at a cost. Lieutenant Lino Abadia Jr, leading a stand-in Mustang team, was killed a day before the Aviation Week display, and Captain Antonio Roig died when his engine flamed out while following a rehearsal over Clark. Smoke was introduced in 1958 with eight aircraft, and in 1959 a nine-ship team flew at a show attended by the US and Chinese air forces. Under Captain Angel Mapua in 1960 the membership reached sixteen, and the name became the Blue Diamonds. Further pilots were lost in 1959, 1960 and 1962. The last Sabre display was flown in 1966.

Freedom Fighters

The team converted to the Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter, displaying it for the first time on 2 May 1968 with six aircraft under Major Rodolfo Franco, and made a goodwill visit to Taiwan. In the early 1970s Basa supported three teams at once, the Blue Diamonds alongside the Sabre-equipped Red Aces and Golden Sabres. From 1975 the energy crisis curtailed shows, though the team flew at Clark on 4 July 1975 and at Cubi Point for the US bicentennial in 1976; a 1978 programme was cancelled for the same reason.

Revivals and the end

The team was reactivated in 1986 and again in 1995, still on the F-5A, and the delivery of five more F-5s from South Korea in 1998 supported a “Return to Glory” season around the Philippine independence centennial. Its last documented major display was at the air force’s 52nd anniversary at Luneta in 1999, led by Captain Edimar Ortega. The team has been inactive since 2005, when the Philippine Air Force retired its F-5 fleet.