1940s
At the end of World War II, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Chester W. Nimitz ordered the formation of a flight demonstration team to keep the public interested in naval aviation.
In a short three months, the Navy Flight Exhibition Team performed its first flight demonstration June 15, 1946, at their home base, Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville, Florida. Lt. Cmdr. Roy âButchâ Voris led the team and flew the Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat.
The new Navy Flight Exhibition team was only the second formal flying demonstration team to have been created in the world, since the Patrouille de France formed in 1931.