I don't know much on the US aerobatic teams but do remember the forerunners to the Canadian Snowbirds group used the older F86 Sabres...the GoldenBirds or whatever they were called?.
An F-86 sits on a cement stand near our local zoo here in Peterboro' Canada also I looked and saw the F-80 Silver Star is still there on it's post in Collingwood as I went through last weekend..
There's still quite a few old aircraft stuck on posts here in Canada, mostly ex-RCAF jets left but I expect they'll soon start disappearing too as the Stormbird groups get going more and resto costs seem more feasible compared to the escalating values of prop-job airframes and parts?.
They pulled the Lancaster off it's Toronto waterfront post after 40 or so years a couple years back and it's being put through a resto although I believe to be a Museum display w/ an operating engine or more...similar to the Canadian Halifax that was completed as a static display piece here a year or so ago?.
Back to the aerobatic teams, what's the other US group called...the Blue Angels?. Here in Canada a 'Blue Angel' always referred to something completely different!
.
~ Pete
