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Four Horsemen was the US Air Force aerobatic display team.
The team's history begins in early 1957, when four C-130A Hercules air-crews decided to try formation flying, while their air dropping mission was canceled during the heavy winds at Fort Campbell, Ky. The pilots of this airplanes were Captains Gene Chaney, Jim Aiken, David Moore and Bill Hatfield.
First the team was named Thunder Weasels from the combination of Thunderbirds and the weasel from the squadron patch, but at last the pilots choose Four Horsemen after the Coach Knute Rockne's legendary backfield on Notre Dame's 1924 football team.
The first public demonstration was in front of 314th Troop Carrier Wing at Sewart Air Force Base in Tennessee, while the Four Horsemen pilots delivered the new C-130 to this airbase.
Soon after this demonstration the Tactical Air Command gave the team an official statute of aerial demonstration team.
The team don't have permanent C-130 assigned to them and flew different airplanes from the airbase.
The team's crew included two pilots, a flight engineer and a scanner. The navigator's seat sat empty during the shows. The crews came from within the squadron, and the Horsemen pilots tried to fly with the same flight mechanics when possible.
The Four Horsemen demonstrate the short range take off in diamond formation. Because of the downwash from the propellers, each of the following aircraft flew slightly higher than the one in front. Each pilot would try to fly right 'on top of the bubble.' The slot airplane would be the highest in the formation. The Four Horsemen flew in close formation about 10 feet. After the demonstration all four Hercules aircrafts landed in diamond formation.
In the spring of 1960 all team's pilots were dislocated to other airbases, and this was the end of that unique aerobatic team.