Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon —

Really nice photo. Curious about the belly tank on the inverted jet.

Is the tank related to the fact that it's a two seater? I presume it uses more fuel than the single version.

Great shot!

Awesome shot!

Does #5 spend all day upside down?

Probably a travel pod; not a centerline fuel tank.

As they should be. Excellent memory bump.

You caught the pilot looking at you!

Isn't #7 the only two-seater, and only used in the show when there is a problem with #1 - #6?

I can see number 5 on the inverted plane (although the number itself looks OK with plane inverted?)

Yes Pablo. Every Thunderbird photo of the Calypso Pass with F-16s that I can find has the #5 upside-down unless while viewed during the Calypso Pass. (Interestingly, it's always #5 (lead solo) that flies up-side-down.) I only found 2 photos from Nov 9-10/2012 that use a two seat F-16 labeled as #5, and the caption was "November 10, 2012 - F-16 Thunderbirds in an inverted calypso pass formation during a training session for the Aviation Nation Air Show, Nevada." Those two photos showed both seats occupied, and the belly tank mount, but no belly tank. ALL of the other F-16 Calypso Pass photos show the single seat #5. I know that they use the two-seat #7 or #8 for promo rides or other photo shoots (and I actually knew one of their photographers from when they flew the two seat T-38s 1975 through 1982). I attended a Blue Angels show in 2019 at Stewart Airport where they replaced a malfunctioning single seat F-18 with a two seat F-18 for the rest of the show, but the number was not changed. The photo above from 7/13/2024 shows #5 as a two seater (F-16D?), but no-one in the second seat, so my guess is that the original #5 was replaced for that show with enough time to re-label the replacement #7 or #8 as the temporary/fill-in #5.