Three Sea Hawks
History
US Navy remained without an aerobatic display team since 1927, when with the help of US Marine officer Lt. D. W. Tomlinson the first official US Naval aerobatic team was created from VB-2B squadron at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego. This team performed its first demonstration in January 1928, flying three Boeing F2B-1 and F2B-2 fighters in San Francisco. Because of their risky performance the people called them Suicide Trio. Soon they received official name - Three Sea Hawks. Under this name their first public performance was on 8-16 Sept 1928, during National Air Races week at Mines Field (now Los Angelis International Airport).
The Boeing F2B-1 was unable to fly inverted without engine quitting and Lt. Tomlinson fixed this problem modifying the carburetors, enabling plane to fly inverted until it lose oil pressure. At the end of 1929 the team's pilots received new assignments, so the Three Sea Hawks team was disbanded.
See The Three Seahawks Creation Story by Tomlinson here
