Origin Story
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
The Lima Lima Flight Team started with one flying club. The Mentor Flyers, Inc. was organized as a non-profit corporation in 1975. It was chartered as a 15-member flying club, based at Naper Aero Club field, outside of Naperville, Illinois. Naper Aero is a residential airpark, with over 100 homes connected to runways via taxiways behind the homes.
The initial concept was to purchase a single Beech T-34 Mentor — the Navy's primary trainer during the 1950s and 60s — as a club airplane. The T-34 was chosen for its durability, aerobatic capability, and the camaraderie it represented among those who had trained in it during military service. As enthusiasm grew, the club acquired additional aircraft, and members began flying together in loose formation.
What started as informal formation flying quickly evolved. Members began practicing tighter formations, refining their positions and choreographing maneuvers. By the late 1970s, the team was performing at local airshows, drawing crowds who had never seen six civilian aircraft flying in close, disciplined formation.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, Lima Lima expanded its reach, performing at major airshows across the United States. The team became affiliated with the T-34 Association, whose annual fly-ins helped strengthen the bonds between T-34 enthusiasts nationwide. Each year brought new venues, new audiences, and new milestones — a fly-by at Mount Rushmore, performances at the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, and international shows including Acapulco, Mexico.
Today, five decades after that first flying club meeting in Naperville, the Lima Lima Flight Team continues to fly, to perform, and to honor the legacy of those original members who believed six civilians in Navy surplus trainers could put on a show worth watching.
The Name
LIMA LIMA
FAA Designator · LL-10
The team's name comes directly from its home field. Naper Aero Club was assigned the FAA identifier LL-10. In the NATO phonetic alphabet — the same system used by pilots worldwide — the letter “L” is spoken as “Lima.” Thus, LL became “Lima Lima,” and the team took that call sign as its own.
The distinctive black tail band on each of the team's T-34 Mentors is the Lima Lima trademark — instantly recognizable on the flight line and in the air, setting the team apart from the standard Navy training color scheme.
The Demonstration
SIX SHIPS, ONE VOICE
The Lima Lima demonstration features six Beech T-34 Mentors performing precision formation aerobatics before crowds that, over the team's history, have totaled more than 100 million spectators from coast to coast.
The demonstration showcases multiple formation configurations — each requiring absolute trust between pilots, precise throttle management, and hundreds of hours of formation practice. The team transitions smoothly between shapes in flight, giving audiences a dynamic, ever-changing display of airmanship.
Wedge
The classic V-formation: all six aircraft in a broad arrowhead, lead at the point, wingmen stacked back and out.
Double Arrowhead
Two nested arrowheads — a complex symmetrical shape that showcases the depth of the formation.
Finger Four
Named for the shape of an outstretched hand, this WWII-era formation places four aircraft in a loose echelon.
Diamond
The tightest, most dramatic formation: four aircraft in a perfect diamond, flown at close wingtip separation.
In Memoriam
ED HICKS
February 11, 1942 – January 24, 2023
Edward “Ed” Hicks was one of the original founders of the Lima Lima Flight Team, having helped establish the Mentor Flyers, Inc. in 1975. For nearly five decades, he flew the slot position — the most demanding spot in the six-ship formation, nestled directly behind the lead aircraft with wingmen on either side.
A United States Air Force veteran, Ed later flew for Delta Air Lines for 32 years, retiring as a captain. He brought military discipline, precision, and genuine love for flight to everything he did — on the airline and in formation over airshow crowds across America.
Ed passed away peacefully on January 24, 2023. He was 80 years old. The team, his family, and the aviation community worldwide mourned the loss of a man whose passion for formation flying helped create something that has entertained more than 100 million people. He has, as pilots say, gone west.
High Flight · John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, nor even eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Across America
In the Air and on the Ground
See Us Fly
EXPERIENCE LIMA LIMA LIVE
Check the 2026 schedule to find a Lima Lima appearance near you, or reach out to book the team for your airshow.