They got their name from a New York nightclub. Their colours, though, are the official hues of the US Navy. Death-defying feats have been performed by the Blue Angels at airshows since the 1940s – and you can experience what it’s like to be inside the cockpit in a nail-biting interactive 360-degree video recorded by USA Today above.

Like the British Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows or the US Air Force’s Thunderbirds, these pilots often make daring manoeuvres never used in combat. As you can see in the footage, the Blue Angels’ aircraft may be as close as 45cm (18 inches) to each other – less than an arm’s length. And they’re travelling at hundreds of miles an hour.

So, do armed forces actually benefit militarily from having pilots who can carry out these stunts?

The answer is “no” and “yes”. Aerobatics generally are a part of military training because it’s important for pilots to be able to manoeuvre their aircraft with great care, hone their skills and learn a large range of tricks to evade threats. When pilots need to perform challenging moves in combat, such training ensures that they are physically able to handle the intense forces exert on them.