(NGC) encounters with military aircraft

[dee g]

Probably one of the things I miss most about SoCal.  Lived in California City for several years, which is right next to Edwards AFB. We would get permission from SPORT to fly through restricted airspace, usually with firm floors/ceilings, to keep us out of the way of the military folks practicing.  It was always fun to watch them fly by a couple hundred feet below or above us, and the occasional time that a fighter would fly by as slow as he could (we were in a Beech Musketeer) and wave.

[Dilliw]

Back in the 90s there was an airshow weekend and a bunch of planes were in town.  I was sitting on the back of my boat watching a swimmer when two Woblin Goblins attacked the Lake Murray Dam.  The fell from the sky in some random maneuver then shot straight back up into the clouds.  Not something you see everyday.

[gary martin]

several years ago at a local  military show I watched from about 100 ft. away as an Apache lifted about 30 feet then slowly spun until it was looking straight at me.  talk about intimidation!!! ;D

[EVDavid]

Great thread.

Being warned of two F111s in close proximity,from Upper Heyford UK base, when I was doing my qualifying cross country(which I only just saw), finding a Hawker Sea Fury in our light aircraft circuit when I wanted to join downwind, but the best was sitting at the threshold of the active runway at Duxford UK on a day when they were filming Mephis Belle, with three B17s, Bf109s, Spitfires and P51s parting my hair before security sent me away!

[rodekyll]

The plane above is a F4, I'm used to F-105 Thunderchiefs being called Thuds. But that was a while ago and the memories could be jumbled. We had RF4's in Duluth, they made an impressive noise. :)

Hmmm.  I thought it was a phantom, but last time I posted it here (asking what it was) folks said it was a 105.  I'll correct my notes.   :)

[rboe]

Wow, can't imagine mixing up a Phantom with the Thud. The 105 has very different looking intakes.

[rodekyll]

I didn't know (couldn't get close to the displays because the area was locked up).  I do now.

BTW -- Hill AFB in Utah has a huge collection of vintage stuff.  If you folks get a chance, drop by and give them a look.  I hope to get back there someday with the luxury of time and access to compose some pics.

[tazio]

Lived next to Dobbins AFB in Georgia so I saw a lot. Also heard a lot. When the Lockheed wind tunnel fired up you could not hear yourself think. Later, living near the Mojave, lots of secret stuff from Edwards flies over.

Wind Tunnel still there, thinking of checking the Ambos' Cd :BEER:

[Stevex]

When I was a boy, they used to hold air displays at the home of Rolls Royce at Hucknall Airfield, Nottingham.
My dad used to let me sit on the top of our garage roof to watch the display which was a few miles away as the crow flies.
I'll never forget watching the English Electric Lightning go vertical after the take off run.
Probably one of the most fantastic aircraft ever to fly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTr2UvLqfkQ

[oldbike54]

Wind Tunnel still there, thinking of checking the Ambos' Cd :BEER:
[/quote

Don't , it will scare you  ;D

  Dusty

[gsf12man]

Years ago I was going around an 8.8 mile circular test track near Pecos, TX in a car at 115 mph, the middle bit of a high-speed test. I was overtaking a slow-moving Japanese truck (Isuzu tested big Japanese-market trucks there) and watching him carefully as I began to pass. About when I reached him there was a vast, all-encompassing roar which scared the living sh*t out of me . . . I thought I had crashed, possibly into the truck, or he had crashed, or—. Then I saw four great big engines filling up all my right-side windows. Buzzed by a B-1. At other times we would see one come over the track, do a 'lap' around it and go on its way.

[tazio]

Wind Tunnel still there, thinking of checking the Ambos' Cd :BEER:
[/quote

Don't , it will scare you  ;D

  Dusty

You must have guessed that I'd be sittin' on it :D

[oldbike54]

You must have guessed that I'd be sittin' on it :D

 :D :D :D :D :D :D

Well...  ;D

  Dusty

[LowRyter]

here's some of my old snap shots working at Tinker Field:

here's two for one (KC-135 and E6):



Tbird



Blue Angels

[1Sourdough]

When I worked in northern Wyoming several years ago I got to see B-52s flying low practice runs a few times.  Not sure how low they were, that much aircraft down low is really big!

Attended the Abbotsford, BC Airshow in 1972 and saw a Vulcan doing low passes there.  Its size was impressive but the agility the aircraft showed as it was wheeled around at the ends of the passes was nearly unbelievable.  Great aircraft!

[Muzz]

In the days when we still had an airforce  ::), hang, it must be about 50 years ago now  :o we were out at our bach which is one section back from the coast and about 50 feet above sea level. Suddenly there was a roar and three or four Skyhawks came in just a few feet off the sea. They proceeded to do some low level mock strafing attacks at the point at the edge of our little bay, and then finished off by tipping sideways on their wings and going between some gum trees at the end of the point and the hill that our bach was on. We were looking DOWN on them.! Then, off they went back to the North Island. All my bro and I could think was SH*T!!!!!! That was indeed no room for error!

[johnr]

Attended the Abbotsford, BC Airshow in 1972 and saw a Vulcan doing low passes there.  Its size was impressive but the agility the aircraft showed as it was wheeled around at the ends of the passes was nearly unbelievable.  Great aircraft!

It was for that reason, and the stronger air-frame that allowed very low level flying, that it was picked over the otherwise superior Victor as a low level deliverer of Nukes. They could fly them at full noise at 50' if required.

[AMGeneral]

The few I recall were,

Heading east on US-54 from Kingman to Wichita, saw a shadow of a plane go over, thought nothing of it planes go over headed for Wichita all the time, but it did seem rather large and slow, when the plane came into view out the windshield saw it was the Stealth Bomber. Just lumbering along, even remember seeing it sway like a flying wing will do.

Riding the Jackal west out of Goddard, between Wichita and Kingman on US-54, saw a PT-17 take off to the north over the hi-way, then another, then a DR-1 Triplane! Yep you bet I did a u-turn and went back to the airstrip they left to find out they were participating in a fly over next town over celebrating Memorial Day or 4th of July, can't remember. Three PT-17s, AT-6, DR-1 replica, Eurocoupe, maybe ten or so planes in all.









Last one was when I was stationed out in Cali for a couple weeks of training, and everyone had to wear this harness, think laser tag, if you got hit it would beep once, if you were dead it would sound constantly and could only be shut off by someone with a key. Well I was with a supply unit and we had just finished a meal and all of a sudden everyones harness sounded the dead signal. Everyone, all in just a second or two, then the sound of an A-10 as it flew overhead. Yea the one with the key wasn't very happy.

[guzzimike]

Back in early 1960s the house we lived was on an almost direct line to the landing pattern for a local Air Force base.

Everyday we were treated to Gloster Meteors  low level overflights.

Those Glosters were LOUD..!



-

[rodekyll]

We'd hear a pair of fighters scream overhead and disappear through the clouds, leaving only the fading turbine roar.  If they broke east or west there'd come a point where the roar grew faint and abruptly cut out.  About a one or two-count afterward would come a floor-felt BOOM that rattled the windows and spoons that might be in dishes as they went supersonic.

We fished off the PNW coast in the 60s and had to avoid restricted waters where exercises were held.  They were marked on the charts and everything, so if you got into a live-fire area you had no one to blame but yourself.  We did a good job of steering clear, but the sounds would carry, and the contrails and smoke of aerial action didn't confine itself to the reservation.  Neither did the aircraft.  It was fun from 10 miles off watching them chase each other and do attack runs on (appropriately named) Destruction Island.  Sometimes the Navy invaded the beach and the planes and helos did close air support.  When we were in the area, vapor trails and sonic booms were a regular thing.

Someone above mentioned tossing candy to crowds at an airshow.  It reminded me of getting showered at a threshing bee when I was 4 or 5 with parachutes of swag tossed out of a military helicopter that in my opinion looked like Sky King, but louder.  I got a rubber ballistic missile about 5" long, a deck of USAF playing cards with a different airplane on each one, and a medal saying I was a junior american hero, presumably for valor exhibited while collecting swag during a live parachute drop.  My brother got a rubber bomber with the engines on backwards.  He was furious.  He thought the air force should know better.  We figured out how to reuse the chutes by wrapping up field mice and doug fir cones with them and launching them over the fields with a catapult made from a rooted sapling.  Funny the things you remember. . .  .

[1Sourdough]

It was for that reason, and the stronger air-frame that allowed very low level flying, that it was picked over the otherwise superior Victor as a low level deliverer of Nukes. They could fly them at full noise at 50' if required.

The two "V" bombers have always intrigued me, being so similar in the things one sees who is not privy to their inner-most details does not learn.  The video about the Victors flying the bombing mission to the Falklands provided some fascinating information I had never before heard about the aircraft and RAF procedures.  I do not remember any discussion of why the Victors were selected but supposed it was because they had been operational more recently than Vulcan, and perhaps had longer range.

[dibble]

it was a Vulcan that bombed Port Stanley, the Tankers may have been converted Victors.

[johnr]

.... and then finished off by tipping sideways on their wings and going between some gum trees at the end of the point and the hill that our bach was on. We were looking DOWN on them.! Then, off they went back to the North Island. All my bro and I could think was SH*T!!!!!! That was indeed no room for error!

Muzz, when I was living in Christchurch I met an Air Force guy in a pub who had just got himself out of training on the Skyhawks. He was shaking like a leaf. Those guys sure had big brass ones, and had to maximise the abilities of the aircraft.

[Bill N]

I'm in my OH-6A helicopter sitting on a helo pad on a mountain fire base in Vietnam. Pathfinders called me and said I needed to move to another pad as a Chinook needed to land where I was. So I lifted up and maneuvered to a smaller pad about 100 yards away. Just about 50 feet above touchdown, I heard a deafening roar, the helo pitched up about twenty degrees, I thought I had been shot by a RPG. As I regained control I saw two F4 afterburners in front of me and climbing away. So what actually happened was the F4 passed below me while I was only about 50 ft above the landing area. I don't know what you think, but that's close.
The F4 driver no doubt after delivering his ordinance and heading back to Da Nang was hot doggin, and terrain followed up the mountain. Had he hit me, likely most of the fire base would have been destroyed...many deaths including me. Bet the F4 driver soiled his pants when he finally saw me. I filed an incident report. :BEER:
Bill

[Dean Rose]

My fist wife and I lived on Solomons Island Maryland for a few years. It was right across the river from Patuxent River Naval Air Station. They used to test a lot of planes there and would come roaring over the house at odd hours.


Dean

[Joe A.]

every year there is the Geneseo H.A.G. air show (Historical Air Group). I live about 6 miles from the airstrip and it is not uncommon to have a B-17 or 52 fly over our house seemingly 10' above the treetops. You can "feel" the engines before you actually see the plane.

In the early / mid 70's we were camping in the Adirondacks and taking an early morning hike. This is not far from Ft. Drum in Watertown NY. There was a weird sound and flying overhead at very low altitude was a plane nver before seen by us. When we returned to camp and described what was witnessed, we were accused of having an early morning joint for breakfast! Years later photos of the Stealth were becoming public and I swear that is what we witnessed. Could never confirm if that was actually the case. Can't imagine what is in development now that won't be public for years.

In the mid 90's I was riding my CX 650 from Tucson to Nogales and riding  thru the area of the proving grounds. I had the bike at WOT (big deal, right?) when the bike became unstable and began to wobble a bit. Sand was kicked up and thankfully I had a full face helmet on. From behind and seemingly at eye level, I was passed by a jet copter (I don't know what kind). got a thumbs up as I was $hitting my linens!

[EVDavid]

Low Vulcans. In the book Vulcan 607, which I can't find in order to give the correct quote, the crew recount flying through the Grand Canyon only realizing afterwards that there was a note on the chart saying "not below such and such thousand feet". Oops. But you would wouldn't you!

[johnr]

Low Vulcans. In the book Vulcan 607, which I can't find in order to give the correct quote, the crew recount flying through the Grand Canyon only realizing afterwards that there was a note on the chart saying "not below such and such thousand feet". Oops. But you would wouldn't you!

 :D Some good photo ops there!

[tris]

Many during maneuvers in Europe.

The base I was at was also right under the low alt corridor to the east german border.  Every day around noon the daily recon flight, usually an F4, would go over the base at about 100ft.  The pilot would wave as he went by, then pull up a bit to clear the hills east of the base.

While in a car was 'buzzed' by a Vulcan bomber.  Never really knew how big those things were until then!
Living near Luke AFB as a kid we use to watch planes take off all the time.  Most beautiful were the ones just after dusk in full afterburner.  One day was standing in line at the commissary with all the other retired folks.  A big roar and an F15 takes off and goes vertical until we couldn't see it anymore.  The guy behind me had a WWII vet hat on with pilot's wings.  He commented "show off".  :)

Back in the 80s when the Vulcans were still operational one came to display at the Brands Hatch F1 Grand Prix

Commentator "well, we're used to loud noises at motor racing events but watch this"

At which point the Vulcan turned tail on to the crowd , firewalled the throttles and disappeared straight up

I still can't get enough of the sole flying example XH558 and it still takes any Air Show by storm

Empties the factory if comes over our way on a flight  ;-T

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/

[1Sourdough]

it was a Vulcan that bombed Port Stanley, the Tankers may have been converted Victors.

That is correct.  It had been long enough since I watched the documentary I had forgotten the Vulcan floating amongst the gaggle of Victors.  Here's the link:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Yl8ntVS-4