Aircraft memories

[zenrat]

Great memories folks.  Thanks for sharing them.

[NARSES2]

ANG F4 over Wakkiki Beach at approx. 6.00am roaring along the surfline at zero feet. Flown by my friend who was a USAF Col and based at Hickham attached to the ANG there for a while. After a couple of runs to impress his 7 year old he turned out to sea and did an almost vertical climb. Woke most of Wakkiki up and the USAF had to apologise and make excuses in the Advertiser the following morning 

[dadlamassu]

In 1972 on my first major field exercise we had just completed an assault crossing of Little Loch Broom and climbed up the ridge.  I was platoon radio operator and went forward with the platoon commander to look over the top of the ridge.  I set up the 10 foot mast then peeked over the lip and looked straight into the face of the pilot of a Hawker Hunter who was coming up the other side.  He soaked us in fuel and whacked the antenna.  Never forget the large eyes looking at me for a fraction of a second.

Not sure of the exact model of Hunter but I think it was a 2-seater.

[Go4fun]

Somehow at the ripe old age of 8 to 10 years old as a guest of  my mother's friend who had a friend who owned a Piper Cub getting a ride around Topeka and seeing all the sights any adult would want to. Then the pilot asked if I wanted to see anywhere special, (Probably thinking I'd pick my neighborhood or school), I blurted right out "Boyles Joyland!"! a sort of permanent carnival/fun park.
So I got to circle in a real airplane watching as the tiny children rode in the tiny tin airplanes ride as I had done dozens of times before.
One of my most cherished memories is that childhood ride in that tiny little airplane.

[kerick]

I remember one of my first field exercises as a new enlisted tactical air controller. The Lt was on the radio and told me to watch for # 2 as he kept his eyes on #1. Well of course I lost track of the a/c I was supposed to be watching until I turned to look across the other side of the hill we were on. All I saw was a big black F-4C nose and the wings, getting bigger really fast! I grabbed the Lt by the arm and pointed just as the F-4 rocked our world. Almost took the antennas off the jeep! Some Army troops were on the hill watching the show and they all dove under a truck.

[scooter]

I remember one of my first field exercises as a new enlisted tactical air controller. The Lt was on the radio and told me to watch for # 2 as he kept his eyes on #1. Well of course I lost track of the a/c I was supposed to be watching until I turned to look across the other side of the hill we were on. All I saw was a big black F-4C nose and the wings, getting bigger really fast! I grabbed the Lt by the arm and pointed just as the F-4 rocked our world. Almost took the antennas off the jeep! Some Army troops were on the hill watching the show and they all dove under a truck.

Ah the perils of being a JTAC, or their supporting element.

[upnorth]

A few memories:


I recall my first airshow at CFB Edmonton in 1982, I was about ten or so. The CF-18 Hornet was the Canadian military's new baby and they were making much of it.

The Hornet pair went up and did all kinds of impressive stuff; when they were finished, a four ship of CF-101 Voodoos took to the air and did their show. I'll not forget how the Voodoos closed their show with a low pass along the show line that shook the ground. The Hornets couldn't touch that!


In 1986, Vancouver hosted the World's Fair and we visited it at the same the Abbotsford Airshow was on.

It was the first, and only, time I've ever seen an SR-71 Blackbird in the flesh. I was watching some sort of performance when the Blackbird swung low over the exhibition grounds and drowned out all the sound leaving most of the crowd gawping at two orange spots rapidly fading into the distance.

[PR19_Kit]

In 1965 I was in the right place at the right time to attend the BoB Display at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk. At that time it was home to 74 Sqdn flying their Lightning F3s. After the usual comprehensive display of the RAF's capabilities (now sadly depleted....) the day finished with a squadron scramble by the entire fleet of 74's aircraft, taking off one by one and each one did the standard Lightning climb-out into the clouds after a neck wrenching rotation into the vertical. The last aircraft was flown by the Squadron Commander naturally, and as he started right at the rear of the column of aircraft he did the rotation to the vertical slightly sooner than the others and his vertical phase coincided exactly with one of the hard standing lights in my sight line. This had the bizarre effect of the Lightning seemingly vanishing from my sight behind the tall lighting standard, only its fin being visible whizzing up the side of the light until the entire aircraft apparently shot out of the top of the light! 

I filmed the entire sequence with a Super 8 camera but goodness knows where that memorable strip of film is now, I'd love ot post some stills from it on here.

Another 'vanishing aircraft' trick was played by the Belgian Air Force F-104G 'Slivers' two ship team in 1972 or so. I'd gone to the USAF base at RAF Upper Heyford for their Open Day at which the 'Slivers' performed pretty spectacularly! I'd not seen any F-104s at length until then and the whole display was astonishing, especially the J-79's 'moan' at certain speeds. The display ended with the two 104s doing an opposition pass from opposite ends of the runway with the upper aircraft  inverted and the lower one the right way up. Heyford has a bump in the field between the runway and the crowd line so aircraft are only fully visible when they are near the thresholds and the lower one of the 'Slivers' was SO low that we could only see his tailplane, seemingly shooting across the grass like a supersonic tea tray! 

[eatthis]

In 1965 I was in the right place at the right time to attend the BoB Display at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk. At that time it was home to 74 Sqdn flying their Lightning F3s. After the usual comprehensive display of the RAF's capabilities (now sadly depleted....) the day finished with a squadron scramble by the entire fleet of 74's aircraft, taking off one by one and each one did the standard Lightning climb-out into the clouds after a neck wrenching rotation into the vertical. The last aircraft was flown by the Squadron Commander naturally, and as he started right at the rear of the column of aircraft he did the rotation to the vertical slightly sooner than the others and his vertical phase coincided exactly with one of the hard standing lights in my sight line. This had the bizarre effect of the Lightning seemingly vanishing from my sight behind the tall lighting standard, only its fin being visible whizzing up the side of the light until the entire aircraft apparently shot out of the top of the light! 

I filmed the entire sequence with a Super 8 camera but goodness knows where that memorable strip of film is now, I'd love ot post some stills from it on here.

Another 'vanishing aircraft' trick was played by the Belgian Air Force F-104G 'Slivers' two ship team in 1972 or so. I'd gone to the USAF base at RAF Upper Heyford for their Open Day at which the 'Slivers' performed pretty spectacularly! I'd not seen any F-104s at length until then and the whole display was astonishing, especially the J-79's 'moan' at certain speeds. The display ended with the two 104s doing an opposition pass from opposite ends of the runway with the upper aircraft  inverted and the lower one the right way up. Heyford has a bump in the field between the runway and the crowd line so aircraft are only fully visible when they are near the thresholds and the lower one of the 'Slivers' was SO low that we could only see his tailplane, seemingly shooting across the grass like a supersonic tea tray! 

i wish id seen that!

[bobbo]

 . . . In the early 1970's, the Reading (Pennsylvania) airshow was a biggie for me . . . Saw Bob Hoover do his thing, saw the F-4 Phantoms in Thunderbirds and Blue Angels (IIRC, that is . . . ) Harriers, And the Bede BD-5J in action:  THAT was a real treat!  

There was always something cool at the Reading show . . .

Memories . . .

bobbo

[PR19_Kit]

Wow bobbo, wish I'd been there then! 

I only saw Bob Hoover do his thing once and that was amazing, and saw the T'birds and the Angels, both mounted aboard F-4s, in the same year. The T'Birds may have been at the same Open Day that I saw the Slivers, they were certainly at Upper Heyford

[Leading Observer]

An Airshow at RNAS Yeovilton with my Dad - low cloud base, and a FAA F-4 going straight up on full afterburner and burning a hole through the cloud. Or a wet Farnborough with the Freece Tricolore G-91's doing a very low display when no-one else would fly. I don't know what they used to colour the smoke, but the smell was mainly onions and garlic

[The Rat]

And the Bede BD-4J in action: 

That would actually be the BD-5J, stick a jet on a BD-4 and the wings might come off!

[rickshaw]

I remember attending the Australian Bicentennial Airshow at Richmond RAAF base near Sydney in 1988.  It was and has been the only airshow I've ever attended.   The most memorable aircraft display I saw that day was the An-124 Ruslan.  At the time the world's biggest aircraft.   He must have been flying with a very light fuel load 'cause the pilot threw this ginormous plane all over the sky and all pretty much within the perimeter of the airfield.  I remember looking up as he did a vertical turn overhead and wondering how the hell that thing stayed in the air.   It was surprisingly quiet as well, or so I seem to remember but perhaps my ears were somewhat dulled from the various fighter jets which had been screaming around earlier.   

[bobbo]

And the Bede BD-4J in action:

That would actually be the BD-5J, stick a jet on a BD-4 and the wings might come off!

 BRAIN CRAMP!  

CORRECTED. 
bobbo