Military Aircraft Pictures & Stories

[Psneeld]

That is one nice thing about helo flying....world's highest paid sightseers...

Anything above 200 feet agl and I started to go hypoxic and my nose would bleed.

[corn18]

Originally Posted by Psneeld

That is one nice thing about helo flying....world's highest paid sightseers...

Anything above 200 feet agl and I started to go hypoxic and my nose would bleed.

Now that's funny stuff right there!

[Psneeld]

Originally Posted by corn18

Now that's funny stuff right there!

Well, occasionally we weren't flying down the beach counting bikinis....

This time it was in 1991, in the Bearing Sea during a gale, sideways landing on a Russian freighter hatch cover, to MEDEVAC a Russian doctor who fell down a ladder and double compound fractured his arm and was bleeding badly.

Took him to Adak Naval Base in the Aleutians for medical help.

So the next time I was back in Cape May, NJ..... flying the surf line on a training mission I cashed in that voucher for another good sightseeing trip.

Like I told my co-pilots..."Never let a USCG mission get in the way of fun!"

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Originally Posted by Psneeld

That is one nice thing about helo flying....world's highest paid sightseers...

Anything above 200 feet agl and I started to go hypoxic and my nose would bleed.

Flying in Germany, our lower limit was 50' aho. Paraphrasing from Pirates of the Caribbean, we took that more as a "guideline" than a hard and fast rule! Just had to remember to land and remove any treetops from the skids and WSPS before coming back to the airfield!

[FastEagle]

VFC-13 – NAS Fallon, NV

You don’t often see aircraft from VFC-13. In the early 1970s I was with VF-151 out of NAS Miramar, CA, Top Gun country. That was the first time I saw a USN freedom fighter (F-5) all dressed-up for an adversarial roll at Top- Gun. The squadron usually performed those function for the USN at NAS Fallon, NV. Compared to the top Navy fighter jets of that time (F-4), the small dual engine F-5 was supersonic with fast acceleration and very maneuverable. Many times, when it was seen it was too late to avoid. (Of course, some of those tricked by the F-5 will call that hearsay for that's where I got my information).

[corn18]

Originally Posted by FastEagle

VFC-13 – NAS Fallon, NV

You don’t often see aircraft from VFC-13. In the early 1970s I was with VF-151 out of NAS Miramar, CA, Top Gun country. That was the first time I saw a USN freedom fighter (F-5) all dressed-up for an adversarial roll at Top- Gun. The squadron usually performed those function for the USN at NAS Fallon, NV. Compared to the top Navy fighter jets of that time (F-4), the small dual engine F-5 was supersonic with fast acceleration and very maneuverable. Many times, when it was seen it was too late to avoid. (Of course, some of those tricked by the F-5 will call that hearsay for that's where I got my information).

Attachment 372633

I remember starting the fighter portion of my F/A-18 training in the RAG at Cecil Field (VFA-106). I pretty much thought I was the sh!t. Went out on a 1v1 against an A-4M. That guy pretty much spent a full hour gunning my friggin' brains out. Old airplanes with salty adversary pilots were much more effective than new airplanes with inexperienced, over confident pilots.

[zipmart]

Originally Posted by corn18

I remember starting the fighter portion of my F/A-18 training in the RAG at Cecil Field (VFA-106). I pretty much thought I was the sh!t. Went out on a 1v1 against an A-4M. That guy pretty much spent a full hour gunning my friggin' brains out. Old airplanes with salty adversary pilots were much more effective than new airplanes with inexperienced, over confident pilots.

Your experience happened to about 95% of young, inexperienced pilots in all of the service branches. Having spent my last 10 years in the Navy in the adversary business, it was fun watching the learning curve rise exponentially in the fighter communities. That was our mission, to teach. Even crusty old veterans occasionally got their lunch handed to them when they became over-confident. Using the reserves to handle the adversary requirements was a smart move by the Navy. I was a TAR (basically a full-time reservist, for those not familiar) and managed to stay in the community my last 10 years until retirement. All of our weekend warrior reservists were hand-picked for their experience and reputation. Having the same people for 10-15 years performing the mission reaped the benefits of highly experienced and knowledgeable bogey drivers. 90% of our pilots were graduates of the TOPGUN adversary course. I spent 3 of my last 10 years as the A-4 NATOPS Evaluator for COMNAVAIRRESFOR and was fortunate to fly with VFC-12, VFC-13, and the 4-plane OMD adversary contingent at the now closed NAS Dallas during that time. It was the most rewarding and fun time I had in my career.

[FastEagle]

Originally Posted by corn18

I remember starting the fighter portion of my F/A-18 training in the RAG at Cecil Field (VFA-106). I pretty much thought I was the sh!t. Went out on a 1v1 against an A-4M. That guy pretty much spent a full hour gunning my friggin' brains out. Old airplanes with salty adversary pilots were much more effective than new airplanes with inexperienced, over confident pilots.

At the end of my career, I was the maintenance chief for VF1-132 at Cecil Field. I retired at the CPO club 03/88, CLAW-1 CDR Peterson did the presentation. VFA-132 was in Korea.

I was the maintenance chief at VA-46 when CDR Peterson was the CO.

[zipmart]

Originally Posted by FastEagle

At the end of my career, I was the maintenance chief for VF1-132 at Cecil Field. I retired at the CPO club 03/88, CLAW-1 CDR Peterson did the presentation. VFA-132 was in Korea.

I was the maintenance chief at VA-46 when CDR Peterson was the CO.

Then LCDR Peterson was an instructor at VA-174 when I went through as a RAG student. Great guy! He was one of the instructors that took our class on the WEPS DET to Yuma.

[T-n-T]

When I was a young airman at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona, there was a pilot in the squadron (can't remember his call sign, only that he was a Major) who seemed to be one with the A-10. We were at Nellis for Red Flag and the Major was out on a sortie with his CAP-9 on SCAN. Well, an F-16 Aggressor popped up over the ridgeline at the worse possible time and the Major heard the audible MISSILE LOCK tone... score 1 for the Warthog! The next day, all of the Aggressors ganged up on the Major; and, they got him. But, only after he had ran out of chaff and flare.

Some of us had the opportunity to watch it all play from the Control Room that was receiving the realtime telemetry data from the combat training system pods.

[Ray,IN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDZ2Da7JUAQ

[corn18]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Whole lot of words with nothing to say.

[F4Gary]

Originally Posted by corn18

Whole lot of words with nothing to say.

[MikenDebbie]

Two questions...
1. What causes the "smoke" that comes off the wing tips of many aircraft (pic below). What is is called? Contrails?

2. I watched a different F22 video about its history and variations that were proposed for various service arms. Who makes the decision to go forward with a variant design? Military experts or the idiots in congress?