On Mon, 31 Jul 2006 11:08:39 -0400, "Andrew Chaplin"
wrote:


F-5s are a bugger to spot, too.

Doing a defence of the Lazy D hill feature at Gagetown (723' ASL in CYR 724)
we had both F-5s and Hornets flying against us. I surprised myself when I
picked up a Hornet of 425 "Alouette" Squadron well out there, about 20 Km
and less than 100 feet off the deck. Its low-visibility grey stood out
against a bright blue sky. Engaging it was cinch as we could track it all
the way in. Minutes later a little dirty green and dark grey F-5 of 434
"Bluenose" Squadron dragged himself out of the Saint John River valley where
he had been about 50 feet above the river and attacked us ground troops --
from below! His crossing rate was so high we could scarcely draw a bead on
him until he was almost at the line of weapon release.

When I first arrived at Holloman to IP for IPs at Fighter Lead-In, we
still had a lot of the former Aggressor AT-38s in their various paint
schemes. It was about a year later that they standardized the
blue-blue-gray glossy "Smurf" paint.

I recall being on a 1-v-1 against a brown/tan "Lizard". He closed on
me in a 90 degree beam set-up and I watched him track in from about
three miles until at about 2500 feet he simply disappeared! I had been
pad-locked on him as he closed waiting for him to commit and while
totally focussed on him, he turned on the cloaking device. Most
amazing demonstration of camoflage I had ever seen.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com