"BUFDRVR" wrote in message
...
Better news was that all the heat from the Buffs taking off raised the
vis
just
enough for T/O mins for the A-4.

See, BUFFs can even change the weather

I was #7 of a 12 ship MITO one morning as a young co-pilot. My aircraft
commander for the exercise was an experienced IP who decided, just prior
to
engine start, that I would do the takeoff. He was unphased when I told him
I
had never done a MITO from #2 let alone #7. I'll never forget him picking
up
the "committed call" because a.) I didn't know what to do with the
airspeed
indicator jumping from 120 to 160 and back and fourth and b.) was focusing
nearly 100% of my energy on keeping us tracking down the *center* of the
runway. We broke ground, turned to our "fan heading" and instantly hit
"dirty"
air that caused an abrupt pitch up. The pitch up was so violent and
happened so
quickly and we were so low (about 50-60 feet AGL) that both of us shoved
the
yoke into the forward stops without the obligatory transfer of aircraft
control. After about three seconds of terror, we hit clear air, he got off
the
controls and calmy began the "After Takeoff Climb" checklist. Out of sheer
necessity I maintained my outwardly "cool pilot" demeanor, but inside I
was
still reeling from having nearly stalled a half million pound jet just
seconds
after takeoff. The discussion at level off was, obviously, about our
post-T/O
adventure, and I was amazed by the "ol' heads", who thought nothing of it.
In
fact our RN had a worse MITO story than we had just lived through!
Incidents
like that made me appreciate the "Cold War" guys, who may never have
dropped a
weapon in anger, but damn sure had put their lives at risk in preparing
for
"the Big One".


BUFDRVR


I won't go into detail about my many MITO stories like the one above, but
many times, just as number 3, I was at FULL cross controlls just a few feet
off the ground in a Buff trying to keep the wingtips from hitting the
ground. Additional joy, in a G model you didn't look ahead down the runway
during takeoff because you couldn't see it. A water assisted MITO created a
black curtain of smoke from the Buffs ahead of you...you just looked over
the nose at the white line to stay on the rwy.

A tragic memory I have was watching a Castle AFB Buff (CCTS sortie with 10
on board) as #2 in a MITO go in a mile off the rwy at Mather AFB (Dec '82).
Watched that from the alert pad as an off going crewmember.

Much, much easier doing the same thing in a Bone. The guy ahead would
accelerate so fast you couldn't keep up. The winds in TX had a lot to do
with sweeping the rwy too.

JB