I got buzzed!!!

I live near Los Alamitos Army Airfield (KSLI) and it turned
out they were having a small show today. DRAT!!! Had I known...

Anyway, being so close I got to hear and see an F/A-18 do
some very low and fast passes. I'm about where normal traffic
turns onto final, so this guy was banked over on it's wingtips
and lighting up the pipes. But I digress...

Anyway, I decided to take a little jaunt on the Harley and I
found myself much closer to the field, in fact, about a 1/4
mile from the end of the runway. I was sitting in a right turn
lane when I hear the most spine tingling howl coming up behind
me. The hairs on the back of my neck literally stood up!! A
second later it turned into a growling roar passing overhead.
I looked up just in time to see a beautiful P-51 setting up
for a high speed low pass down the flightline. Oh, what a site!!

Now, I'm on a Harley with helmet and earplugs and I still
heard this thing coming up behind me.

I can only image what those on the receiving end of a strafing
run must have felt when they heard the howl of that plane
bearing down upon them.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

Skywise wrote: brevity snip

I can only image what those on the receiving end of a strafing
run must have felt when they heard the howl of that plane
bearing down upon them.

I've never been fired upon by aircraft but I can offer a brief
description of what it's like to have a flight of 3 F-4's come over
from behind at about 300AGL and maybe 400kts...

Very, very frightening.
-----

- gpsman

"gpsman" wrote in message
oups.com...
Skywise wrote: brevity snip

I can only image what those on the receiving end of a strafing
run must have felt when they heard the howl of that plane
bearing down upon them.

I've never been fired upon by aircraft but I can offer a brief
description of what it's like to have a flight of 3 F-4's come over
from behind at about 300AGL and maybe 400kts...

Very, very frightening.
-----

- gpsman

This from someone behind me at an airshow one time after the Blue Angels
"Sneak Pass" and the narrator's accompanying description of low-level,
high-speed tactical attack methods:

"Well, we can't be dead...we heard him."

In the 1940s, you could probably count on hearing the attacking aircraft on
a strafing run before he fired...but today, you're dead long before you'd
ever hear the jet (provided of course, the ordinance in question even
required flight anywhere near the target...)

Duck early, duck often.

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

Reminds me of the last real "stunt" pulled by the Thunderbirds. Not allowed
any more of course :-)
On Okinawa during the old F100 team days, Fish Salmon was flying the solo
slot. Fish was a real hot rock! The team wasn't constrained by FAA rules on
Oki as it was back in the states.
It was at the Kadena airshow with the team on tour. Fish took off behind the
diamond and disappeared out over the ocean. The diamond came back in and
executed the first formation maneuver. All the attention was on the
formation and practically everybody on the base including the base
commander's pet dog had completely forgotten about Fish.
Fish had sneaked out and positioned the F100 to hack 180 behind the crowd
inbound over the mile marker passing through mach 1 just as the aircraft
overflew the crowd. He completely blind sided them all. I mean no one knew
he was there until the shock wave hit them.
The diamond cleared and in came Fish balls to the walls. It was TERRIFIC!!!!
He hit the crowd supersonic just above their heads. The boom shook the beer
cans right out of their hands.
About 10,000 people hit the deck at once! It was marvelous!!!
This Thunderbird "moment" is brought up from time to time by the old guys
after a drink or two, and I can tell you it will never happen again. But
what a moment that was!!
Ah yes....the "good ole days".
:-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Dudley Henriques


"Jay Beckman" wrote in message
...

"gpsman" wrote in message
oups.com...
Skywise wrote: brevity snip

I can only image what those on the receiving end of a strafing
run must have felt when they heard the howl of that plane
bearing down upon them.

I've never been fired upon by aircraft but I can offer a brief
description of what it's like to have a flight of 3 F-4's come over
from behind at about 300AGL and maybe 400kts...

Very, very frightening.
-----

- gpsman

This from someone behind me at an airshow one time after the Blue Angels
"Sneak Pass" and the narrator's accompanying description of low-level,
high-speed tactical attack methods:

"Well, we can't be dead...we heard him."

In the 1940s, you could probably count on hearing the attacking aircraft
on a strafing run before he fired...but today, you're dead long before
you'd ever hear the jet (provided of course, the ordinance in question
even required flight anywhere near the target...)

Duck early, duck often.

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...
Reminds me of the last real "stunt" pulled by the Thunderbirds. Not
allowed any more of course :-)

Snip Fabulous Story

Super Sabre - $10 million dollars

Pilot Traning - $1 million dollars

Flat Hatting The Crowd - Priceless!

Jay B

"Skywise" wrote in message
...
I live near Los Alamitos Army Airfield (KSLI) and it turned
out they were having a small show today. DRAT!!! Had I known...

Anyway, being so close I got to hear and see an F/A-18 do
some very low and fast passes. I'm about where normal traffic
turns onto final, so this guy was banked over on it's wingtips
and lighting up the pipes. But I digress...

Anyway, I decided to take a little jaunt on the Harley and I
found myself much closer to the field, in fact, about a 1/4
mile from the end of the runway. I was sitting in a right turn
lane when I hear the most spine tingling howl coming up behind
me. The hairs on the back of my neck literally stood up!! A
second later it turned into a growling roar passing overhead.
I looked up just in time to see a beautiful P-51 setting up
for a high speed low pass down the flightline. Oh, what a site!!

Now, I'm on a Harley with helmet and earplugs and I still
heard this thing coming up behind me.

I can only image what those on the receiving end of a strafing
run must have felt when they heard the howl of that plane
bearing down upon them.

The combination of a Merlin V1650-7 and a Hamilton or Aero Products
propeller at between 35 and 45 inches and between 2700 and 3000 RPM have a
sound so distinctive that many who have heard it never forget it.
You could fly 1000 airplanes with 1 P51 included in the mix somewhere
directly over my head with me blind folded and I'd pick out the 51 in a
nano-second :-)
Dudley Henriques

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in
:

Snipola
The combination of a Merlin V1650-7 and a Hamilton or Aero Products
propeller at between 35 and 45 inches and between 2700 and 3000 RPM have a
sound so distinctive that many who have heard it never forget it.
You could fly 1000 airplanes with 1 P51 included in the mix somewhere
directly over my head with me blind folded and I'd pick out the 51 in a
nano-second :-)
Dudley Henriques

I've seen 51's at air shows, but they were always passing across
my field of view some distance away. I've got one of those high
quality sound effects CD's that has some warbird passes. But in
none of these have I heard this howl. I don't know how to describe
it. It was surreal and unreal. I'm not kidding when I said the
hair on the back of my neck stood up. My very first thought was,
"that's not what screeching tires sounds like!" Being on a motorcycle,
strange sounds get my attention really fast. It scared the willies
out of me for that split second before I realized what it was, but
I drove away with a big grin on my face.

I'd love to experience that again!

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

I was taxiing to depart from John Tune (Nashville, TN) last year when a beautiful P51 landed and turned onto the taxiway directly in front of me. I have never before or since been so aware of the paltry limits of my insurance coverage.

A few months ago I was with a group flying gliders for a week at Uvalde. A fellow who runs a Citation mod business on the airport has another beautifully restored P51. One morning they were repositioning the plane. The fellow driving the tug stopped her along side us and let us walk around up close and drool. I noticed that painted on the nose was "Glamorous Glen". I asked the tug driver if this had been Yeager's plane or was just painted that way. He replied, "Mark and the General were hunting down around Encinal last year. When he heard that Mark had bought a Mustang he told him he should paint it up this way."

How cool would that be?

V7

Yeager's X-1 was called " Glamourous Glennis" after his wife. Not
"Glen", as mentioned below.

John Baker


Vic7 wrote:
I was taxiing to depart from John Tune (Nashville, TN) last year when a
beautiful P51 landed and turned onto the taxiway directly in front of
me. I have never before or since been so aware of the paltry limits of
my insurance coverage.

A few months ago I was with a group flying gliders for a week at
Uvalde. A fellow who runs a Citation mod business on the airport has
another beautifully restored P51. One morning they were repositioning
the plane. The fellow driving the tug stopped her along side us and
let us walk around up close and drool. I noticed that painted on the
nose was "Glamorous Glen". I asked the tug driver if this had been
Yeager's plane or was just painted that way. He replied, "Mark and the
General were hunting down around Encinal last year. When he heard that
Mark had bought a Mustang he told him he should paint it up this way."

How cool would that be?

V7

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 17:48:55 -0500, John Baker
wrote:

Yeager's X-1 was called " Glamourous Glennis" after his wife. Not
"Glen", as mentioned below.

You are correct, but nobody said anything about the X-1. The P-51
Yeager flew in the war WAS marked "Glamourous Glen", not "Glennis".

-Dana
--
--
If replying by email, please make the obvious changes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Always keep clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.