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Blue Angels
- Thread starter Rolfe
- Start date
I had a head-on near miss mid-air over Illinois with a Falcon 50 at 3,000MSL in the early 1990s. He was low and off my left wing about 75ft. I could see that the Captain was a middle-aged male, white, dark hair, white shirt with dark tie, and he was wearing black sunglasses. It was over in only a second or two. Amazing the detail one can observe and remember in that span of time.
I can imagine that would be etched in your memory.
My encounter was much safer, as I was in a foxhole at Ft Carson.
As an MP in the Corps I have spent quite a bit of time guarding the Angels Aircraft and pilots.
No one was hurt, so it was a novelty to remember.
Back in the early 80's I was surf fishing with my dad on the beach about ten miles east of Gulf Shores out toward Fort Morgan. All of a sudden there was this tremendous explosion of sound. We did not hear the low flying Blue Angel in an A4 (flying up side down) less than 500' from the deck coming from the west. But, we did just as he passed over. I hit the beach in the prone position. My dad tossed his reel into the air and hit the beach too. We laughed as we watched other beach goers hit the deck as the thing went barreling down the beach. I also think I heard my Baptist deacon dad utter a curse word under his breath. The Blue Angel made several other passes that day. Once he came by very slow and I could clearly see the pilot in the cockpit with the oxygen hose coming from his helmet and Major "So and So" airbrushed on the side just beneath the canopy. I bet that Marine aviator was laughing his butt off at us helpless civilians.
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When we lived in Maryland, we lived right across the Bay from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.
When the A-10s would circle around to hit the bombing range, they would come over so low they would literally shake the pictures off the wall.
Those A-10s are amazing, the way they can turn on a dime. The Army likes them for close in support, while the Air Force I think has long wanted to retire them.
Although I served in the USAF, I never experienced the joys of being up close and personal with A-10's---namely because I served at a time when A-10's were just starting to be used.
OTOH, I can tell you about the "not-so-quiet" F-102 fighter/interceptors.
When I was stationed at Ramstein AB in Germany (1967-1969), one of the flying squadrons that occupied the Flugplatz was the 517th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron which flew the F-102s.
These were the first fighters to use the Delta wing configuration, and for their time, they were probably one of the fastest fighter aircraft in the USAF's inventory.
However, they had one drawback. For takeoff, they needed the extra boost that only their afterburners could provide.
Now, WPE3BQL was an aircraft maintenance person for the 38th Tactical Recon. Squadron. The 38th TRS flew the RF-4C which also had afterburners. While the RF-4C's afterburners were noisy, they were no match in the decibel level contest compared to the F-102s.
Our maintenance hanger was just off the end of the main runway at Ramstein, so hearing the RF-4Cs with both of their afterburners engaged for takeoff was not an uncommon event. We just put on our noise reducing headphones and went on our business of maintaining what RF-4Cs needed fixing.
OTOH, when we saw the 517th's F-102s taxiing out to take off, we took whatever cover was available (preferably inside our maintenance hanger), then put in our foam ear plugs, then our noise reducing headphones, covered the headphones with our hands, and then sought cover under whatever other blankets, etc., we could find.
And even with all of that, we still couldn't hear each other talking, even if we resorted to screaming at the top of our lungs! Not only was the noise level loud, but the vibrations caused by the F-102's afterburner would cause even the maintenance hangar's walls to vibrate.
We didn't have any instruments to measure the intensity of the vibrations, but I'm sure they would have measured something on the Richter Scale.
I had a friend who was Major who flew the F-102. I asked him what it was like to sit in the pilot's seat during takeoff. He told me that using the pilot's control stick was like flying using a jackhammer.
And the noise---even though he was in front of it, it was so loud that were it not for his radio inside his crash helmet, there was no way that he could have heard anything coming from his squadron's flight operations!
Yes, "Them was the good old days!":smilewinkgrin:
OTOH, I can tell you about the "not-so-quiet" F-102 fighter/interceptors.
When I was stationed at Ramstein AB in Germany (1967-1969), one of the flying squadrons that occupied the Flugplatz was the 517th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron which flew the F-102s.
These were the first fighters to use the Delta wing configuration, and for their time, they were probably one of the fastest fighter aircraft in the USAF's inventory.
However, they had one drawback. For takeoff, they needed the extra boost that only their afterburners could provide.
Now, WPE3BQL was an aircraft maintenance person for the 38th Tactical Recon. Squadron. The 38th TRS flew the RF-4C which also had afterburners. While the RF-4C's afterburners were noisy, they were no match in the decibel level contest compared to the F-102s.
Our maintenance hanger was just off the end of the main runway at Ramstein, so hearing the RF-4Cs with both of their afterburners engaged for takeoff was not an uncommon event. We just put on our noise reducing headphones and went on our business of maintaining what RF-4Cs needed fixing.
OTOH, when we saw the 517th's F-102s taxiing out to take off, we took whatever cover was available (preferably inside our maintenance hanger), then put in our foam ear plugs, then our noise reducing headphones, covered the headphones with our hands, and then sought cover under whatever other blankets, etc., we could find.
And even with all of that, we still couldn't hear each other talking, even if we resorted to screaming at the top of our lungs! Not only was the noise level loud, but the vibrations caused by the F-102's afterburner would cause even the maintenance hangar's walls to vibrate.
We didn't have any instruments to measure the intensity of the vibrations, but I'm sure they would have measured something on the Richter Scale.
I had a friend who was Major who flew the F-102. I asked him what it was like to sit in the pilot's seat during takeoff. He told me that using the pilot's control stick was like flying using a jackhammer.
And the noise---even though he was in front of it, it was so loud that were it not for his radio inside his crash helmet, there was no way that he could have heard anything coming from his squadron's flight operations!
Yes, "Them was the good old days!":smilewinkgrin:
Crazy how they retire a weapon that is the absolute best at what it does and don't bother to replace it. The Air Force has never been high on ground support.
Yes, an older design but great for it's intended purpose. The Air Force guys will have to be careful, or their fighters will be all replaced with drones!