April 24, 1959

Jayhawker

USAF Captain John Lappo flew his RB-47E through the 150 foot gap UNDER the Mackinac Bridge at 425 mph....A magnificent piece of flying that cost him his wings...

Great Outdoors

sometimes you just gotta be the MAN !!!!!!

NN

Hats off to you----John

Teach

An Armed Forces Day airshow at Bunker Hill AFB (later called Grissom) featured a mach 1 low-level flyby of a B-58, the supersonic delta-wing 4-engine bomber. As the B-58 passed the reviewing stand, a KC-135 tanker PASSED THE B-58! Now, tankers aren't supposed to fly that fast! Mach .9 is the airframe redline. A tanker crew on a training mission had made a very long takeoff roll and got airborne without using the water injection that's supposed to increase takeoff thrust, so when the B-58 started its high speed pass, the tanker pilot put his plane into a steep dive from about 10,000 feet, hit the water injection, and the chase was on! That pilot got grounded, and the plane spent several weeks in the hangar for a very detailed stress inspection!
Jerry

Big Al1

Jayhawker wrote: »

USAF Captain John Lappo flew his RB-47E through the 150 foot gap UNDER the Mackinac Bridge at 425 mph....A magnificent piece of flying that cost him his wings...

Spring fever after a long UP winter!

Diver43

I was just over a week old when that happened but have heard of it, so truly was a big deal.

Wonder if he ever got to fly again?

Teach

Diver43 wrote: »

Wonder if he ever got to fly again?

According to this article, no. He got the same treatment a lot of pilots do who get disqualified to fly for some reason- - - -commanding a maintenance outfit.

http://absolutemichigan.com/michigan/michigan-history-soaring-beneath-the-bridge/

I worked for a bunch of retread pilots- - - -usually bitter old dudes who couldn't pass their flight physical any more. Our squadron commander on Okinawa got replaced over a weekend after losing a serious battle with Jim beam- - - - -or maybe it was Johnnie Walker! Rumor had it that he got reassigned to an alcohol rehab ward in Japan before "retiring" early.
Jerry

Big Chief

Jimmy Stewart (Brigadier Gen) on the B-58 Hustler and flying one.........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYvsjGroa78

Big Al1

I once flew under the Dupont bridge, going to Tyndall, in an F-15!


But I was in the simulator! AND I did crash on landing!

Fighter pilots USED to get away with a lot of shenanigans, bombers, not so much. SAC had no sense of humor. The hay days of jackassery ended in the mid 70's. But I've got lots of good stories from before that period.

I once had an F-4 that was gong to bomb the ramp on departure for home base. He filled the speed brakes with toilet paper, and made a high speed pass over the ramp. He went nose up in full burner and screwed the plane almost straight up while dumping the contents of the speed brakes. Very impressive except I noticed some of the floating debris didn't look like TP. Turns out he over G'd the travel pod and split it in two, also scattering his laundry over about 40 acres.