Warthogs

earlyagain

I just got buzzed by a squadron of warthogs. A10"s I think??? Tail mounted twin engines. Came low and quiet out of the setting sun. Im not too far from Buckley. First time I ever saw that. Pretty cool!!!

NN

cool

Linefinder

I was sitting below the crest of a "hill" (by Louisiana standards, which ain't much) squirrel hunting one morning.  All of a sudden a shadow passed over me, and the engine roar and wind noise was almost enough to knock you senseless. 

An A-10 from Barksdale AFB must have been practicing low-level nap of the earth strafing runs. I never heard a sound until he was directly overhead.....and I was in a silent woodland environment.

The same thing had happened to me a couple years before with an F-4, except I was sitting on a long pier below a hillcrest on a lake. I didn't hear that one until it was 100 yards or so past me.

That was in the years before "stealth". Never have figured out how they did that.

Mike

earlyagain

If they could see my face, they must have got a laugh. 

Jayhawker

A-10s are neat aircraft...and pretty Damon sneaky...

Years back, my Cousin and I were coyote hunting near the Smoky Valley Bombing Range and we got buzzed by a B52 making a low level run on the range...didn't hear it til it was almost overhead, but the ground was shaking before we saw it

sakodude

back when I was 18 or 19 and not to may hour into my solo flight time in a Cherokee 140 I was over flown by an Apache helicopter. I was puttering along at probably 90-100 knots and he came up from behind a blew right past me. Thought my aircraft was coming undone!!

Old Ron

We have a group of oldfarts that fly WW2 planes here in formations . Guess they just like to play . At shop 2 very often I have small plains shutting off there engine & restarting ..... must be some type of schooling . If I was flying ...... last thing I would do is shut off the engine .

Big Al1

Sometimes I would help score at our air to ground gunnery range. The A-10s would come in on a staffing run, chew up the target and turn on a dime at hose it from the other direction in a blink of the eye!. I love the sound of jets!! I used to enjoy the F-4 drones taking off at Tyndall in full burner!! They would progressively set off all the car alarms on the flight line as it went down the runway!!

Linefinder

Big Al1 said:

Sometimes I would help score at our air to ground gunnery range. The A-10s would come in on a staffing run, chew up the target and turn on a dime at hose it from the other direction in a blink of the eye!. I love the sound of jets!! I used to enjoy the F-4 drones taking off at Tyndall in full burner!! They would progressively set off all the car alarms on the flight line as it went down the runway!!

I was at the Lowe's located at the northern end of Peterson AFB's runway when the first 
C-5 I'd ever seen flew overhead, likely no more than 300' off the ground. The ground shook and likely every car-alarm in the lot went off. Those thing are big and loud.

Mike

tennmike

Got to see a lot of A-10s while hunting on the Ft. Campbell Army base. They sure could tear up the targets, and old tanks and APCs on their firing range. LOVE the sound of those engines! They do flights from Arnold Engineering here in TN to a base in NC and back doing that nap of the earth flying over the ridges here. I've been rattled near out of my treestand by those things coming over skimming the treetops. The terrain here is supposed to be very similar to what is over in the Middle East and they use it for practice runs, and Arnold Engineering is heavy into that NOE equipment they use. Have a lot of fighter jets coming over doing the same thing. But the A-10s just sound so cool coming over. They're over you before you know it.

They've also scared me pretty good coming behind me while I'm bushhogging fields on the farm, too. They come over the ridge to the west, drop down in the valley, and only climb enough to pass over the ridge to the east, and they really DROP DOWN into the valley both ways. Makes my neighbor's cows nervous when they do that!

Spk

Linefinder said:

Big Al1 said:

Sometimes I would help score at our air to ground gunnery range. The A-10s would come in on a staffing run, chew up the target and turn on a dime at hose it from the other direction in a blink of the eye!. I love the sound of jets!! I used to enjoy the F-4 drones taking off at Tyndall in full burner!! They would progressively set off all the car alarms on the flight line as it went down the runway!!

I was at the Lowe's located at the northern end of Peterson AFB's runway when the first 
C-5 I'd ever seen flew overhead, likely no more than 300' off the ground. The ground shook and likely every car-alarm in the lot went off. Those thing are big and loud.

Mike

I had a C-5 fly over me when I was at Yuma. The Marines often used the canal bank on the north end of the runway for running. I was out there getting some PT in when I see this plane coming in from a distance. It seem to be traveling really slow so I thought, I'm gonna watch this plane come in since, I was right between the plane and the runway (it was going to fly directly overhead). Once it got closer, I realized this is a big plane. As it flew over, maybe 150 - 200 feet, I felt compelled to kneel down. I felt the thrust of the engines and you could smell the jet fuel Big Time.

I made a note to self that day... If you see a plane coming in --- get out of the way!

Gila

There are A-10s at Davis Monthan AFB, but they never make it around where I live.  As for me, I love the sound of a F-4 doing anything.  They sound like they are equipped with Whipple super chargers...

tennmike

Gila said:

There are A-10s at Davis Monthan AFB, but they never make it around where I live.  As for me, I love the sound of a F-4 doing anything.  They sound like they are equipped with Whipple super chargers...

F-4, A-6, and the A-7 Corsair were my three favorite jets when I was in the Navy. With a full weapons stores load aboard they looked like they wanted to kill sumpin'.

Helicopter favorites were the UH-1 in any configuration, and the Huey Cobra, and the CH-47. Love-hate with the CH-47, though. Loved it when they came out to us and brought the mail, and hated them during an UNREP. During an UNREP they brought those cargo nets full of supplies way too fast and we had to run to clear the net of supplies before the next one dropped another few tons of supplies onto the fantail. It was boogity-boogity-boogity get it and go and exhausted everybody.

GunNut

Gila said:

There are A-10s at Davis Monthan AFB, but they never make it around where I live.  As for me, I love the sound of a F-4 doing anything.  They sound like they are equipped with Whipple super chargers...

My son is an Egress guy and his first shop was DM working on A-10s.  He still says they’re his favorite bird.  Last time I went to visit him he took me to Luke Air Force Base where he is stationed now. Got to see a flight of F-16s takeoff for night exercises on full afterburners. That was a sight to see!!!

Linefinder

That's a couple of great pics, Paul. I finally understand the fake canopy thing and see how it could make a big difference. Thanks.

Mike

Tugar

Used to see the all the time making runs during gunnery practice in Grafenwohr, Germany while I in the Cavalry.

Now in Boise, I see them flying around every week practicing. Love me some A-10

GunNut

A few cases I have sitting on top of my gun cabinet behind me in my home office.  Left to right:
105mm Fired in anger in the sandbox
30mm from an A-10 rotary cannon
25mm from a C-130 Gunship (same as the 105)
a .50 BMG for size comparison