Neil, Maybe they thought your AD was an aborted car bomb or something....Sorry, my mistake its not a GMC your driving! Flashlight
Flying Fun No worries Neil ; I too prefer the older aircrafts , Lancaster Bombers are sweet . The A-10 is not only a fearsome opponent , it's almost impossible to shoot down ~ it's well built to take serious punishment and keep on flying . As I live in So. Cal. and love traveling the remote sections of The Desert , I get to see some interesting air training manoevers . The trick you were subjected to , happens quite a lot and if you're a Citizen with a Radar Detector , it'll light up and begin screaming the instant the gun ship locks on to you...... Sphincter's go !SNAP! as they close with a clang . I've seen a few B & W snaps of AD's servicing old planes now & again , would be a nice thread I think .
While we're on the subject of aircraft... Whilst checking out the H.A.M.B. last weekend, I came upon this thread and, after watching the video, came away with a warm heart and wet cheek from the frequent tears of emotion and joy for this special group of people. Enjoy! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=515766&highlight=51
Ran across this. For those that love the AC130... http://www.theaviationzone.com/factsheets/gunships.asp This must have been the story I heard. Hanging out at the end of Doolittle's strip at the 823rd, you couldn't help notice these flying in and out, doing touch and goes. I'll never forget a time I went exploring the base. I had gone across highway 98 to the base picnic grounds. I went down this sandy road that more or less turned into a dead end. I tried to turn around, but got stuck. I had the Santa Rosa Sound behind me. I wanted to see about the ability to fish along the "beach" here, and since it was only about 50 feet behind me, I figured I might as well drink another beer and worry about getting unstuck later. While I was setting there in the car looking down these rows of short telephone poles, I heard the sound of a large boat. I figured that made sense, since there was a big body of water behind me. The sound kept getting closer and louder. And louder! Now, in my mind, I envisioned a boat, full throttle, coming right into shore behind me with the driver who had just suffered a major heart attack. I could see this boat sliding op the beach and right into the back of my car! The sound got even louder, and about that time, I felt my car compress and the air exploded! At this same time, I noticed this H-U-G-E underbelly of an AC130 go directly over the top of my car. It was following the string of telephone poles that now had flashing lights on top of them. I jumped out, still not aware that I was setting at the approach to the former Doolittle's strip. It was truly an awesome sight! Maybe 100 feet directly above my car? I'll never forget the sound of the turbo jet wash after the plane had passed on. Then panic set in, because I was sure the pilot had to have radioed me into security police. Needless to say, I got unstuck faster than ever, and never had the cops hunt me down. I did have to go change my shorts, however!
Quick replies Flashlight; Like your style dude Nate; That explains them tracking me but not the foreign body in my shorts! Ken; long video, will watch later Zig; Next time when the sign says trespassers will be shot, think a little longer Zig (part 2) Dont underestimate tea! Maybe a few people should try one when contemplating the purchase of their buck tooth truckies instead of the bottle of whisky they must have drunk
Plane stories Many moons ago when I was installing air con we were at the back of an office down an alleyway finishing up an install, (worked all night and it was 6am now) next to where we had the condenser unit was the front door for the flat (apartment) above the office. We had a vacuum pump running on the unit and if you don't know they sound pretty quiet, just chug away doing their job. Anyhoo, the door next to us opened rapidly and an angry looking woman stepped out and demanded "Is THAT going to........... Her tender voice was interrupted by a 747 going over so low you could read the Goodyear lettering on the deployed undercarriage. I mean almost rooftop level!!! It was deafening!!! (turns out that Heathrow runway 2 was less than a mile away) we did try to lip read but no hope, after it had thundered past she repeated what she tried to say, even more angry that she had to, "is THAT going to be making THAT noise all the time? I've got to live here you know! I can't sleep with all this noise outside my front door!!!!" We looked at each other and I turned to the woman and pointed upwards and said "Are you for real????" and with perfect timing the next 747 came over shaking the foundations. I spent 5 mins explaining to her about it just being a vac pump and the unit was whisper quiet and as it would only run during office hours it wouldn't bother her but she still insisted she went to work late so she could hear it running, all the time this was going on a constant stream of airliners thundered overhead punctuation our conversation!!!!! Nowt as queer as folk, as they say in northern England
