Probably OT but DAMN! it was cool

You gotta live in the Peoples Republic of Boulder spewing **** like that?!

 

LeadsledRnR, WTF? take a time out with this ****! this must not be a topic for you it's simply "how cool are jets" to civil rights and womans rights!

 

In the early 90's I had the honor of being invited to private airshow at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, NV. The occasion was the changing over of the base command.
I was invited as a guest of a good friend who, at the time, was the art director for Coast Properties (Gold Coast, Barbary Coast, The Texas, etc). Head of maintenance at Coast Properties was Gary Nellis, son of Lt William Nellis, for whom the base was named After WWII.

The Airshow was attended by less than 50 people. The Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds both performed their full routines with one exception: Since there was virtually no public to worry about they flew right on the deck. I mean ON THE DECK... Sometimes as low as 20-25 feet. I've seen both perform their respective routines several times over the years and this was absolutey the most breathtaking show I've ever seen. Plus, we all got to walk around the planes and talk to the pilots and ground crew afterward.

Got my picture taken with the base commander and in front of an F-16.

I don't get worked up about much, but that event still raises goose bumps...

I'm pretty damn proud to be an American.

Rich

 

Nope, smack dab in Colorado Springs. And 55 dude, yes they are definitely cool, although Id have to say WWI and WWII fighters and bombers are much "cooler" than the new stuff. Something about thrust vectoring and VSTOL tecnology that just isnt as bad*** as the F-4 Corsairs (Not Phantoms) and P-40s. But i was asked a question, I was simply responding.

 

In my 26 years in the Air Force I saw a lot of planes, one I alway remember is the SR71 takeoff at Mildenhall RAF in England in the 80's, the exhaust has little floating glowing balls, they don't move, just sit there. Here is the best pic I could find. http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/SR-71/Small/EC92-1284-1.jpg

 

About a week ago i was down along the St.Clair river, it's the border between the U.S. and Canada here, river is nearly a mile wide in places. I hear a jet coming and look up to see a Warthog coming down the river about 500 ft. up. He was following the contour of the shoreline and where i was is a large S turn. It was neat to see him twisting from one side to the other following the border. Just as he got nearly out of sight another one came along behind on the same path. That made me smile...a lot! We are about forty miles from an ANG base so we see planes quite a bit here but not usually that low.

 

The SR-71's engines are started using two Cadillac (I believe) motors. I guess hot rods and jets do have a connections

 

Nailheads, one of several threads I dug up in a quick search here.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=283128&highlight=sr71

 

I remember watching them start one up in my childhood (I feel like it was at the El Torro air show but not sure). Sure enough it was a little trolly like that. As a kid I thought it was weird that they were starting a jet with car motors!

 

No, it's a lot simpler than that. Without the will that our unique system of government, guaranteed by the Cons***ution, a legacy broutht to us all, the technological progress would be moot.

Merely maintaining what freedoms we have now, being attacked "from within", protecting those freedoms from the likes of you is task enough.

Your freedom, as a citizen of the U.S.A., has been earned, and retained, by the U.S. Fighting men and women, using that military hardware. Without it, we all would be reduced to the meager existence currently enjoyed by the peoples of Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, etc., etc. I would personally offer a one-way outta here to you, but why is it that I know that you would refuse it, staying on, riding on the very backs of the military establishment that you are attacking?

 

Yep,
That's what it's about.....
Get a ride in one of them if you can. I've gone along in a few, flight mech status, in KC97, B-47, B-52, KC135, many times, and in 1967 I took a ride in a T-33, quite docile in the grand scheme of Jet Figher technology, but, WHAT A KICK IN THE ***! Of course if I could choose, I would take one in a P38 or P51......

 

I find it interetsing that you refer to our "military establishment" and coincide military and government as a single conceptualization. Are you suggesting that we are a military based authoritarian democracy? If you ask me thats a rather firghtening concept. Cool down big shooter, apparently ideological freedom isn't allowed in your America. I'd be non-conforming to, if I thought just like you. I guess the little things that make America great are those that so often are lost in translation.