Com-Central.net

USAF Thunderbirds at Duluth MN 2010

no way!

planes and explosions! Yes!!!


I wonder if they ever kiss

Last time I saw the Thunderbirds was at Langley AFB VA and they were still flying T38's.

All I can say is WOW !!!!

If they asked, I'm sure the RedArrows wouldn't mind helping them.


(snicker)

Have you ever seen the T-birds abort a demonstration? I have! I've seen the Tbirds over a dozen times with F-100s, F-4s, T-38s and F-16s. In the late 90s they were performing at the Frederick MD Airshow. I was standing next to an M-1 (obligatory armor content) talking to a National Guard captain while we were watching the show. I saw the #3 bird go wide in a turn. I blurted out 'somethng's wrong'. The others quickly leveled out and headed out (They were flying out of Martinsburg WV) The announcer got on the PA and said that they had a mechanical emergency and had to abort. The Pilots were helicoptered from martinsburg to Frederick to sign autographs,etc. When things settled down I approached the ropes where they were signing and talking. I quietly approached one of the captains and said Hey I used to work F-15s at Langley, can you say what happened.. He said 'what career field were you?' I said 'When I was in it was 32672c or 32678 comm/NAV/ECM' I got out in 85 so it may have changed. I moved over to the side 'I got a hydraulic warning light and we weren't taking any chances' I've never run across anyone else who can remember seeing a Thunderbird aborted show.

I was at the USAFA for graduation two years ago... and I have to say that I could get used to seeing them flying round all the time, it was fantastic! I tried to keep track of them especially when they went behind the mountains.. but they love sneakin up on ya LOL

Never seen the T-Birds, but worked for 12 years a little over a mile off runway at MCAS-Miramar (formerly NAS-Miramar, "Fighertown") San Diego and seen many a Blue Angels workout (annual shows there in ~October). Actually found practice more fun to watch, which they did making turns right over where I worked, so it was neat to just wander outside and watch.

AF has also participated in these events, but not with the T-Birds. I like the F-15/P-51 formation flight, which I've viewed from very close in the "turn around" area. What with the Marines and others flying out of there, my office windows rattled a lot from jets and helicopters, especially when going to, or returning from, amphip excercises off beach at Camp Pendleton. This was year 'round stuff.

Now I just get the occasional F-15 overflight from guys down at Seymour Johnson AFB.

When I was at Langley Gen Creech (The TAC commander) had a policy that any pilot being assigned to give public demos had to perform his demonstration for the TAC commander and staff at Langley so we had a regular flow of F-16 and A-10 shows besides our usual 3 PM Friday F-15 airshow. One morning we were watching an F-16 do his show and as he came down the runway in a low pass we all commented 'Boy is he low' We had a UHF receiver in the specialist dispatch truck (Red 6) and as he is pulling up we here "Knock it off Knock it off Knock it off" The pilot kept flying his program. Then the tower said "Wolf 41 Knock it off and land immediately" The pilot comes back with 'Say again I didn't copy your last transmission' and keeps swinging around as if he was going to continue the show. Then a new voice comes on the radio "Wolf 41 Get your but on the ground. You will be met in transient parking"
He finally decided to land. He was met on the parking ramp by a staff car and two Sky Cop pickup trucks with flashing blue lights. We never found out what happened but a two seat F-16 from his home station landed a couple hours later with two pilots on board. They preflighted the other F-16 and were out of there about 30 minutes later!

But we did get to see some fantastic demo programs. YC-14, YC-15, V-22 (pre Osprey vtol demonstrator), C-130 all gave demo flights for TAC HQ while I was there. The YC-14 & YC-15 were fantastic demos for a 'C-130 class' airlifter.

The only military aircraft I see now are when some civilian busts the restricted area around Camp David and an F-16 or (rarely) an F-15 comes screaming in. Well we do have the VIP helos running from DC to Camp David but I hardly count them as military aircraft.

Bob said:

But we did get to see some fantastic demo programs. YC-14, YC-15, V-22 (pre Osprey vtol demonstrator), C-130 all gave demo flights for TAC HQ while I was there. The YC-14 & YC-15 were fantastic demos for a 'C-130 class' airlifter.

Seen those all from the other side of the base, The YC-14 was just incredible.

NASA flew in the Guppy once to drop off a YF-12, they also had an F106 they used to take up just to get struck by lightning (that's what I was told). Always was some odd stuff in front of their hanger in the 70's (37.085638,-76.377125).

RB-57C transit apron


T-38 Thunderbirds


I was pretty sneaky back then, If only digital cameras were available. The collection I would have of unique aircraft would have been something else considering all the stuff that flew in to Langley.

- Joe_D

Bob said:

they also had an F106 they used to take up just to get struck by lightning (that's what I was told).

That's true. In another life, I worked for a company that produced copper kapton, then a strategic material (if it still isn't). Had lots of "Aviation Week and Space Technology" around and recall an article on that aircraft. This was in the late '70's. You can probably find some stuff on that program, it produced a lot of data.

Ahh...here you go, struck more than 700 times....

www.nasa.gov/topics/ae...-2020.html

www.456fis.org/LAST_FL..._F-106.htm

Links to footage here:

forum.f-106deltadart.c...thread=587

Aircraft is apparently on display at Virginia Air and Space museum. Was there last year, but didn't notice it. Then again, wasn't looking for it. A lot of the suspended A/C were covered in plastic because of a leaky roof.


Yep, it's there:

www.aero-web.org/datab...tm?id=3203

That's her,

F106B, I last saw her she was still operational.

- Joe_D

That's her,

F106B, I last saw her she was still operational.

Neat article here. Four pages...

ervextrafiles.homestea...r01SD.html

That's weird,

The article says they started doing this during the summer of 1980, I left VA that summer (Okinawa) and knew of this program years earlier. We'd see this plane on the taxiway outside the NASA hanger when we rode the bus back from school. She stood out because all the F106's that we'd see were Marked with the typical Non-Tactical plumage from the 48th FIS and in the alert hanger not far from the NASA's hanger. Maybe they were setting her up at Langley before actual field testing started.

Joe Do you remember the day the EC-135 caught fire?

Our time at Langley overlapped by a good deal

- Joe_D

That's weird,

The article says they started doing this during the summer of 1980

Well, it's incorrect, because I know perfectly well where I was in '78-'79 and was reading about it no later than '79, because I left that job for out west before the fall of that year.

AWST might have had a scoop on everybody else, though, they often do.

The F-106B was flying lightning missions before 1980. I remember the article in the Langley Flier about it just after we had an F-15 get struck by lightning. I was assigned to the 27th AMU at the time so it would have been late 78 or early 79 I think. The article also says there were very few actual lightning strikes on the plane. I remember the Flier article mentioning hundreds.

The F-15 Lightning strike I remember hit up on the nose of the aircraft and travelled down the fuselage exiting (and blowing off) the ECM antenna on the tail