Here's something you don't see every day

[begreen]

Beautiful day today. I went down to see the P-51s flying by over the water and was not disappointed. They are flying over key points in Puget Sound this afternoon in commemoration of D-Day. The lead craft E-9 flew during the D-Day invasion.


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[Warm_in_NH]

Nice! We get the A-10S often overhead here. This was earlier this spring (pre-leaf). Pic doesn't do it justice. They're low n loud.

 

[begreen]

Yes, the A-10's are designed to be loud in order to strike terror into the enemy. They are one of America's most deadly machines and tough as tanks.

 

[BrotherBart]

The "Hog" is on the chopping block I hear. Gonna be phased out. I hate seeing good close air support being cut back. Ain't nothing like an aircraft that can take out the bad guy in the ditch on one side of the road when you are pinned down in the ditch on the other side.

 

[fossil]

Legacy weapons system the Pentagon doesn't want to keep supporting. With the imposed cutbacks they're facing, they don't want to keep trying to keep these things flying and looking for a mission. Congress (the ones who cut the budget) say "No, Pentagon, you have to keep these planes in your inventory. How you're going to manage to pay for that is not our problem, it's yours." It has nothing to do with the Pentagon or its mission or trusting the professional warfighters to know what they're doing...it's all pure local politics, and nothing more. It's BS.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Mustangs! love em, there was a P-51 and a gooneybird (c-47) flyover at the D-Day Memorial just up the road from us today. couldn't find any film of it but have a couple articles from local media
http://news.yahoo.com/d-day-memorie...-214823649.html;_ylt=AwrBEiQxU5JTO0gAw2PQtDMD

http://www.wset.com/story/25613758/remembering-the-sacrifice-at-national-d-day-memorial

 

[begreen]

As a kid I was fascinated with the P-51. Made models of them and had them hanging from the ceiling. Made my day to see them flying in formation.

 

[BrotherBart]

Legacy weapons system...

If I had even dreamed that the damned helicopter would still be flying 52 years later...

 

[wenger7446]

I know there is some of ppl who post hear live within a reasonable distance to Reading. This weekend is WWII weekend with lots of great planes.

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[begreen]

If I had even dreamed that the damned helicopter would still be flying 52 years later...

B52s are what get me. They over 50 yrs old and scheduled to be in use for another 35. FWIW, the A10 have been used extensively in modern warfare within the past decade and as recently as last year. They are also used in a lot of search and rescue missions. It is our only remaining tactical aircraft capable of operating from short or rough airfields which include about half the airfields in the western Pacific region. My understanding is that the A10 is being retired in part to pay for the F-35A which is not as capable and which is over-budget and behind schedule.

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/article.asp?id=204
This article is pretty good at weighing their pros and cons:
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine....WarthoginAirForceInventoryReachesEndGame.aspx

 

[Warm_in_NH]

I'd hate to see the warthogs go, they're impressive machines. I thought they were supposed to be gone years ago but they proved invaluable in the first gulf war??

The white mountains is their practice space, we see them much less than we used to, down to once every two weeks, they used to fly nearly daily pre 9/11 and shortly there after. When they do fly around here they're literally below 500' half the time, if we're on a hillside job, often well be looking down at them. More impressive is a C 130 flying that low between the mountains, looks like it'll fall out of the sky at any minute.

The fighter play a lot but they're usually way up 30000 ft. Three times in 11 years that I recall they messed up and went just a little too fast, those sonic booms will scare the he'll out of anyone! Thought a truck hit my house one time, then I heard the jets, oops.

 

[begreen]

They won't be gone entirely. There will still be some in service for the next decade or two.

 

[valley ranch]

The P38 is the plane I loved when I was a youngster.

 

[Jags]

Hearing a P51 crank up on the flight line is a one of a kind experience. Almost as impressive as an F14 on the cats. If it doesn't raise your heart rate, it will raise something else.

 

[valley ranch]

Ever been to the Reno Air RACES?

 

[hossthehermit]

But we can't talk about guns, ammo, or politics ............

 

[jharkin]

Beautiful day today. I went down to see the P-51s flying by over the water and was not disappointed. They are flying over key points in Puget Sound this afternoon in commemoration of D-Day. The lead craft E-9 flew during the D-Day invasion.

View attachment 134031 View attachment 134032
(broken link removed)

Nice BeGreen thanks for sharing, the P-51 has always been one of my favorite airplanes. In 2004 I took a road trip to Oshkosh and saw something like 20 of them flying formation. Jaw dropping.

That lead plane is a B/C model which are extremely rare these days (many more restored D/K bubble canopy models flying). fantasy of flight in Florida has one (C) and Kermit Weeks has some cool helmet cam videos flying one up on youtube

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(make sure to watch parts 2 and 3 also)


Edit, found some of the old photos I took at Oshkosh of the show and the P-51 flight line.

 

[ironpony]

I worked for Grumman on Long Island and got to see many flights of the Grumman birds. Republic was about 6 miles down the road and the house I grew up in was at the end of that runway. I have had the pleasure of seeing many aircraft fly that are no longer flying. The Thunderbirds used to use Republic for their base when the did air shows in NY. Did not realize at the time how lucky I was growing up there, seeing these warbirds flying around. The most impressive thing I can remember seeing was an F14 and an A10 chasing each other around the sky over the airfield for some sort of demo at the time.

 

[ironpony]

Hey JAGS, correct me if I am wrong but as I remember it the 14 could fly around 100mph with wings out????

 

[Ashful]

B52s are what get me. They over 50 yrs old and scheduled to be in use for another 35.

You're being kind at, "over 50 yrs old." I believe the last one was produced more than 50 years ago, and start of current production was more than 60 years ago. However, they've been upgrade quite a bit, over the years. One of our country's most impressive engineering feats, for the time, IMO.

The history on B52 is interesting, having started as a straight-winged prop engine in the mid-1940's, and evolving over several prototype generations into the swept-wing rig with four dual-pod jets we know today.

 

[jharkin]

Yes its quite amazing how many later aircraft have come and gone during the Buff's tenure. Amazing to think taht when the guys at Boeing where designing it they had only recently finished the Stratofortress... and even B-17 production had only stopped a few years earlier. What an amazing time to have been an engineer....

On another note, speaking of LOUD aircraft (A-10 above). Loudest thing I ever heard in my life was the sound of an F-104 Starfighter on takeoff roll at the Westover airshow years ago. OMG that thing sounded like it would blast your eardrums out.

 

[Jags]

Hey JAGS, correct me if I am wrong but as I remember it the 14 could fly around 100mph with wings out????

Yeah - it could stay in the air, but not very stable. 140 was a common speed to maintain stability.

 

[Jags]

Loudest thing I ever heard in my life

Loudest thing I ever heard was an F14 a quarter of a mile to port side about 200 ft off of the water at 1700 mph. BA_BOOM.

 

[Ashful]

Heh... the loudest thing I ever heard was this damn pair of cicadas that would camp in the tree outside my bedroom window talking at each other all night, every summer for about 13 years.