Our son-in-law flew F-18's in the Navy! Now he flies for a commercial airline. Fun to watch this video and restores my faith in pilots and air control people. Kudos to all of them!!
While in the Marine Corps, I worked as an Air Traffic Controller in the control tower. There was always a little bit of fraternal competition among the pilots in the different squadrons and most times the pilots had a great sense of humor. This made for some great memories of my time in the Corps.
This was my 1st time seeing the SR71. We went typhoon evac to Kadena AFB Okinawa in the mid 60's. There were a few SR 71's there. We parked ourselves across the taxi way from their hangers. It was night and their hangers were lighted. This wasn't that long after they were stationed there. What sticks out in my mind most was their silhouette. This will date me but it was like seeing something out of Buck Rogers. WOW what a 1st impression. Also were all the guards standing around the hangers. Back then they were super secret. I'm not sure if they were as impressed with our aircraft. We were at that time not a regular feature at Kadena. We were a fully conventionally loaded B52D model hiding from a typhoon that was headed for Guam...But I'm sure that they weren't as impressed as I was... We were there long enough to get to see one take off and another coming back from a spy sortie. The whole thing was memorable.. So cool...
Our son-in-law flew F-18's in the Navy! Now he flies for a commercial airline. Fun to watch this video and restores my faith in pilots and air control people. Kudos to all of them!!
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to see one of these beauties neglected and rusting outside the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they would let you keep all clean and pretty!
DeleteThere may be corrosion but I seriously doubt there is any rust. There is a negligible amount of ferrous material in that aircraft.
DeleteRight time, wrong direction. Flew west-to-east coast.
ReplyDeleteWhile in the Marine Corps, I worked as an Air Traffic Controller in the control tower. There was always a little bit of fraternal competition among the pilots in the different squadrons and most times the pilots had a great sense of humor. This made for some great memories of my time in the Corps.
ReplyDeleteThis was my 1st time seeing the SR71. We went typhoon evac to Kadena AFB Okinawa in the mid 60's. There were a few SR 71's there. We parked ourselves across the taxi way from their hangers. It was night and their hangers were lighted. This wasn't that long after they were stationed there. What sticks out in my mind most was their silhouette. This will date me but it was like seeing something out of Buck Rogers. WOW what a 1st impression. Also were all the guards standing around the hangers. Back then they were super secret. I'm not sure if they were as impressed with our aircraft. We were at that time not a regular feature at Kadena. We were a fully conventionally loaded B52D model hiding from a typhoon that was headed for Guam...But I'm sure that they weren't as impressed as I was... We were there long enough to get to see one take off and another coming back from a spy sortie. The whole thing was memorable.. So cool...
ReplyDelete