Originally posted by Widewing
There's an old story about a Navy fighter squadron flying out of NAS Oceana (not far from the Norfolk Naval base). They had been having a running competition with an Air Force squadron, who routinely beat up on their old Grumman Panthers with shiny new F-86F fighters. Well, anyone familiar with the F9F-5 Panther knows that it is about 100 mph slower than the Sabre. Finally, the Navy boys received their brand new, swept-wing F9F-7 Cougars. After a few months of training in the new fighter they sent a challenge to the F-86 boys to meet them over the ocean, at the usual location. Altitude,10,000 ft.
Ground crews waited anxiously for the Cougars to return. Finally, the squadron showed up, flew the break and touched down in perfect order. As the pilots exited their aircraft, the grounds crews excitedly asked about the outcome of the mock battle.
One pilot stopped and said, “Well, you know you can’t trust those Air Force boys. We agreed to meet at 10,000 ft., sure enough, they showed up at 20,000 feet!”
Dejected, one ground crewman asked, “So they beat you again?”
Grinning from ear to ear, the Navy pilot replied, “No, we clobbered them, but they would have waxed us if we hadn’t come in at 30,000 feet!”
My regards,
Widewing
That story always makes me laugh when hear it, thanks for posting it again
Ack-Ack
