F-4E Beatin’ Feet at Maple Flag

[Puma44]

Thanks for the non code update   I could pick your brain for hours! Colmbo's story....PRICELESS    Wonder if she still brings it up during"DISCUSSIONS" most women I know would    So the extension was for adding a "Back seater" ...noticed before you were commenting on "Taxiing from back seat and couldn't see where you were going"..so assume the Trainee was in the back...assumption based on the location of THE HOOD.  The bungee cord thing was great! I need to see about getting something like that for next road trip...with Dad Driving Not that I would get any sleep...but would cut down on Neck fatigue...the late application of brakes, full burner on green lights...and swerving due to Rubber Necking....My teeth may still get sore..but a mouth guard may help that! 

You may be referring to a discussion about a different aircraft re difficulty seeing forward during taxi, possibly the Mustang. 

The T Bird was reasonably easy to see out of from the back seat.  For initial checkout, the trainee would sit in the front with the IP (instructor pilot) in the back.  Instrument training sorties and instrument check-rides would be flown from the back seat under the dreaded bag.

Feel free to pick away. 

[Puma44]

I  saw a T33 and an CF18 fly formation over my house last weekend,we have a restored one here and it's flight worthy.  With the wing tanks it looks just like a P80 but dont you dare call it that as you will be corrected....wonder how I know that.......


  Ya Puma you had all the fun!!!



   

We did this a lot after interceptor missions when our squadron T Bird guys would harass the Six guys with the chaff and ECM Pods on the T-33s.

After arriving at my Six unit flying was kinda sparse for this new kid on the block.  Since it was less than six months since I had flown the T Bird, I asked my OPs officer if dual qualification was ok with him.  The ADCOM (Air Defense Command) regulations allowed dual qualification AND a local requal in the T Bird with less than six months since the last flight.  I jumped all over that and became dual qualified in the F-106 and the T-33.  It was pilot heaven!  And I was flying one of the two every day. Some days twice. Some days a sortie in each.  Those were the days!

[Puma44]

Ahhh, so it was you that was pretending to be little green men?

Hmmmmm, could be. 

[1stpar3]

So "Your 6 unit", where was this...and what was a sortie.  I know WHAT it is, but what did you do I guess. What would you consider the ULTIMATE experience you had ,flying.

[Puma44]

So "Your 6 unit", where was this...and what was a sortie.  I know WHAT it is, but what did you do I guess. What would you consider the ULTIMATE experience you had ,flying.

5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS) Spitten Kittens @ Minot AFB, ND.  A typical local sortie in the Six was out to the northwest in our working airspace for practice intercepts.  Usually in a two ship, sometimes 3 or 4.  A TBird was launched out head and to provide a chaff and ECM emitting target to run intercepts against. If a TBird wasn't available the Six’s would, as it was called, bump heads.  Typical sortie length was around 2.5 hours, sometimes longer.  During our quarterly Air Defense Exercises, we would fly two sorties, and have the option for a third.  I did a third one night and was RTB from several hundred miles north in Canada when the sun started coming up.  Since the exercise started about 2200 local, my body clock went into instant rebellion.  Never did a third sortie again.

Ultimate experience?  I’ll have to ponder on that and get back to you.  The F-106 Delta Dart was commonly referred to as the Ultimate Interceptor though.

[Puma44]

So, the 11th and last AR is complete and the tankers turn us to a heading for our last leg into Cairo West AB.   We are anticipating a quick descent and slinging two four ships of Rhinos up initial just before sunset.  The tankers get the current weather report.  The winds are out of the northwest, gusting over 20 knots, and the visibility is a mile with blowing sand.  The single runway at Cairo West is oriented northwest/southeast and we are approaching from the northwest.  We now have to fly past the field in order to land into the wind.  No cool arrival for us.  It’s instrument approaches for the eight of us. 

As I remember, we had jets spread out for 30 miles southeast of the field on the radar downwind for spacing on the instrument approach.  It was a rough ride flying the approach with decreasing daylight to a strange field.  We had been briefed on the runway and field facilities.  As we reached short final it was obvious that the briefed down slope to an upslope runway was more of a bowl.  Basically, a runway built between two big sand dunes.  We touched down in the normal zone (1,000 ft past the approach end), popped the bag (drag chute) and rolled down hill, through the bottom, and up the other side.  As we crested the far end hill, I became concerned about running out of runway.  There was no more visible.  So, I got on the binders (brakes). On top of the crest, there was another thousand feet or more available resulting in a breath of relief.  It was now time to park this thing and go to sleep.  We taxied the gaggle to a parking ramp, shut down, and opened the canopies.  Wham!  The temperature was 120 degrees F at 1800 local time with sun setting.  It felt like being behind a jet exhaust.

With seats safety pinned, we gathered up the remains of our nests and climbed down the crew ladders.  Neither of us could stand up straight.  We'd been strapped in for nearly 13 hours and were severely cramped.  At least one of us didn’t have to pee.  Total flight time was 12.6 hours. 

We were to live in large tents. More gaggle experience but, could not wait to settle in for a nap.  Oh not so fast moose breath!  You all have to in process.  We spent the next FIVE HOURS, in the dark, wandering from one shoe clerk line to another before being dropped off at our new home for the next 10 days.

The next day.......

[1stpar3]

Rhino...as in F-4 Phantom? That was the FIRST love of my life...around 5yso Also my first Model, F-5 was second favorite. Eh, who am I kidding...never saw one I DIDNT love

[Puma44]

Rhino...as in F-4 Phantom? That was the FIRST love of my life...around 5yso Also my first Model, F-5 was second favorite. Eh, who am I kidding...never saw one I DIDNT love

Yes.  Viewed from a side profile with a little imagination, a rhino can be visualized.  A common term used by crews because it was such a beast.

[1stpar3]

  Yes...I fell in love with a RHINO! I think I still have that particular Model. I will look and see,pretty sure I kept it! Think I was 9 or 10 when I put it together? Been into AirPlanes since birth. Would lay out in the grass and watch planes ALL DAY. We were just outside of Knoxville's MCgee Tyson Airport. They had an ANG group there..but i wasnt picky..if it had wings I wanted one. Here where I live now,Chattanooga,Tn, we were in the, cant remember ACTUAL term, but with in the Super Sonic Test area? We had the F-22 Vipers come over the house several times a week! They were higher of coarse, but DAMN I loved hearing that BOOM The worst sunburn I ever got...yep AN AIR SHOW Only thing that wasnt burned...back of my neck

[colmbo]

We lived in Wichita, KS from '62 until '66.  B-52s, KC-135s, KC-97s, 100 series fighters.  So many times driving across Kansas and on the horizon you'd see this dark smudge which would grow into a low level B-52 on what were then called Oil Burner routes, later called Olive Branch routes.

Then one Sunday morning a KC-135 went down right after takeoff into a residential area, IIRC 34 dead.

[Oldman731]

Then one Sunday morning a KC-135 went down right after takeoff into a residential area, IIRC 34 dead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1965_USAF_KC-135_Wichita_crash

- oldman

[Puma44]

Yes...I fell in love with a RHINO! I think I still have that particular Model. I will look and see,pretty sure I kept it! Think I was 9 or 10 when I put it together? Been into AirPlanes since birth. Would lay out in the grass and watch planes ALL DAY. We were just outside of Knoxville's MCgee Tyson Airport. They had an ANG group there..but i wasn't picky..if it had wings I wanted one. Here where I live now,Chattanooga,Tn, we were in the, cant remember ACTUAL term, but with in the Super Sonic Test area? We had the F-22 Vipers come over the house several times a week! They were higher of coarse, but DAMN I loved hearing that BOOM The worst sunburn I ever got...yep AN AIR SHOW Only thing that wasn't burned...back of my neck

To the best of my knowledge, there's no supersonic test airspace in existence.  Most likely, there is airspace nearby that has no supersonic flight restrictions, a rare thing in modern times.  As a kid, growing up near Holloman AFB, NM, I heard numerous sonic booms a day and was thrilled by them.  Found my passion for the Phantom one day walking alone the two blocks to school in the first grade.  A flight of four buzzed our neighborhood at low altitude.  That was my first conscious thought at six years old of “I'm going to do that”.  At age 31, after three years in the T-33 and surviving three North Dakota winters in the F-106, flew my first training sortie in the F-4D at Homestead AFB, FL.  The love affair was complete.

[colmbo]

From '66 until '69 my folks owned a resort about 1 mile downstream from Beaver Dam in NW Arkansas.  It was quite common for Phantoms to be driving around at low level, the local thought is they were "from that training base in Oklahoma" and were "practice bombing the dam".  One day I hear a jet and run outside just in time to see a F-4 in a hard right turn over our store, the back seater with his cherry red helmet was looking right at me as they screamed by.  Awesome!!  On my than one occasion we were buzzed by Phantoms as we water skied on the lake....a Phantom coming up behind you can spoil you form!!

[Vraciu]

I remember "waving down" an F-4K/M from the RAF once while standing atop Enchanted Rock with a bunch of my cabin mates from Summer Camp.   Everyone thought I was nuts.   He went by below the crest of the ridge with the back seater waving at us.   A friend took a photo of it as he was wing wagging--full on belly shot.   Gorgeous.

I was a hero for a few days after that.

 

[Puma44]

From '66 until '69 my folks owned a resort about 1 mile downstream from Beaver Dam in NW Arkansas.  It was quite common for Phantoms to be driving around at low level, the local thought is they were "from that training base in Oklahoma" and were "practice bombing the dam".  One day I hear a jet and run outside just in time to see a F-4 in a hard right turn over our store, the back seater with his cherry red helmet was looking right at me as they screamed by.  Awesome!!  On my than one occasion we were buzzed by Phantoms as we water skied on the lake....a Phantom coming up behind you can spoil you form!!

Very cool!  Yeah, when it was nearing transonic at low level, sneaking up on someone was easy.  When the sound arrived, it was deafening.

One day during the Bright Star Combined Force exercise, we were watching the huge gaggle of jets do a mock airfield attack (read mega airshow here) before coming up initial and landing.  The stream of Air Force, Navy, Marine, and always last, Egyptian fighters stretched out for several miles because everyone was in a quasi tactical formation at cough, cough 500’ agl.  We watched from atop an earthen berm built up around the power generators in our tent city.  It was a great airshow as everyone passed by below our vantage point and did some sort of individualized hyaka pull up and performance demo.  At the end of the trail, we see three Egyptian F-4s.  A two ship in tactical spread with the third about two miles in trail. Since they didn't have the smokeless engine mod, they were very easy to see far away against the sand.  Up to this point everyone came by at a barely subsonic speed.  As the third Egyptian Phantom came by, we wondered what happened to the fourth guy. As we searched in the distance, this low level black dot appeared with the characteristic pair of black smoke and cinder trails.  As he got nearer, the smoke trails disappeared.  He had gone to full AB and was trying to catch up.  As there was no discernible noise, I yelled “cover your ears”.  As he approached closer at a 100’ or so, the shock wave was visible in the sand.  When it came through tent city, all the tent flaps went vertical.  There was an instant of quiet when he passed, then the sonic boom, and rumble as he headed down range, still trying to catch up.