Monday, March 22, 2021

Recruiting Duty

 When last we spoke, I had developed a diabolical plan to entice my plumber to rearrange his priorities to move my projects higher up in the list.  To this end, and the part that made it diabolical, I had intended to use his 5 year old son to influence his Dad.

Unlike most of my diabolical yet cunning plans, this one went off without a hitch.  In researching my subterfuge, I had come across a great website with a plethora of aviation related information including airshows and their schedules for the foreseeable future. Turns out there was one in a small town quite near us.  

So...I bent young Liam's ear about how AWESOME it would be to go to an Airshow and watch airplanes fly.  Liam, being 5, was a very hard sell on the idea.

OK, Not!

The following day, the plumber calls and asks if tomorrow will be ok for him to come and fix plumbing related issues.

VICTORY! 

So, Saturday we drive up to Burnet (BURN' it) Texas for the 29th (somewhat...this show was a reschedule of the 2020 show) annual Bluebonnet Air Show.


After getting our wristbands (there is an entry fee) we stopped by the Air Force booth.  (The Navy, Army and Marines were not interested in influencing young minds I guess as they were not represented by folks in uniform,  Although there were quite a few Old F*rts wearing various ball caps.)

One young Staff Sergeant (very young, he might have been two when I retired...maybe) offered Liam a chance to sit in an F-22.  He leapt at the chance.


We continued our stroll around the airfield when Liam encountered a nefarious type.

Yes that is an Air Force Lanyard Liam's wearing.

At that point, he caught sight of an actual Airplane.  I told him it wasn't really a Jet because it couldn't go supersonic and that's why airliners and A-10's aren't REALLY Jets.  He said that made sense.  

But, being the "Give a fella a chance" kinda guy I am, we walked over to the A-10.  I talked to the crew chief for a bit and in the process, asked him when the A-10 had gone back to a jungle camouflage paint scheme.  He said that this was the demo aircraft and was paying honor to the 355 TFW by painting it in the Vietnam Era F-105 paint scheme.  (The USAF A-10  Demo Team is part of the 355TFW based at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson. the 335 TFW had flown F-105D's at Takhli and is mentioned in Raz's book).  The Crew Chief said I'd understand a bit better if I took a look at the right side of the nose.  


There were several names their that I recognized and one Mrs J and I knew personally,  Left column of POW names, third down, was the Air Division Commander at Kadena when I was there flying the Eagle.  He was then BG Browning (or as I liked to refer to him..."Sir") and Mrs J was his Exec.

Shortly, after thanking the Crew Chief for pointing me to this, we were shushed off the flight line as the air show was about to start.

Needless to say, I took a boatload of pictures with my phone, none of which turned out to be very good, but the airshow itself was fabulous.  Most of my airshow experience has revolved around open houses at various bases where the flying part of the Air Show was the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels.

Those are definitely cool airshows, but the flying part is generally over in about a half hour.  Flying started here at noon and went on nearly continuously for 3 hours.  Hosted by the Commemorative Air Force (Confederate Air Force no longer being PC), one of the first aircraft flown was a C-47 outfitted in WWII D-Day paint scheme.  It took a team of parachutists aloft and they jumped carrying a very large American Flag while the National Anthem played.

Damn! I loved that.  Most of the folks around me were singing along.  Made my heart glad, yes it did. Maybe, just maybe, there's still hope.

After the anthem, the MC described the significance of the C-47's during WWII in Europe and why they were marked up for D-Day.  He also described that this particular aircraft's role iwas to take part in the Night Parachute drop from 800 C-47's of some 13,000 GI's in the operation.

As the Lead Aircraft!  I felt a need to go and touch it later in the day.

About this time, I realized that taking pictures with a cell phone wasn't going to be all that "Special", so I started taking movies. 

They had At-6s flying formation.  That was cool, but they practice right over my house, just not as low.

They had a display of Forward Air Control (FAC) tactics with two O-1 Bird Dogs (painted up as L-19s).  They were accompanied by an O-2 painted in the paint scheme of  Night FAC from Vietnam. This portion of the show was accompanied by some pyrotechnics which had Liam jumping up and down, and me looking the wrong way each time they went off.  Since they went off with a bang and flames, my first thought started with "Oh, No...." 

Fortunately, all was well.

The afternoon went on and other aircraft performed.  There was a B-25 that flew over at the altitude the Doolittle raiders dropped from,  I knew they were low, but not THAT low.  the Pyrotechnics accompanying it were impressive also.  Again, the narrator did an excellent job of explaining the historic significance of the raid, it's effect on morale of both American and Japanese populace and the fact that while only 3 members of the raid died, all the planes were lost.

I had been taking movies for a while now.

Finally, there's one last performance before the A-10 demo. It's a performance by a former Air Force guy, who flies airliners now and, therefore, can afford his own aircraft, a Chinese Nanchang CJ-6.


Another interesting aspect of this airshow vs the one's I'd seen in the military, was there was a lot more low flying.  This shot is of the CJ-6 in the second half of a Cuban eight. (A Cuban Eight is a maneuver that looks like a figure 8 but rotated 90 degrees. ) He performed this maneuver over the airport which means, the crowd is on this side and the trees are on the other side.  The trees might have been 30' high.  

As I said it was a very exciting air show.  If you get a chance next year, you should attend.  Let me know and I'll go with you.

Unfortunately, because I'd taken so many videos (none of which turned out worth a darn), my battery died and I was unable to take video of the A-10 demo.  Suffice it to say, I'd flown with and against A-10s, but viewing the capabilities from the ground gave me a new respect for its maneuvering capabilities.  Having watched actual ground attacks while acting as a range officer on the gunnery range, there were several times I would have told the pilot to abort had this been demo'd with an F-4, too close and too low.  

Very impressive. 

That was the finale, so we loaded back up and headed home.  Liam's last words to me before he fell asleep in the back seat were "That was cool....I want to fly A-10's", 

Mission Accomplished! Now to find an F-22 Air Show!

50 comments:

  1. Glad it went well.
    Guess you could call this one a two-fer, got the plumbing AND inspired a young man to dream dreams :)
    Frank

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    1. Thanks, Frank.
      Three-fer. I got to enjoy a great airshow.

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  2. Muuhahahaha! (said in Dr. Evil voice). Your plot succeeded, another young mind altered forever and the parents left to deal with it. CAF puts on a good show, very nice posting juvat. Which reminds me, have to order more 35MM film for the camera, ya.... I'm an old fart.

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    1. Thanks, Nylon.
      Yeah, there was some impressive cameras there, for sure. I don't think I make enough money to buy one.

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  3. I'm sure I've seen the Nanching either at Brownwood airport, or Del Rio. Most probably Del Rio when I was standing on the parapet wall installed the unicom antenna. 195 in the direct sun, no wind, and bright like sun on snow... I think the density altitude that day was about where the space shuttle used to apogee.

    That sounds like an amazing day. I know about needing to touch an aircraft. There is a static display C-47 at LBB. It is sitting perfectly to catch the wind that blows out there. I put my hand on it and it was straining at the tie downs. It was built to fly, and wanted to... I lined up the props before I left. That was an emotional day...

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    1. Thanks STxAR.
      Rick Kelly is the pilot and he lives in the Austin vicinity (Georgetown I think), so quite likely you have crossed paths.

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  4. Ah air shows...

    I think the last one I went to was at Offutt AFB way back in the mid-80s. Love the sounds, sights, and smells.

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    1. Well, Sarge, sounds like you need to renew your currency. Had a blast and spent the day in the sun with my kind of people. Call if you need company.

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  5. Sometimes it's worth getting the good camera out of the safe and charging the batteries.
    But then I'm looking at the event through a viewfinder, and usually I want to be in the moment and enjoying what is going on by watching through my own eyes.

    We are long overdue to see an airshow and feel the sounds of big piston engines and those newfangled jets. Yes, I did mean feel!

    Looking at the sky in your photos I hope you used enough sunscreen.

    A great time was had by all.

    And plumbing progress!


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    1. I agree John and that was why I didn't bring the "good" camera. But there was some really cool (that's Latin for "Low" and/or "Fast") flying going on. And since the final phase of Operation "Everyone move one house clockwise" terminates this Thursday with the arrival of DIL and Grand Dog "Tex", wanted something quick and easy. Unfortunately, most of the pictures were spots with smoke trails pointing at them.
      But, as you said, the plumbing problems are fixed, just a couple of preventative things to finish up. IceMaggedon Lesson 1. An easily accessible water shutoff valve for each building would save a lot more money than the cost of adding. Wish I'd have known/done that in January.
      Live and learn.

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    2. I'm afraid I'm heading for the period in my life where I have learned, but forgotten, and now I have to relearn!

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    3. Ain't that the truth, John, ain't that the truth!

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  6. Sounds like a good time was had by all Nuvat. A d the weather looks lovely.

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    1. I'm actually an "Old"vat, but you're right, it was a beautiful day.

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  7. Was Space Force there or was just their OpFor present?
    I remember seeing the Thunderbirds in a show at Mountain Creek Lake between Dallas and Fort Worth back in the late 50's or early 60's - had my little 35mm camera and took lots of pics.
    There used to be a very nice air show in Wilmington, NC, but was cancelled in 2013 due to complaints by the airlines that it disrupted their schedules and made some passengers miss their connections...another reason I'm glad I stopped giving airlines my business after I retired!

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    1. I didn't see any of the Space Force deserters/traitors. :-)

      Yeah, Burnet is a small airport but relatively close to ABI (in airplane measurement anyhow). It took me a minute to realize why the CN6 took off with the C-47 at show start and circled above it with smoke going. I'm pretty sure that was to warn any non-airshow aircraft in the vicinity that there were jumpers in the air.

      I'm not a big fan of airlines right now either.

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  8. I go tothe Oceana Air Show every year. The static display of historic aircraft is pretty good and the Blue Angels are always awesome. Living about 3 miles from the base, for a couple of days before the air show, I get treated to some very low level apperances of the Angels practicing their moves right over the top of my house at about 300 ft!

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    1. That would be pretty cool, unless the crockery started falling and breaking. Our local airport hosts "Formation School" a few times a year so that Air Show pilots can practice and get updated on any new "rules" We live about 5 miles off the end of the runway in a sparsely populated area. They regularly fly over and I regularly run out and attempt to get more "good" photos. Or just stand there in a jealous dream.

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  9. Back in the day I was a tanker. A real one, not that flying gas station kind.

    The A-10 was impressively terrifying to us because you didn't HEAR it until it was over you. By that time it was on the egress from its gun run and, had we been real Godless Commies™ instead of ersatz for REFORGER, we'd have been dead tankers.

    That was before we realized that the things weren't planning on making gun runs on us at all, but standing off with Mavericks.

    Made me glad to be on the same side as the Air Force for a change.

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    1. Yeah, the gun is impressive. I've seen it in action as a Range Control officer. A flight of 4 doing strafe pretty much puts the strafing range out of action until the telephone pole supports can be replaced. I've fired a live Maverick at a "Tank" (actually a Dodge Ram truck). Fairly impressive explosion.

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  10. Marvelous report! May Liam hold his vision, and may it be fulfilled for purposes of good.

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  11. Juvat, I have an equally good vantage point for the formation flying clinics held at T-82 near the 'burg. Every time I hear a radial or radials pass over the house it's a race to get the 35mm with telescopic lens and run the camera battery down. After 80 trips around the sun that sound never gets old.
    I did see a guy, from San Antonio I believe, flying a Yak 52 at the 014 clinic. The Yak and an AT 6 did some low runway passes in prior to the clinic actually starting. That got my blood pressure up.
    Good on you for igniting the flame of wanting to fly, in the mind of a young'un.
    Regards,
    Cletus

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    1. Yep, me too. Little Juvat has got the camera (and the skills to use it), but never seems to be around when formation school is on. Guess I'm gonna have to invest some time and money.

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    2. I have been looking at DSLR cameras. You can get a good body with a couple of lenses and a few accessories for less than $1500. Considering inflation from the 80's when I last bought a camera the price point is about right. I have been looking at the Nikon D7500 but Canon and some others make good cameras and lenses.

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    3. BillB. The subject of the "right" camera has so many different answers.
      Instead of carrying a large camera and extra lenses like I did in the film days, I opted for a Panasonic Lumix 250 Bridge camera, and it's served well as both a film and photo camera.
      I have begun to drool a bit over their newer models.

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    4. BillB,
      $1500 is still a lot of money to me. Not sure I'd see enough airplanes/whatever to justify that expense. Got a decent Nikon digital for my detail work.

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    5. John,
      Might have to look into that. Thanks

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  12. Heh. A ChiCom upgrade of a Soviet trainer that looks suspiciously like a Zero married an AT-6. Or just an outright almost copy of an AT-6, somewhat improved. Yeah, based off of a Soviet trainer, I know... One of those parallel evolution moments that seems to happen all too often in Aviation - gots X powerplant for plane to do Y job with Z parameters and plane looks like... every other plane that fits those.

    Rather somber A-10 paint-job on the A-10.

    As to Airlines, if they can make people wait in those things for 6-8 hours on the tarmac, then they can allow airshows or slower planes to enter 'their' airspace. Jerks. Haven't flown a 'liner since 1973 and nothing I've seen can convince me to even try, if I had the money, to do so, unless it's first class or one of those 'charter a private jet' companies. Bah...

    The A-10s are really impressive, as you found out, from below. Pretty in a very special way. Miss seeing them. Dangit.

    Glad you got your plumbing and aviation needs fixed for now.

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    1. Aviation does have some fairly consistent laws, the violation thereof generally results in impacting something hard or at least getting your heart rate up trying to prevent that impact. It was nice to be back around folks in flight suits and their ground crews.

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  13. If the Buff is any indication, that kid may be the Wing Commander for those A-10s someday!

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    1. Yeah, "My" Eagle was a '78 model. It's still flying at Edwards as a test and chase aircraft, so you could be right.

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  14. Thanks for inspiring the next generation of fliers! The only thing is, he may have been replaced by some form of motherboard and circuitry. That would be too, too, sad. There's nothing like it. (period)
    I am getting tired of the "Mustache March" thing and so is Miss Jeanie. It did help though, for me to think of Col. Olds, explain about the lip growth to others and mostly reminisce about the "good old days" and camaraderie. I am reading "From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog" by Steven Ladd. Fun book. No battle stuff. Fine memories.
    Don't be too down on the airline guys. They just want to take you where they're going, safely, and get a beer. How it has changed since the70's-80's. D4, now known as Fuzz. Which is fine.

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    1. Well, Fuzz, let's hope not replaced but assisted or enhanced instead.

      As to nothing like it...well...making whoopee is pretty close.

      Always looking for reading recommendations Thanks

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  15. Minor point ref Doolittle's raid; there were 3 KIA's ( Sgt Fitzmaurice and Cpl Dieter in Hallmark's crew and Cpl Faktor from Gray's crew) three others (Lt's Hallmark and Farrow and Sgt Spatz) were executed by the Japanese and Lt Meder died from abuse in Japanese captivity). Then of course there were tens of thousands of Chinese murdered by the Japanese Army in reprisal.
    A number of the Raiders were later KIA as well.
    Boat Guy

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    1. I thought I remembered a few of them taken prisoner didn't make it, but that's what he said.

      And the last one was Marshal of last years 4th of July parade here. He flew off into the big sunset shortly thereafter.

      Rest in Peace, y'All!

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    2. Yeah. It just seemed a little "downplayed" to me to have said it that way. Another prisoner Lt Barr was probably a week away from death when they were finally liberated. His recovery was long and difficult.
      BG

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    3. (Don McCollor)...And there is nothing to induce sheer terror like watching the old films of the Doolittle B25s lifting from the deck of the Hornet...

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    4. BG, You could be right or he could have been right. It's possible when details were released from the raid, either the POW atrocities had not been committed or released. Or...he could have been just wrong.
      Being a POW was my worst nightmare as a fighter pilot. I knew a lot of the Vietnam era ones. Not sure I'd have made it through what they did.

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    5. Yeah, once they released the brakes, they were pretty well committed. But once they didn't hit the water after takeoff, that portion would've faded into oblivion. The next several hours/years/eternity might have been a tad difficult. I have a great deal of respect for those that faced those challenges.

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    6. I heard the Dolittle launch described as, "I'm flying and my ass has a tight enough clinch on the seat cushion that I'm bringing the plane with me!"

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    7. There's been a few times in my flying career where I felt the same way!

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    8. (Don McCollor)...Ted Lawson (author of 30 Seconds Over Tokyo) further back had retracted his flaps because of the propwash ahead, then forgot to lower them again before takeoff, not noticing until they were in the air and he tried to retract them. The seat cushion probably was clenched even tighter...

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  16. Did you check out the static displays at the front gate of Burnet (Burn it) airport?

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    1. Yeah, we did. I told Liam that I'd flown both the T-39=8 and T-37. That was cool. We also talked about the Hun but I don't think I'd ever seen an A-7 in that yellow green camouflage scheme before.

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  17. Glad it went well and everyone had fun! :-)

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Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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