This is topic I'll be damned! in forum Member forum at The New Huntmastersbbs!.


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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on December 05, 2017, 12:14 PM:
 
I just saw a (I think it's called ) A V22 Osprey land at our little general aviation Cable Airport!

It's rare that ANY military aircraft lands there, but a lot of News helicopters and police aircraft do, usually for gas. A few private jets; one crashed, overshot the end of the runway a couple years ago, probably ended up in Claremont? At least one died, big fire. Maybe the runway was too short, I don't know?

So, it's a Marine Corps plane, maybe he just needs gas OR it could be an emergency? In any case, it's highly unusual.

I've seen them in southern Arizona, around Tucson, never up here. I have seen Army Blackhawks and Apache choppers flying just north of me, going west, following either Interstate 215 or Baseline Road, but not landing, as far as I know?

I'm just north of the Cable Airport landing pattern so I see just about everything that goes on. This is kinda a big deal and I'm an aviation buff. I'll keep you posted!

Good hunting. El Bee
 
Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on December 05, 2017, 05:42 PM:
 
I see A-10 Warthogs over here on a somewhat regular basis.
That aircraft just reeks of cool !!!!
 
Posted by Moe (Member # 4494) on December 06, 2017, 06:23 AM:
 
I watched an A10 work over an enemy position way back when. It was totally awesome. That gun they built the plane around actually buzzes when being fired and the amount of firepower is absolutely crazy.

The Pentagon wants it retired so they can replace it with a couple of smaller, less expensive to operate versions.

I have to ask, what are our ground troops lives worth? If we'd had the A10 in earlier conflicts a lot of Marines would've lived full lives.

Back when I lived in Juneau, Alaska I went to the airport for coffee one morning. I was shocked to see the Air Force Thunderbirds parked near what was the terminal then. They were on the way to put on a show in Anchorage and stopped to eat and use the restroom.
 
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on December 06, 2017, 07:30 AM:
 
I have seen the A10's down on the Goldwater range. Awesome!

I also once saw, A C130 involved in some maneuvers down in south eastern Arizona. I don't remember exactly what they were doing, but it was one of the tricked out versions firing flares, etc.

I also saw a couple B1B Lancers up in northeastern Utah. They were hugging terrain, probably using Pave Low terrain following radar? You know what went by right as they passed? A brown UPS van on a dirt road zipping right along, making deliveries near Wendover.

If you want a show, drive out to the landing pattern For Luke AFB, west of Phoenix. I think it's very likely you will see F16's in a big half circle then they come down close for landing. hell, one time, I shouldn't have been there, but there was an F16 dropping inert bombs. The guy had to have seen us, it was awesome!

Watching the big ones take off from March AFB is worth watching. I don't know if they are C17's or C5A's but it's amazing they can fly.

One time, I had a Russian jet directly overhead when I was in East Berlin. We don't appreciate how much sound dampening is done to our airplanes but this huge Soviet jet was incredibly loud and low and banking. They have a gift for building aircraft that look like trucks. Ugly.

Of course, I could go on and on about the testing I watched at Eglin AFB. Much radio controlled drones and the B52 are interesting to watch take off. Their wings droop almost touching the runway but as soon as they are airborne, the wings swoop up in almost a 30 degree switch, and now they are upturned like some kind of soaring bird.

Good hunting. El Bee

edit: oh, about that V22. When it landed, I couldn't see it touch down from my house, but the nacelles were forward like a regular plane, not like a helicopter.

[ December 06, 2017, 07:33 AM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
 
Posted by tedo (Member # 4320) on December 06, 2017, 08:43 AM:
 
I was always impressed with the number of configurations that they used on the C-130s. I went thru some training at Quonset Pt O&R facility and did some hands on work on C-130 skis. VX6, the Navy squadron that deployed to Antarctica was @ Quonset Pt NAS. I enjoyed working on aircraft back in my squandered youth, even worked on some Appolo missiles after my USN time.
 
Posted by Paul Melching (Member # 885) on December 07, 2017, 05:12 AM:
 
The coolest I've experienced without be in the plane was a the coyote campout near Picacho peak.
Everyone was out hunting except me and the Beastmaster I asked if he would like to join me and he said he wasn't feeling up to it so instead of taking my truck I jumped on my quad went about a quarter mile from camp shot a coyote I had called and continued down that same road came to an old facility aircraft and such just sitting in the dust got an eerie feeling and looked up and there was a black helicopter above me mostly silent only a slight woosh very very quiet they saw the coyote and that I was just a hunter and disappeared as quickly as they came. by the way first coyote of the campout !

[ December 07, 2017, 05:16 AM: Message edited by: Paul Melching ]
 
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on December 07, 2017, 05:38 AM:
 
That campout, I broke my stool and Paul, who I had never met before, offered his spare tripod stool for me to use.

That particular campout location was by far the worst, logistically, than any other before or since, and I determined to never again ask Higgins to scout locations for Huntmasters campouts. There was a wide open space just down the road from where we camped but instead, we were in the damned weeds where you couldn't hardly turn around without getting poked in the eye by creosote. What was he thinking, shade? From creosote? I'll never figure that one out!

Thereafter, I thought any property owned by Paul would do nicely, and so it did. Thanks for hosting, Paul!

Good hunting. El Bee
 
Posted by Paul Melching (Member # 885) on December 07, 2017, 06:26 AM:
 
Being that I can no longer sit on the ground I always bring extra stools as some one always forgets or breaks one. I can sit on the ground I just cant get back up. LOL I miss the days of a rifle and a hand call backed into a bush now we need a moving van !

[ December 07, 2017, 06:27 AM: Message edited by: Paul Melching ]
 




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