Talk about under the radar!

[Rocky Raab]

If you have high-speed check out this footage of some French attack pilots.


Ahhhhhhh! Makes me yearn for the good old days when I did this kind of thing.

Jets (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9T51UsuaPU&search=Flying)

[captain2k_ca]

I cannot imagine doing that, then having to give it up!!!

At least you were lucky enough to have been able to experience it in the first place!! Buzzing farms in a 172 just isnt quite as thrilling!!! :D:D

[Jack]

Now, that's LOW! ;)

[bigkevmorgan]

now that will make soil your pants!!!!

[Rocky Raab]

What got me was the shot of the guy tooling along at maybe 25 feet - and reading his MAP!!!

Yes, that's a single-seat plane!

What's amazing is how smooth the ride is. In the shots looking at the pilot's face, it's like he's in a lounge chair - except for the scenery rushing by. Most planes would be rough enough to jar your kidneys loose in the turbulence down there. Nice ride!

[Jack]

I saw that shot where he was looking at the map. :D
I noticed a couple times the pilot adjusting something on the upper left of the cockpit- terrain following auto pilot?
I really got a kick out of it when the pilot was going down the dirt road, and went lower....

[8X56MS]

They are French. They can fly, but can they fight? ;)

[multibeard]

With my slooww dial up I didn't load the video.

I live on the west coast of lower Michigan. I worked alot right on the bluffs along the lake. If you look at the map there are two points that stick out about half way up the state. There are light houses on each of the points that they used to make bombing runs on.
One day I was standing on the 100 foot high bluff when two jets made a run at the light house a mile south. I was looking down in the cockpits of both of the jets as they streaked past.

Gave me chills knowing how close they were to the water.

[Rapier]

Rocky,
Thanks for posting this. Interesting. Were you ever at the Hurlburt range when a B1-B flew over on a low level bomb run going to the north range? I think those guys took pine needles with them.

You will apreciate this, I think. The best low level I ever saw in person was when a buddy of mine was visiting and I took him over to East Pass to look at the water. We parked at the east end of the bridge on the bluff south of the road over looking the water. About the time we had walked over to the edge of the parking lot, we heard a rumbling roar coming from the south, out on the gulf, and looked out that way. Far out over the water we could see a black dot right on the water, coming hard, real hard. As it got closer we relized it was a very big aircraft moving very fast. It flew right down the pass and had to climb to clear the bridge! It was an SR-71 making her final flight. She was on her way to become the static display at the mesuem on Eglin AFB and the pilot was showing what she could do in low level flight. Man, what a sight that was, a jet black SR-71 in flight, over crystal blue water and white sand and I had no camera.:)
Ed

[Rocky Raab]

I'd have loved to have seen that. I'd have been without a camera, too, I fear.

When I went through FAC training at Hurlburt, we were technically allowed to go down to 500 feet when over the ranges, but all our training was predicated on the "official minimum altitude" for FACs in Vietnam: 1500 AGL. Thy said we'd didn't have to learn to fly lower than that because we never would do it in combat.

Uh huh. Yeah. Right. You betcha.

Several of us came back with green on the plane's belly, one of the guys had a branch stuck in his leading edge and another had a crossbow arrow in his wing.

[PJgunner]

Anybody know what kind of planes those were? They did look a lot likr the Tornada, but I never did get a really good look as they were flying really really fast.
Paul B.

[Rapier]

Hey Paul,
Hows the #1 man, himself?

I understand the aircraft were French Mirage jets of the new issue, on location in Chad, doing the Islamic Rebel interdiction rumba.
Ed

[gumpokc]

in roughly march of 1991 I was in Btrp, 1/2 acr deployed to the sandbox for Desert Storm, when I saw an insane low level flyby.

Our unit was setup in a square formation near the middle of the major highway leading from Basra to Bagdad (have picture if needed)

One day we start seeing a pair of jets flying around alot nearby.
Command checked and was told they were Kuwaiti (spelling?)

Afterabit, they flewby pretty close, we waved, they goofed around abit, then left...or so we thought.

Out platoons were setup alternating around the square, tank plt, bradley plt, tank plt, bradley plt for the four sides 250 meters between tanks, and roughly 175 or so between bradleys, and support and maint in the middle.
I was in the tank nearest our sister bradley plt, when we had one of the previously mentioned flyboys come ripping over us at (we guessed) 50 feet.

Ok that was pretty cool, if unnerving.....then his buddy came _through_ our formation. He was flying sideways, and I saw the very tip of his wing pass _behind_ the turret of the bradley 4th down from me. Bradley is roughly 9 feet high, so he was _really_ low. He wasen't exactly sitting still either.

That really rocked, was a major rush, only regret I have is not having a video camera. I did have a regular camera, but even If I had had it out, I'd have never gotten the pic, it was that fast.

I'll enclose the highway sign pic we were near during our blockade duty.

(photo to big, lemme see if i can resize it)

[Lilred]

Thanks Rocky..the video was awesome...I aint know the French had an air force...(snickers) ;)

Seriously, I notice some of ya'll posting war stories. Thanks to all the HC men fer servin your country, ya'll are honorable men.

Please dont take no hints from the Frech tho ;)
(Lilred waits for hailstorm of blunt objects) :D:D

[PJgunner]

Originally posted by Rapier
Hey Paul,
Hows the #1 man, himself?

I understand the aircraft were French Mirage jets of the new issue, on location in Chad, doing the Islamic Rebel interdiction rumba.
Ed

Sure look like Tornadoes to me, but like I said, it's just a guess. I thought the Mirages were a delta wing aircraft like the Mirage 2000C and the EF-2000 Eurofighters. Maybe the French have a new airplane.
I think I did see one quick glance of a delta winged plane, but most seemed to have conventional swept back wings.
Paul B.

[Jack]

I looked up Mirage jets on Wikipedia, because I was curious as to what make/model the jets were, too.
Wikipedia lists and describes a number of Mirage jets, most of which are delta wing. But there is one that is a conventional swept wing aircraft, and is built in a ground attack version, called the F1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mirage_F1

[Rapier]

This is found on the boards where the film is located:

"no, these aircrafts are french mirage F1 cr from reims air base (where I study) in a detatchment in chad.

they have come to the request of the chadian government to fight islamist rebels from lybia. you can find plenty of awsome "mirage in chad" video on you tube. "

This matches with the data on the F-1. Also note on the film that the air induction is oval. The Tornado's induction is a rectangle. The French also sold these aircraft to several countries in Africa.
Ed

[Rocky Raab]

I agree - definitely not Tornadoes, and not a regular Mirage (which are indeed all delta-wings), either.

What you want in a high-speed, low-level ground attack airplane are smallish wings with high wing loading. That means that each square foot of wing has to support more weight. The higher the wing loading, the smoother the ride and steadier the aim when in turbulence on the deck.

Examples of great airplanes in that role are the Jaguar and the Harrier - both with small wings compared to their load capacity.

[Rocky Raab]

Yup, Mirage F1. Here's a link with photos.
Note the refueling probe, which is plainly visible in some of the forward-looking shots.

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/row/mirage-f1.htm

[skeet]

Did you have any time in fast movers? I got a flight in an F-4 one time. Guy tried to get me to puke. Man what a hoot. Only lasted about 20 minutes or so but wow.. Took more time to get all suited up than flying...or so it felt. I woulda given my eye teeth for a little stick time...maybe even more than that;) :eek:

[Rocky Raab]

Well, I did train in the T-37 and the supersonic T-38. Then during my FAC training, I went to Fighter School and actually flew Korean War vintage two-seat F-80s (also called AT-33s). We did mostly attack training in the F-80, so that as a FAC, I'd know from first-hand experience what a fighter was capable of delivering - and how hard it is to do so. There was strafing, rockets, and high- and low-angle bombing. During skip-bombing and napalm attacks, you do get pretty low and fast.

After Vietnam, I was a T-37 Instructor for almost five years. Over the Southeast US, they didn't let us get really low or fast due to the civilian populace.

That's three jets, only one of which was supersonic-capable (and I only went to Mach 1.1 once).

[skeet]

I am sooo jealous. Always wanted to fly one myself. The only thing they let me fly was those ugly planes. Nothing pretty. The absolute worst was a nasty ol flying boxcar. Dangerous airplanes...old and poor maintenance. There are a whole bunch of them down at the airport in Greybull Wy. Some even still have the jato's on 'em. They used 'em for firefighting tankers for years. All kinds of old junk down there. I'm still really jealous.
BTW do ya need any Hornet brass?? I'll send ya some if you need it. Needs cleaning though.

[Rocky Raab]

No thanks on the Hornet brass, skeet. I'm well supplied.

[BILLY D.]

Hey skeet

Don't knock the C-119. I flew 182 Combat Missions in the AC-119K and never NEVER had to walk home once. I wish I could say the same for choppers. I loved that Aircraft. She was tough and fullfilled a lot of different missions.

We flew mainly truck interdiction routes from South of the Mu Ghia Pass in the North down the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos and Cambodia. Due to a superior Aircraft and superior Airmanship we were able to dodge AAA and kill trucks.

This Aircraft also was a welcome sight to Grunts, Army and Marines when they were confronted and outnumbered buy a superior force on the ground. The sight of Stinger, AC-119K moving into the area with her 6 Gatlings was truly comforting. Ask the troops at Fire Support Base Vandergrift in Quang Tri Provence on 17 Aug. 1971 how they regard the AC-119K Gunships with their 4 Mini's and 2 20MM Gatlings and 2 million Candlepower White Light. When they called and we responded they were being over-run by the NVA. When the dust settled the estimated body count of 800 souls who gave their lives for the NVA cause was made. Their were no losses for our side, just wounded troops. Med EVAC choppers got them out and to Da Nang. Loved those Army Chopper guys. They don't make them with any bigger testicles than them and FORWARD AIR CONTROLERS, cough, cough, Rocky. You wouldn't believe what those guys flew through. Rocky may not have achieved MACH 2 but he did something much more important than that. SALUTE. Yes, I'm an enlisted puke.

So skeet, don't ever downgrade a 119 in front of me or I'll give you a ration full. I love that bird. She was a great one.

Bill

[Rocky Raab]

Billy, did you ever talk to somebody who has been at the receiving end of a gunship? (I mean the good guys, of course.)

It's absolutely eerie. There is NO sound until the bullets suddenly start ripping into the earth, and then it's either like a hellish hailstorm (7.62 minis) or a roar like a looooong bull bellow (20mm). The tracer stream looks like a never-ending bolt of red lightning. Long seconds after the last bullet hits, there's an equally long deep moan from the sky - and THAT sounds for all the world like devils on their way to hell.

And then in the weird silence, inevitably, somebody says in absolute awe, "Holy sheet."

It is. It is just exactly that.

[BILLY D.]

Originally posted by Rocky Raab
Billy, did you ever talk to somebody who has been at the receiving end of a gunship? (I mean the good guys, of course.)

It's absolutely eerie. There is NO sound until the bullets suddenly start ripping into the earth, and then it's either like a hellish hailstorm (7.62 minis) or a roar like a looooong bull bellow (20mm). The tracer stream looks like a never-ending bolt of red lightning. Long seconds after the last bullet hits, there's an equally long deep moan from the sky - and THAT sounds for all the world like devils on their way to hell.

And then in the weird silence, inevitably, somebody says in absolute awe, "Holy sheet."

It is. It is just exactly that.

Rocky

Been on both ends of that and to me it sounded like a blast from a tuba. Of course with my excellent hearing. ahem, ahem, I don't hear anything high pitched anymore. Bells, whistles and sirens are beyond me. Can't remember the last time I heard a bird sing.

We always tried to limit our bursts, especialy with the 20, they were limited to 140 round bursts. Our illustrious Squadron Commander, who shall go un-named, once emptied a drum of 20mm and the Gun was torn from the Kevlar floor mounts. I was re-loading the rear drum and didn't get to the master switch box in time to shut it off. But this dumbie knew the rules on burst time. My AC had to hold me back during the de-briefing. It's not considered nice for a TSGT to whip a Lt. Col's ass in public.

We had HOT rounds going off in the Cargo Compartment and there were 3 really pissed off Gunners, an Illuminator Operator and a Night Observation Sight Operator in the back of the Aircraft. We didn't mind getting killed by the enemy but friendly? fire sucks.

The firing cone is beatiful to see from both ends.

Bill