SA Airshow @ Randolph AFB

[Dcav]

Anyone else make it to this? The Vietnam era demonstration was pretty unique, seeing the AC-47 Spooky Gunship come in on simulated gun runs, and the loud as hell F-4 Phantom doing bombing runs, lots of Pyro and simulators. Very cool seeing FiFi CAF B29 and the B-24's take off and do flybys. Ran into Msage as we pulled onto the base.

 

[zembonez]

I live about 4 miles from there. Got a good look at some of it from here.

 

[orbitup]

Sounds cool. Did they have an F-111?

 

[double_r76]

I was there today. Good reminder that we can own the skies pretty much everywhere in the world.

No F-111, but Security Forces was rolling around on Segways...

-Randy

 

[Dcav]

I was there today. Good reminder that we can own the skies pretty much everywhere in the world.

No F-111, but Security Forces was rolling around on Segways...

-Randy

The Segways and the dang golf carts cracked me up, we always had to walk everywhere

 

[Skip]

I live about 4 miles from there. Got a good look at some of it from here.

Nice pics!

 

[M. Sage]

That was fun. It was great seeing Fifi in the air. There's only one of them that can fly, and I've seen it. The CAF had a lot of planes there (as usual), and I saw Thunderbird and Tarheel Hal (which was half of the Heritage Flight) from the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston.

It was good seeing the Blue Angels, and it was neat seeing the stuff they do on the ground, too. I've only ever seen them in San Francisco, where they're flying over the Bay, so I didn't ever get to see the formation take-off, or their landing and all the other stuff. There was some mechanical issue with the #4 plane, so the slot man flew in #7.

It was really cool seeing an F-4 Phantom in the sky, same with the A-1.

 

[Texan2]

I was up around 1604/35 and pulled into the Forum and watched for awhile. The Blue Angels were flying right over the shopping center. Close and low enough to see the pilot. Pretty neat.

 

[orbitup]

111's always get the shaft. Except in Australia, they love'm.

One of the things I really miss about being stationed in Europe are the awesome airshows. I was there in '91 after the curtain fell. Seeing a MIG 29 with my own eyes was a thrill. They were Yugo planes I believe and the pilot that flew didn't push the plane at all. It was cool though!

 

[M. Sage]

111's always get the shaft. Except in Australia, they love'm.

One of the things I really miss about being stationed in Europe are the awesome airshows. I was there in '91 after the curtain fell. Seeing a MIG 29 with my own eyes was a thrill. They were Yugo planes I believe and the pilot that flew didn't push the plane at all. It was cool though!

There was a B1B on static display. I would love to have heard those 4 F101 engines.

 

[orbitup]

Yeah, B1's are cool. They were modeled after the 111. They were even originally designed to have a crew ejection module like the 111.

I think the coolest thing I've seen fly were the Vulcan and the B-52. The normal Vulcan airshow routine makes it look like a huge manta ray in the sky (that rattles your bones when the throttle is up). The BUFF that blew me away was at an airshow in England. They had to do a low-level show because of the cloud cover (go figure) so about 30 minutes after it took off, it flew over very low... hauling ass! I think it made three passes each about 30 minutes apart. I guess they take that long to turn around at that speed. Awesome!

 

[Rhino]

I had a plane on static... Sorry I missed the thread.

 

[Randman]

Would have loved to have gone..perhaps a heads up in the future would be nice..

 

[M. Sage]

I had a plane on static... Sorry I missed the thread.

Which plane?

 

[majormadmax]

111's always get the shaft. Except in Australia, they love'm.

You do know that the USAF retired the F-111s in the mid-90s, right? The Aussies finally got rid of their C-models last December.

I was up at Mountain Home AFB in the mid-80s when we still had 'Varks at the 366 TFW (two squadrons of A-models and one with the EF-111), and if you want to see an amazing sight it is when they dump fuel from the nozzle located between the two engines and ignite it with the afterburners! It's a helluva show!

One of the things I really miss about being stationed in Europe are the awesome airshows. I was there in '91 after the curtain fell. Seeing a MIG 29 with my own eyes was a thrill. They were Yugo planes I believe and the pilot that flew didn't push the plane at all. It was cool though!

If you think it was interesting being in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, you should've been there during the Cold War!

Cheers! M2

 

[orbitup]

You do know that the USAF retired the F-111s in the mid-90s, right? The Aussies finally got rid of their C-models last December.

There are a lot of retired planes at airshows.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk

 

[majormadmax]

There are a lot of retired planes at airshows.

True, but there is no privately-owned F-111 that I am aware of; and considering the operating costs and complexity of owning one, I doubt there ever will be one.

 

[orbitup]

True, but there is no privately-owned F-111 that I am aware of; and considering the operating costs and complexity of owning one, I doubt there ever will be one.

If I had the cash.....atriot:

 

[M. Sage]

True, but there is no privately-owned F-111 that I am aware of; and considering the operating costs and complexity of owning one, I doubt there ever will be one.

There was an F4 Phantom II flying around. Not quite as complex as the 'vark, mabye, but operating costs on a '60s era supersonic fighter that's got a MTOW of 30 tons have to be deadly.

 

[majormadmax]

There were a helluva lot more Phantoms flying than 'Varks (5,195 vs 563, to be precise), and was flown by twelve nations in total compared to two with the F-111. Heck, earlier this year, Germany offered 20 F-4s to Croatia until replacements for the latter's Mig-21s are brought.

Plus, the Collings Foundation in Houston is still flying one, and there is one being used by the USAF Heritage Flight.