How I got my free Ride in USAF F-15 Eagle

Sweet !!!!!

Thanks for posting.

 

you are a lucky man. I'd love to get a ride in any current US Fighter. F-18, F-16, F-15, that would be an amazing experience!

 

I hope to be flying USAF jets when I get out of college...

 

Wow. That's great! Thought you had to be a weatherman to get a flight! My cousin was an F-16 pilot and flights were impossible to get.

 

As I was watching the video of the approaches to Langley Field I'm flabbergasted that the guard gate at the mainland entrance at the end of the bridge is the same as it was when I was stationed there in 1944-45. Am I correct? It sure looked familiar. It was on an island that split traffic before it went across the bridge to the base. I have a bone to pick with the PR guy. During the period of WW2, for 6 years that was a bomber base with B-17's and B-24's plus the NACA labs there. Of course, the bomber guys don't blow as much smoke as the fighter jocks so they don't get the press. It looks like the dirigible hangar is no longer there either but I hope that the three story brick barracks are still there. I was billeted in Squadron A at the east end of the main drag overlooking the end of the main runway.

 

Awesome! I will get a ride one day myself! What a dream.......

 

I really didn't do anything but thanks anyway. And thanks for taking my fighter pilot ribbing in good nature. I guess that I'm a frustrated fighter pilot and admire what they do. It takes all kinds to do the war thing.
I should add to the history of that great big airport. When I was there one could see at least 3 or 4 big bombers in the air all the time night or day. The ramp was double-lined with them sometimes. But before that there was a succession of fighter groups starting with WW1 fighters ( even the Americanized Fokker D-7), after that there were Boeing PW-9's, Curtiss P-1's and 3's, P6-E's, Boeing P-12's, Boeing P-26's, Curtiss P-36's, Lockheed P-38's. And then the war came with a coastal defense mindset and so did the B-17's and B-24's. When I was there we were training High Level and Low level Precision Radar bombing---the first Mickey Ships. Then there was the very low level skip bombing with the B-24's. A couple of times some of the '24's came back with the bombs that they released jammed back in the belly of the airplane. One returned with the lower half of one of the vertical tail fins missing.
It was an exciting place to be with the NACA labs there testing every fighter you could think of except the ME- 262. Our favorite was the De Havilland Mosquito. It could out-run anything there including the P-38 and it wasn't a bad dog fighter with the right man in it. A low altitude pass with everything forward by a Mossy is unforgettable. I met an RAF guy named Clip Collard who was a Mossy night fighter pilot who had 13 night victories in the airplane, most of them Ju-88' night fighters. He fought one to a draw one night. When both realized that they both were out of ammo they went their way.

 

Great video. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

I have written all that I can about my life so that my survivors can have a record of it. 148,000 words so far and I'm working on trying to get it published with photos and some of my illustrations done when I was a kid and when I was in the air force. I can't believe how far back it goes with my first ride in an Aeronca C-3 in 1935 , through all of my days bumming rides in old Waco's and other history pieces at all the airports nearby, working with crop dusters at 13 or 14, and finally the air force and later on restoring some antiques and then my air show stuff in the 60's with a clown act. Forty eight years with Boeing had some interesting times too. Met and knew many great people.
When I was little ( in the thirties) our family spent the summers at North Beach on the Chesapeake and I used to see the old Consolidated PBY2's that came over at low level probably out of Annapolis. Then when I was in the service and being stationed at Langley Field, I reused my old crabbing skills and caught many good " Blues" right off the base in the inlet near the NACA labs. We had " borrowed" a rowboat and spent many hot sunny days Chesapeake Blue catching crabs that we bartered for nice (and scarce) steaks from the cooks at the officer's club.
Last but not least, my son, Spasso on F-Chat, owns a beautiful 87 1/2 Red Testa Rossa. Helluva car!

 

Spasso is your son?? Wow!! That's cool!!

 

Yep, It's cool being allowed to be Spasso's dad. He drags me to all kinds of car shows and drives where I just have to ride in his TR and see all the other Ferraris and his great friends. He's making me pay for dragging him to sports car races and air shows in my old airplane when he was a twerp kid. It's tough to do when you're 83 but I just grit my teeth ( I have all of them) and let him think that I'm having a good time. Yeah, I've got it pretty bad.