Git Some says the Cranky Old Blank

pharmer

pharmer

Bronze Supporter
Joined
Mar 22, 2002
Messages
9,682
Reaction score
16,441
Location
28 N, 81W
I just finished my 4 miles late in the day, cool mid 60's with North breeze. Overhead, the endless 737's were lining up for OIA, tourons and road warriors coming to Mouseland. When wind is from the North we are in the glide path. All of a sudden there was a roar coming up behind me and I thought "737 too low." Turned out 2 A 10's going full speed I guess a couple hundred feet up, maybe to avoid OIA radar. Must need to keep the pedal on the floor to keep them flying. Found myself yelling "Git some!" while having no idea what "some" there is to "git" around these parts. 40 years ago I used to fish Lake Kissimmee maybe 30 miles South of here with my 1st wife's dad and the A 10's would pass low over the boat on their way to unload on the range at Avon Park. From the distance sounded like a giant dinosaur breaking wind. Glad to see they're still "keeping an edge the axe." Joe
 
Register to hide this ad
Air Force is conducting trials for a replacement
to the A10. Each looks more like a beefed up
Mustang and I don't think features the 30mm
gatling gun.
 
Fortunately Congress keeps refusing to let the A10 die. The war in the Ukraine has revived in a big way the classic tank battles expected in W.W.III and the need for ground support and tank busters.
 
pharmer said:
I just finished my 4 miles late in the day, cool mid 60's with North breeze. Overhead, the endless 737's were lining up for OIA, tourons and road warriors coming to Mouseland. When wind is from the North we are in the glide path. All of a sudden there was a roar coming up behind me and I thought "737 too low." Turned out 2 A 10's going full speed I guess a couple hundred feet up, maybe to avoid OIA radar. Must need to keep the pedal on the floor to keep them flying. Found myself yelling "Git some!" while having no idea what "some" there is to "git" around these parts. 40 years ago I used to fish Lake Kissimmee maybe 30 miles South of here with my 1st wife's dad and the A 10's would pass low over the boat on their way to unload on the range at Avon Park. From the distance sounded like a giant dinosaur breaking wind. Glad to see they're still "keeping an edge the axe." Joe
Click to expand...
Joe,
I must admit that description made me laugh out loud! I wish I could of been there to see and hear it!!
Larry
 
It's not uncommon for military aircraft to be cleared UNDER a normal landing or takeoff route for expediency. When I lived in Fort Worth as a kid some mark of Chinook nearly too the roof off heading for Carswell under the route normally taken by the B-52s coming out most mornings.

I've never heard the noise of an A-10 called a roar before. To me they have that high-bypass turbofan "zziiiing" more than anything. Where I lived in the UK was a low flying area frequented by A-10s, Tornadoes and Jaguars, mostly. Occasionally there would be an F-4 trying to catch a Tornado or a Jag at low-level. Not a good look as the Tornado guys were VERY good at low-level. You could see the F-4s working the throttle and pulling high yo-yos to try and keep the Tornado in sight, but it was often to no avail. A well camo'd Tornado down in the weeds over rural terrain was easy to lose visually.
 
Somewhere over near VA Beach there must be an AF or Navy base, and all the hotel rooms face the beach, so you hear something, then wow! They take off from somewhere close and woosh right over the beach, then disappear out over the ocean, usually 2 at a time. It's impressive to this civilian, to say the least. I'd love to see if I could survive that ride! I have no idea what they were, models, but they were fast!
 
Actually, you've got an AF base (Langley), a Naval Air Station (Oceana) and an Army air facility (Felker) plus a US Naval Weapons Station.

I think it was back in the last century I saw an A6 flying so low to water (in a large lake) it kicked up an impressive rooster tail. They had to pull up to clear a low dike that carried a state road over the water.
 
jeffrefrig said:
Somewhere over near VA Beach there must be an AF or Navy base, and all the hotel rooms face the beach, so you hear something, then wow! They take off from somewhere close and woosh right over the beach, then disappear out over the ocean, usually 2 at a time. It's impressive to this civilian, to say the least. I'd love to see if I could survive that ride! I have no idea what they were, models, but they were fast!
Click to expand...

I would say it's Langley AFB. I visited my SIsterinlaw back in the 90's.i guess Desert Storm was ending. We were sitting in the pool watching fighter jets coming in. They were so low you could see the ice underneath.
Back in the late 60's I had an uncle that was an air controller at Langley. I remember he took us through a burnt out neighborhood where a jet had missed the runway. I was about 5 or 6 at the time. So I don't remember much but I do remember one house that still stands out in my mind.
 
About 50 years ago, maybe a little more, my sister and BIL were living near Amherst MA while he was getting his Master's. There was a big SAC base nearby (Westover, I think) and every morning, pretty early, there would be a large number of B-52s taking off. They were still low and slow and under full throttle as we were about a mile from the end of the runway. No way to miss that sound.
 
Re-reading this thread reminded me of a trip I made when I flew commercial a lot. I had a window seat and we were on final approach to an airport in the Hampton/Norfolk area (Patrick Henry?) I looked down and realized we were over a housing plan/development. I could look through house windows and see families sitting at the dinner tables. I recall hoping they got really, really good deals on the houses.
 
My local commercial airport has a National Guard base, and they added a "hot" refueling station to the base, allowing military planes to stop and refuel quickly without shutting off the engines. We get a lot of traffic of Warthogs, as well as Apaches and Ospreys doing short-stop refueling. All three are noisy, but the Warthog's distinctive "rowllizz" motors sets them apart.
 
We live close to Ellington field and the military aircraft and NASA trainers and oddities roar over our neighborhood daily. It is funny to hear the old ladies complain like they did not know they moved next to an airbase that has been there since 1917. Come to think of it, maybe some of the ladies were adults living here first? The complaints of the new residents every Autumn airshow right after the Pearl Harbor simulation are priceless. It is the sound of freedom.
 
My daughter is a crew chief on a MV-22 Osprey. One of the draw backs to the tilt rotor design is that when you're in plane mode, there's no way to have a forward firing gun, because the rotors are in the way.

She says, "One of the things we've discovered (while in the Middle East) is that if you're being flanked by 2 A-10's, you really don't need a forward firing gun!"
 
I worked on A-10s in Alaska. The pilots used to joke about the three-position throttles--Off, On, and Fly. Lack of speed is its downfall in today's world. Tops out at just over 400. They certainly don't roar, they buzz.
 
We live in the east to west flight path for NAS Jax... every once in a while, Mrs will squawk about the noise. When I remind her it's the Navy, she just says, "That's okay then."

Robert
 
Last edited:
SMSgt said:
I worked on A-10s in Alaska. The pilots used to joke about the three-position throttles--Off, On, and Fly. Lack of speed is its downfall in today's world. Tops out at just over 400. They certainly don't roar, they buzz.
Click to expand...

She says that's why the MV-22 is a good match, Ospreys cruise at around 300 knots.
 
SMSgt said:
I worked on A-10s in Alaska. The pilots used to joke about the three-position throttles--Off, On, and Fly. Lack of speed is its downfall in today's world. Tops out at just over 400. They certainly don't roar, they buzz.
Click to expand...
*
I doubt that speed is limiting in the ground support role.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top