the sound of freedom

[Lee Barner]

jet engines: while outside earlier, I heard the distinct sound of multiple jet engines. when I moved to where I could see the lights I was surprised to see one large and eight small aircraft between 25-30,000 ft. the tanker was in the lead followed by two flights of four fighters. have no idea what kind. being retired from the AF for almost 32 years i've lost my ability to recognize aircraft by their sound with the exception of C-130s and the odd UH-1. Lee

 

[Rudi]

Which direction were they flying?

 

[Lee Barner]

Rudi, east to west, maybe slightly SW. Lee

 

[twodog max]

I live on the edge of the Ozark National Forest. The Air Force trains over the forest at times. The last few days they have been at it a lot. The sounds of the jets as they make their pass at whatever will definitely get your attention. I have yet to seen the plane as by the time you hear the engine it is long gone.
Also the C130's have been at it a lot lately. They pass low over our place. So low they other day I could almost read the pilots nametag.

 

[jeffrefrig]

I think I may be tempted to build a bunker, just in case, except I'd be fried before I heard it coming.
That's pretty cool watching those jets. Last time at VA Beach I had more fun watching the jets take off out over the ocean. That's what the binoculars were for! I guess there's a base nearby...dudes were having a blast! I think I saw Tom Cruise.

 

[Heinz]

Training for fighting MIGs in the Ukraine?

 

[Sixgun100]

Now that I'm fortunate enough to live in Central VT, I get to routinely see the F-35's stationed here fly over. "The Sound of Freedom" is what I say every time. Never get tired of seeing or hearing them. No mistaking when they fly over!

 

[Truckman]

There's no mistaking the signature sound of two GE J-79's spooling up...I instantly recognized the sound behind me at an airshow where two F-4's were approaching on the taxiway...I hadn't heard the sound in over 40 years, and knew what it was before I even turned around......Ben

 

[Retired W4]

I live on the edge of the Ozark National Forest. The Air Force trains over the forest at times. The last few days they have been at it a lot. The sounds of the jets as they make their pass at whatever will definitely get your attention. I have yet to seen the plane as by the time you hear the engine it is long gone.
Also the C130's have been at it a lot lately. They pass low over our place. So low they other day I could almost read the pilots nametag.

I flew out of Adams Field for five years and lived just South of Little Rock AFB (home of the Herc). The 130's routinely used Mena and other local fields for staging. Watching them do what they call an assault approach was amazing. That's a very steep approach with a big flair at the bottom, slam it on the ground, throw all four into reverse and slam on the brakes. Stops on a dime and gives you a nickel change.

BTW, The Wart Hog just got another reprieve with their funding from congress. Nothing says CAS and CSAR like the A-10C.

 

[16thVACav]

I live within 10 minutes flying time from six military bases. We hear planes and helicopters all day and all night. I enjoy it!

 

[grover99]

I live about 10 miles from Whiteman AFB and often see B2 Bombers flying over my house at about 3000 feet. Very impressive to say the least.

 

[LVSteve]

There's been a Flag running at Nellis the last couple of weeks. I was reminded of a few things.

1) A-10s are cool.

2) No B-52 ever passed smog.

3) The Eurofighter Typhoon is small, but has a remarkably deep voice for its size.

4) The F-35 is stubby, looks like it has lost half the required wing and is incredibly noisy for its size.

 

[Retired W4]

I'm surprised they finally got the F-35 flying and into production. Multi-roll...yea right.

 

[irish132]

My old unit had F16's until about 9 years ago then went through a conversion to RPA's (Remote Piloted Aircraft). It was an adjustment and a lot of folks in the area still comment that they miss the sound of the jets.

It did get a bit old when I was in Turkey 20 years ago. Worked late shift and usually got off work around 2am and we stayed up to "decompress" until about 4 or 5am. My tent was about 200-300 yards from the runway so always a rude awakening at 8am when the F15's and F16 would take off with full afterburner. Still love the sound of those birds though.

 

[swsig]

I grew up in San Diego in the 1950s. It was Mecca for the lovers of the sound of freedom. The two giant Naval air stations (North Island and Miramar) always had planes in the air. The massive Convair factory at Lindbergh Field regularly launched their F-102s and F-106s, and of course their enormous B-36s. I lived 10 miles from Lindbergh Field, and when a 10-engine B-36 revved up for take-off ("six turning and four burning"), it could be heard at our house quite easily. That was an awesome sound, the likes of which will never be heard again.

Another sound of freedom I used to hear regularly that has also disappeared, was the sound of an aircraft going supersonic. House-rattling sonic booms were a regular part of life in San Diego as Convair test pilots checked out their F-102s and F-106s, and Navy pilots exercised their "need for speed".

The Air Force would also pay us occasional visits. One day I heard the sound of a large four-engine plane approaching. I looked up, and directly overhead was a KC-97 at about 30,000 feet refueling a B-47 (I could see the boom glinting in the sun). While I was totally fascinated, I also thought, "I hope they don't screw this up." I only saw that once. Maybe the Air Force concluded that refueling over a major metropolitan area was not a best practice.

Finally, Convair developed and built their famous Atlas ICBM rocket in San Diego. They constructed an engine test facility in a canyon about 20 miles from our house. When they ran an engine test, it sounded as if it was about 20 blocks from our house.

Today, I don't often hear the sound of freedom, just the sound of boring commercial aircraft as they they approach or depart DFW. But if I hear the sound of a military aircraft, I'll go out and look.

 

[vt_shooter]

Training for fighting MIGs in the Ukraine?

Let's hope not. If European countries have a problem with Russia and Ukraine, let them deal with it. If it doesn't bother them, it shouldn't bother us.

 

[SMSgt]

Nothing tops the sound of an old F-105 "Thud" afterburner kicking in. Hard to describe the Boom! it makes. If you've heard it, no need to describe what you can't forget.

 

[Lee Barner]

going way back to my AF days, the real sound of freedom was seeing an F-16 elephant walk at Aviano, Italy and a B-52 EW at March AFB, CA. Lee

 

[Golddollar]

This is going to sound rather small compared to all the other stories, but it's still a sound of freedom. My second apartment was literally adjacent to Fort Detrick, MD. The helicopters coming in and out was a frequent sound. It was a good sound.

 

[twodog max]

Some years back I got a tour of the National Guard Air facility at Ft. Smith Arkansas. At that time they flew F16's. While on the tour I saw they had a 2 seater I asked our chaperone if I could get a ride. I even offered to bring my own puke bag. He said I did not know enough congressmen. LOL
They had an engine test facility and they had just installed a reworked engine in a F 16 and a test pilot was taking it up to wring it out. Our guide had told him we would be watching him take off. He really put on a show. As soon as he had wheels up he pulled the nose straight up and climbed who knows how high but out of sight. The last I saw of him was the canopy flash as he rolled out at top of the climb and headed out.
I was extremely impressed and made me want to hitch a ride that much more. Don't think it will happen.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

This is going to sound rather small compared to all the other stories, but it's still a sound of freedom. My second apartment was literally adjacent to Fort Detrick, MD. The helicopters coming in and out was a frequent sound. It was a good sound.

Any Sound of Freedom, sounds the same. God bless the USA.

Leon

 

[Truckman]

Nothing tops the sound of an old F-105 "Thud" afterburner kicking in. Hard to describe the Boom! it makes. If you've heard it, no need to describe what you can't forget.

I remember...My wing had 105's before we transitioned to F-4's...I think the 105 is still the largest single engine fighter ever put in service...I was on a weapons load crew before I crosstrained to weapons release on our new F-4's......Ben

 

[ancient-one]

swsig's post about San Diego brought back memories. I was stationed at North Island during 1944 and 1945 in the flight control rigging area. Most of the work was done on the ramp and one day we heard a funny sound and looked up and saw this aircraft flying along with the prop feathered.
It was a Ryan Fireball that had a radial engine and a small jet engine. It had tricycle landing gear and the Navy used it to get a Carrier landing system for the forthcoming jet aircraft. Lots of crashes and lots of rebuilding.

 

[wundudnee]

swsig,
I lived in SanDiego in 1952 near the Navy hospital and the zoo. I went to Roosevelt junior high. My Dad worked for Convair on the B-36s. When they would run up those engines it would shake the whole town. At that time Convair was testing another larger plane that never went into production. That one was loud.

I now live near Forbes air base where they base KC-135 refuelers. I see and hear them every day. Forbes had the B-47s based here for years as a SAC base.

 

[MDF4]

There's no mistaking the signature sound of two GE J-79's spooling up...I instantly recognized the sound behind me at an airshow where two F-4's were approaching on the taxiway...I hadn't heard the sound in over 40 years, and knew what it was before I even turned around......Ben

For those of you that are interested in the F-105 there is a great book, "Thud Ridge." It's out of print now but still available (I think) online used.


The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom:


[FONT=&quot]"The pulsating growl of the JT-79's spooling up radiates through the keel of the Phantom, it's a good feeling, it's a feeling of power. Red shirts walk the wing…hands to heaven…all secure…thumbs up." [/FONT]

 

[Llance]

Ahh the sound of freedom. shortly after I was transferred from Rhode Island to Long Beach, CA we moved into an apartment near Los Alamitos NG Base, North Long Beach. One night about 0200 A whole flight of heuys came in over our second floor apartment, and because they were landing, they were emitting that heavy pounding wop wop wop of the rotor blades. My wife sat bolt upright in the bed almost screaming "What the Hell is that?" I told her, "Go back to sleep, were safe, it's just some heuys landing at the air base. I would have slept through it had she not yelled.

 

[ancient-one]

swsig,
I lived in SanDiego in 1952 near the Navy hospital and the zoo. I went to Roosevelt junior high. My Dad worked for Convair on the B-36s. When they would run up those engines it would shake the whole town. At that time Convair was testing another larger plane that never went into production. That one was loud.

I now live near Forbes air base where they base KC-135 refuelers. I see and hear them every day. Forbes had the B-47s based here for years as a SAC base.

Forbes had the RB-47's, the ones that flew the Russian coast, sometimes over flying it. They had a very dangerous job. I was the Tinker Industrial Specialist assigned to them. Project Silver King was a very tightly guarded modification done on them. The last time that I looked you could find just a little about it on the Internet.
The EB-47's based in Ohio flew in the danger area also. I had them also. I will never forget, I went there for a meeting about a modification. If you were from Tinker, people sometimes did not realize that you represented only your little part and you would catch hell for every problem that they had with Tinker. This Major was having a problem not involving me and I knew nothing about it. I told him that write me a note giving me the facts and I would get to the proper people at Tinker. That didn't satisfy him and he just kept interrupting the meeting. Finally the Col. in the meeting told him to shut his damn mouth or he was out of the meeting. He did write me some info and I got it to the right people. Some things you don't forget.
I don't know about now but to get to the flight line at Forbes, there was three or four layers of security that you had to pass through. I hope that it is still tough.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I was stationed briefly at Forbes AFB (TAC) when it was basically an air taxi service for Fort Riley. The thing I remember most about the area was the massive grain silos in Pauline.

 

[swsig]

swsig,
I lived in SanDiego in 1952 near the Navy hospital and the zoo. I went to Roosevelt junior high. My Dad worked for Convair on the B-36s. When they would run up those engines it would shake the whole town. At that time Convair was testing another larger plane that never went into production. That one was loud....

The plane that never went into production was the cargo version of the B-36, the even more enormous XC-99. It first flew in 1947, and was quite an engineering accomplishment for the time. The Air Force took delivery, but only one was ever built. And you're right, you could hear it coming from many miles away. Here is a video that only gives a small sample of the sound, but it is enough:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXAOGQCutPY[/ame]

 

[A-37]

XC-99 (Above)

I last heard that unmistakable sound and saw the plane fly overhead in 1956 when I was an Aviation Cadet at Lackland AFB TX. 65 years ago and it seems like yesterday.

Thanks for the post.