What type are you on?
- Thread starter edwardo
- Start date
Orange Anchor
New Member
I have been fortunate and have been in the right place at the right time slightly more often than the wrong place at the wrong time. Missed more than a few good opportunities because I was not really looking around and surveying the landscape. I probably could have added the F-100F when they were out of Bien Hoa and maybe the D BUF when I was in Thailand. Missed those but did get a bit of stick time in the -52H.. flies like a big sailplane with those spoilers and adverse yaw.
Got to fly the OH-6 left seat and the AH-1G front seat (never hovered) while in SEAsia. Almost got a sortie out of Cam Rahn in an F-4 but it was all out-country so it got voted down. Back in the States, I missed a ride in the -106B because my boss got miffed at me flying in the T-33 with ADC as a target on one sortie. I had no permission to fly with another command.
I believe there are still lots of opportunities to get fly interesting airplanes and I still believe "ancora imparo".. and the Swift is always ready to teach me something new.
But here's one.. true story. We have flown into a field in the west for the overnight. Overhead there is a C-7 Caribou flying the pattern. The next day I have a jumpseater riding with us and the C-7 is back. I muse aloud, "What the hell is that thing doing???" The jumpseater explains there is a C-7 outfit there and you can get your type rating. I ask why anyone would want a C-7 type rating. He said he collected type ratings as a hobby. I mumbled, "You must have a very understanding wife or you must be a bachelor."
His reply? "She wasn't and I am."
I love that one..
Machines I would love to get into.
B-17,B-24, P-38, P-47, FW-190, F-86, MiG-15/-17/-21, F-4, F-5, A-4
F-8 (would really love to do this one), F-104, 777, 380, 747, Viscount, Gripen, Viggen, Mirages, DC-7, Constellation (super G), A-10 and a few more.. An-2, An-125 and -225.
Orange Anchor
New Member
Wow!
And to quote a banned user: "Blimpin' ain't easy."
No insult meant or intended but the quote was '...dancing with a fat lady.'
You would think it would be easy but with the slow response you have to think far ahead and the inputs are relatively big. The rudder pedals take a leg input, not toes and the pitch is controlled by a pitch wheel. And the blimp goes nose up/down in response to the ground heating. Go over a large green park and the blimp can begin to settle and over a large paved area reflecting heat up and the nose comes up.
We traded a ride in a Lear 23 to FLL for one of the crew for the chance to fly the blimp. Fun stuff but I am not sure I would want to do a cross country during the football season in a blimp. Worse yet.. being a ground crew member during the winter season.
Lowlevel
Heehee.. Member
Coolest airplane listed so far on this thread "Grumman Albatross" you win!
ME:
C-152 now flying low and slow on traffic patrol to occupy my days
CRJ 200 up till January when the good folks in management told me I was furloughed
Have flown:
C-152,172,182
Diamond DA20
Pitts S2C
C-208 on Amphib floats
J-3 Cub on straight floats
PA-28, 28R
PA-31
Aztec
Tomahawk
Beech King Air (E90 and 200)
Beech Baron
Beech Bonanza (V-tail and straight tail)
35 hours flying a KC-130 whenever a nice pilot would let me take the controls. I was a USMC Radio Operator/Loadmaster
Currently ATR42
Previously
PA28/44
C152/172/182
BE33
How did you get your hands on the russian beast???
granlistillo
Well-Known Member
Orange Anchor,
Quite some list even for a Yankee Air Pirate! Were you a FAC in SE Asia?
c172captain
Well-Known Member
You just might be the main source of envy for everyone on this forum.
Orange Anchor
New Member
Yes, I flew O2As in III Corp and was assigned to the Thai Army. I was in an area where we had a mixed group of forces including Australian, New Zealand, US Navy flying OV-10s (call sign Black Pony), ARVN and US Army. Job has changed but FACing then was one of the best jobs in the world even if the O2A was not one of the best airplanes to FAC in.
Orange Anchor
New Member
Shouldn't be. I have just been around 40yrs + and I tried to take every opportunity that came along to jump in the cockpit. And some opportunities I just pursued for a long time, like Concorde. Didn't get to fly it but did get to fly the sim and got to jumpseat twice. VERY nice machine and some of the old boys hand flew Concorde most of the time.
Secret is.. learn how to write. A good writer (not that I am one) will find that some avenues not open to the usual aviator will be open to a writer and some avenues not easily available to writers will be open to aviators. And besides flying some interesting machines, you will get to meet some incredible people.
granlistillo
Well-Known Member
Nice! I bet you have a ton of stories!
FACing in a A-10 gotta be a little different. "cleared in hot, oh wait let me mark the target with my GAU8..., ok nevermind"
Orange Anchor
New Member
You have to match the machine with the environment and the way we worked targets then would not work today. Far too hot and too many pieces of metal coming up.
The O1 was good because it was nimble and relatively quiet. However, it could carry only a few rockets to mark the target. The O2 was a bit faster, had longer legs and we usually carried two pods with 14 rockets. Although there were four stations, we seldom carried anything other than two pods. The Sleepytime guys, carried stuff on all four stations as they patrolled Saigon at night and the out-country guys carried different stuff. Personally I don't think I would have wanted to be over the HCM Trail in an O2. That was where the OV-10s usually worked, call sign Nail.
In country, probably the best bomb dump truck was the F-100. 4 20mm cannons, 4 stations and decent loiter time. A-37.. only a mini-gun and 500lb bombs. We didn't get many F-4s and none had guns. We did get Aussie Canberras and they could carry up to 1000lb bombs. BIG holes. And of course, we had Arc Lights which were the B-52s dropping 750lb bombs in a big train. But the BUFs were not under our control. Oh, and we occasionally got VNAF F-5s or A-1s. Lead spoke and understood English. Two sp0ke some English and understood a little. Three and four just hit where lead dropped his stuff. That could be a real circus.
granlistillo
Well-Known Member
Did you ever get shot down?
One of my old COs in the Navy was an ex army LOACH guy doing a lot of arty spotting, and he got shot down. Seems like a similar line of bidness.
Re: F4
Before going into the Navy I was a F4 engine mechanic in the guard and when our guys were up on the range, they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with the gun pod. I got to work on a double mig killer though.
One of my old COs in the Navy was an ex army LOACH guy doing a lot of arty spotting, and he got shot down. Seems like a similar line of bidness.
Re: F4
Before going into the Navy I was a F4 engine mechanic in the guard and when our guys were up on the range, they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with the gun pod. I got to work on a double mig killer though.
