Warbird Information Exchange

This kinda goes with the aircraft messes thread.

What cool or interesting stories does everyone have from aircraft spotting?

Most of my childhood days the only airshow I got to go was the Scranton/Wilkes Barre airshow once a year. Being a kid this airshow got me excited usually a month before it even started. SoI rremember spending all day outside up on my swing set(I pretended it was a tower). With my handy aircraft spotting guide and Binoculars I would sit up on it and watch aircraft trying to see which ones were heading towards the airshow. Remember I was doing this weeks before the airshow even started. But, hey..I did not know any better. All I knew was I got such a thrill and anxiety looking for "airshow planes". Looking back at this time I still can feel that feeling. Anyone know what Im talking about?

Anyway, a few times there were some jet practices done behind my house. Not sure why they picked our erea but I was glad they did. Some jets would do loops or just fly bye really fast. Usually I could not spot them out, but I sure did see their smoke trails and there loud noise. It was really cool that they did that behind my house. I guess they must have been modern military fighters or maybe even a few Blue Angels. Eithor or it was cool to have any airshow performer practice above your house!

Cheers,
Nathan

Well, I grew up along time ago (tho my wife might well argue that I never did grow up...). I lived well out in the boonies, but only a couple of miles from the airport. The local airline (anybody remember Noth Central airlines?) flew DC-3s, so to me an airliner was a DC-3, even into late 50s and early 60s. We were under the approach so I have many nostalgic memories of that distinctive sound. Then for several years SAC was changing their bombing plans to low level, and my town had a radar scoring facility so we daily for a long time (from a child's perspective at least) had B-47s and later B-52s over the house low enough sometimes to easily read buzz numbers. Eventually the B-47s started falling out of the sky. Two crashed in deep winter in close succession in my area so for a couple of weeks we had our local airport overflowing with C-47s, L-20s and Otters, H-21s and those square Kaman SAR choppers with the intermeshing rotors, and etc. Pretty exciting for a 10 year old airplane nut -- I drove my Dad nuts for a while bugging him to drive me over to the airport to see what was there. I also vividly remember the flatbeds full of utterly shredded aluminum when they finally after over a week found one -47 and pulled it out of the woods (like I said this was pretty empty heavily forested semi-wilderness in those days!). Then in 6th grade (I guess 1957 or 1958) I got to get on a train (by myself!) and visit relatives in the big city (Milwaukee) where I bugged my hosts into visiting the airport repeatedly -- I still have some little pictures I shot of Stratoliners and ANG F-89Ds.

Then there was the very exciting year that we had the invasion of hundreds of enormous Great Snowy Owls from the arctic, but I guess that's a different kind of bird...

_________________
Neal Nurmi

---Wingman Photo---

I grew up a couple miles from NAS Glenview; one thing I remember from '65 or '66 was that there were attack simulations being flown by the Air Force in the Chicago area and it got to the point that I could recognize the sound of an approaching jet and slap my hands over my ears just before the sonic boom hit.

_________________

All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

You want my stories in alphabetical order? No? Okay, let's go with the time the Associated Press did a story on airplane spotting and interviewed me. It ended up in several Ohio papers, as well as the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Indianapolis Star (among others) and even went on their overseas wire and was in papers in England and Germany.
Kinda neat to have my fifteen minutes of fame

I have a few...I hope you folks might be able to help me verify one...

I need help with this one...My friend and I were standing in his families back yard B.S.ing about planes...I glanced up and said "Oh look, a B-24." He didnt believe me until I started freaking out...He agreed that it was indeed a B-24...

So...

I believe I spotted Kermit Weeks B-24 "Joe" flying over NJ. This was probably about 10 years ago. Could this have been it or were my eyes just playing tricks on me. I distinctly remember seeing a silver B-24 with the vertical stripes on the tail. Was this at all possible, or was I just daydreaming.

Now for ones I know I saw About a year ago I spotted 909 while out on a golf course, that was a very nice surprise!

Aside from the occasional T-6 I dont have any good sighting stories.

_________________
Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

I have a lot of them, but the highlights are as follows:
Moved back to Fort Collins, CO about 1980. Went to two of the local aiports every week for a couple of years....this is what I saw:
On one day, a P-40E, olive drab over gray, belly tank, no shark mouth..forgot to get the N number. Also that same day, Max Hoffman's "Boomer", and also Stump Jumper. All parked outside.
Mustang N167F before it was restored, also parked outside. About four or five other Mustangs at different times. A yellow Bearcat parked in a hanger...just got a glimpse. F7F, two original Me 109's, I think G models, being restored. Three different Spitfiires, one was Bill Greenwood's, and the Hurricane that I think went to Lone Star (?) Aluminum Overcast, also parked out on the ramp, shortly before being donated to EAA.
And wihin the last couple of years, P-51H, Zero being restored, and a bunch of B-17 parts and a derelict B-24. Also have a pic of me leaning up against Precious Metal.
The best though, was back in about 1976. I lived in Santa Fe NM at the time and a B-17 firebomber was parked. I asked the owner if I could go inside. He said yes on two conditions:
1) I don't flip switches, move levers, control wheel etcetera when I was sitting in the pilot seat.
2) I had to get into like a "true" B-17 crewman, through the front hatch. Luckily I had watched 12 O'clock High and managed to do it on the first try. I have some great pics of me in the cockpit. That was the 2nd best experience with a B-17, the best was a flight in 909!

A few years ago while at work I heard a jet that had a definite military sound to it. The sky was heavily overcast, but out of habit I had to glance up anyhow. To my surprise two Kfirs popped out from the cloud deck for about 3 seconds before disappearing back into the muck.

Ahhhh...we're talking specific stuff, huh? Okay. There was the time about ten years ago when I was sitting at a small area near WPAFB having lunch and heard a ''Warrior" flight call the tower to report inbound. I looked up too see a three-ship formation of A-3 Skywarriors. Quite a surprise.
There are probably too many others to waste space here with