What airplane did you see flying today?(airplane spotting)

[warbirdguy]

Warbirdguy: "Saw a P-51 heading east towards KVPZ."

Twas' me........returning Excaliber pilot from LOT to VPZ from our EAA flyin breakfast:
3x Blackhawks, 2x Mustangs, 3x Texans, 2x Stearmans,a Corsair, an Avenger, a T-28, numerous homebuilts, antiques and spamcans. Record crowd & pancake production.
VL

Awesome, that's what I was thinking!

[Nathan]

Saw a Cessna on floats fly over. Cool!

[RickH]

We saw the NASA U-2 takeoff today from EFD. They've been flying daily missions to map the oil spill.

[CAPFlyer]

Well for the last week we have had a Delta, yes a DELTA, 747-400 here at Robert Gray Army Airfield/ Killeen Airport making 2 flights a day to and from Southern California Logistics in Victorville (same place that the 787 is flying at right now) and I have NO idea what it has been doing. Tough to miss around here with the wide open sky, but haven't been over to get a shot of it yet.

They use Victorville as the drop-off location for the NTTR (National Tank Training Range) out there, so they're probably deploying a unit from the base out there for pre-deployment exercises.

[Ztex]

I would think they were hauling People and Gear...small gear not tanks.... I found this on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinpistone/4251923941/

Aren't the Delta 747's ex Northwest machines?

[The Inspector]

It appears to be a straight -400 and not a 400F freighter, so my guess is it's now in the fleet for DELTA since they took over COBRA...er...NORTHWEST AIRLINES. A 47 freighter could possibly haul medium sized vehicles (like trucks, HMMVE's, etc) but after LOCKWEED got the C-5 contract, boeing stopped their designs for a mega lifter (the 47 was in the original competetion for the C-5).
The crack about COBRA goes back to when NWA's cabin crews would strike just as Fall came around so they could use their passes to spend the duration of the strike in Tahiti or Australia, and the flight deck crews would strike at ANYTHING at any time.

[CAPFlyer]

They're flying personnel. If this is a move to NTTR, then it would stand to reason that they're flying empty back.

Also, the exercises at NTTR typically run 4-6 weeks.

BTW, the crews don't take their own vehicles and heavy equipment to NTTR. They have equipment already there that is used by whatever unit is at NTTR for the exercises. They do this because the vehicles have to be fitted out with MILES gear, something that's not a "quick modification" to the larger vehicles, so it's better on time and money to simply have equipment assigned that is always outfitted. I'm sure they rotate equipment in and out of NTTR to other units, but the point is to have as much equipment "on site" for the units on maneuver than have to bring it in by plane, truck, or train.

[CAPFlyer]

Looks like they've renamed it since I last looked it up. NTC (National Training Center) used to be called the NTTR (National Tank Training Range), however it's never been a solely "Tank" training from what I've understood. The joys of Google.

[John Dupre]

A KC 135 just flew over my head. It is probably from McConnell AFB. How do I know? Because I am in Wichita!

[airnutz]

Walked out the door earlier and was treated to the familiar music of J-79's singing howl on final.
Collings F-4 has been up for a few circuits..yippee!

[Warbird Kid]

Skyboss flew into Stratford today for a press day for the show next week! First warbird I've seen fly this year.