Stearman "Missing Man" formation...view from the air

[JohnB]

Last week I posted a story about the local Stearman pilots doing a "Missing man" formation to honor the local Fairchild KC-135 crew that was lost in a crash in
Kyrgyzstan. Last weekend, they kicked off the local "Lilac Week" Armed Forces day parade.
Due to the sequestration cuts, a Fairchild tanker could not do its usual flyby (...don't get me started, it's a sad day when the USAF can't honor its own..if I'd been Wing CC, I'd done it anyway. No one is really going to punish you for supporting a long-time high profile local event that payed homage to the recent losses).

Again, they did the missing man formation in a salute that was much appreciated by the audience.
This raw video was captured by the Sheriff's department helicopter...a OH-58 (the former 70-15148) now tricked out with video gear.

http://www.khq.com/story/22302439/watch-it

[Robbie Stuart]

Very nice!

[N3Njeff]

Outstanding

[p51]

That is such a nice gesture, glad they did it! If I had a plane like that, I've have crossed the mountains to join them.

Due to the sequestration cuts, a Fairchild tanker could not do its usual flyby (...don't get me started, it's a sad day when the USAF can't honor its own..if I'd been Wing CC, I'd done it anyway. No one is really going to punish you for supporting a long-time high profile local event that payed homage to the recent losses).

If you'd been the wing commander, you'd have been looking for another job afterward (assuming you didn't get court martialled). I've been told that they're not even doing flybys as Arlington pilot funerals at this time.
A friend of mine is related to a AF fighter pilot and he ranted in an e-mail to me last week that the USAF refused a flyover at the funeral (don't have the details, only know the guy was a current AF fighter jock and has gone west, that's all I know). Apparently, the people at the service had expected a flyover and when no planes showed up, someone in uniform had to announce it as nobody was leaving after the service was over, assuming that the plane was late. He wrote that the blue-suiter had to beat a hasty retreat under the attacks of some really ticked-off mourners...

[The Inspector]

That is such a nice gesture, glad they did it! If I had a plane like that, I've have crossed the mountains to join them.

Due to the sequestration cuts, a Fairchild tanker could not do its usual flyby (...don't get me started, it's a sad day when the USAF can't honor its own..if I'd been Wing CC, I'd done it anyway. No one is really going to punish you for supporting a long-time high profile local event that payed homage to the recent losses).

If you'd been the wing commander, you'd have been looking for another job afterward (assuming you didn't get court martialled). I've been told that they're not even doing flybys as Arlington pilot funerals at this time.
A friend of mine is related to a AF fighter pilot and he ranted in an e-mail to me last week that the USAF refused a flyover at the funeral (don't have the details, only know the guy was a current AF fighter jock and has gone west, that's all I know). Apparently, the people at the service had expected a flyover and when no planes showed up, someone in uniform had to announce it as nobody was leaving after the service was over, assuming that the plane was late. He wrote that the blue-suiter had to beat a hasty retreat under the attacks of some really ticked-off mourners...

But, by gawd, don't delay MY flight home-

[JohnB]

If you'd been the wing commander, you'd have been looking for another job afterward (assuming you didn't get court martialled). ...

After 20 years as a member of the Wing Commander's personal staff...I have a pretty good idea how they think..and what they can get away with.
If he had flown the flyover, he would have at worse gotten a nasty phone call for a two star (probably not the commander for the reason given below) at AMC HQ.
No one would have the guts to do a courts martial...think of the bad publicity...for the AF and White House. It would have brought the sequestration cuts into the public again...and in today's climate where every military member and first responder is almost automatically called a hero...no one would want that.
NO ONE wants to take the "Credit" for not doing a flypast at a long time civic event that coincidentally comes just a week after a plane crash and where the crew is being memorialized.
True, the Wing CC may not have a star in his future, but he may not have had one anyway.
At worse, he'd still get to retire at a very handsome rate...and have the knowledge that he did something for his fallen crew. That, as the credit card commercial says..."Priceless". IMHO.

And lest you think I'm calling for anarchy in the armed forces (shades of McArthur or a Hollywood favorite anti-military fantasy)....Today, there was a KC-135 flying around all afternoon doing approaches.
What would have been the harm to have the flight 66 hours earlier...that way it could have done the flyby? Really, what's the harm?

An example: Remember circa 1994...when a 2 or 3 star made a joke about President Clinton at a Dining-Out dinner? (calling him a pot-smoking, draft dodger).
I was in on the fallout from that...in the end the White House told the AF Chief of Staff to drop it...they didn't want to be seen as beating up on a Vietnam war hero (a decorated ex-Thud pilot) who was fighting cancer. My guess is, the same would have happened here. Politicians live on public approval...not so MAJCOM generals...but then they have to listen to the politicians.
And who knows, they may have supported a flyover at any rate and not gone after the Wing CC. After all, they were once "crew dogs".