Fly by. : General Discussion

This was from my boss, who was a tanker pilot in the Air Force. I found it interesting.
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Looks like my "low" pass past the USS America in the Red Sea in 1991.....about the same altitude. The Air Boss didn't want me to pass over the ship so we gave the Squids an air show instead. B-52s always look good down low..................too bad their crews are low-lifesJ In the Air Force, Tankers rule!!

Dave



Begin forwarded message:

Can't find a record that I sent you this real, no kidden picture. It has a first hand narrative. #2 is on the other side of the boat.



Narrative follows:

Subject: FW: B52 by the USS Ranger

Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 23:19:45 +0000

Bill,

Thought you might appredciate this. Might change my attitude about BUFF

drivers a little bit. This picture is real because I witnessed this flyby personally.

This picture was taken in the spring of 1990 as we started are deployment to

the Persian Gulf.

I was up in the "tower" with the air boss as the Viking squadron rep for the

launch/recovery and these Buff drivers (2 of them) called that they were at 8 miles for a flyby.

They had been 'orange air' for a big war - at - sea exercise we were doing

When they called 5 miles the boss said "we don't see you" and we heard

back "look low". Out on the w ater we saw this smoke trail first, (the

planes merged with the color of the water) at about a 1-2 miles we could

break them out and the two buffs came by at 20-30 feet off the water

splitting the ship at about 350kts. Then they pulled up and did a big plan

form 180 and said "do you want to see that again" - The air boss said "hell

yea" so they went back out an did it again.

It was the only time in my 20 year career that I have seen any services jets

purposely flying below flight deck level.

One of my reserve buddies showed me this picture this weekend and I got all excited about it. It was always one of those moments at sea that I had talked about.

All the best,

Chris

CAPT (sel) Chris Buhlmann USN

NAVAIRSYSCOM 0766

Operations Officer[/img]

I have seen many aircraft fly around the carrier I was on (USS Forrestal) but the only ones I saw below the flight deck ended up in the water. Of course they were on the way down and were not flying below the flight deck on purpose. This is a cool photo and almost looks photoshop'd and he looks like he is heading for a crash...

no motion blur. hmm.