Let's fly in a Warthog

They're very slow aircraft, but amazing to watch in flight.

A million years ago, as a newly minted 11C Indirect Fire Weapons Infantryman, aka. mortar maggot, I got sent to Ft Irwin/NTC as OPFOR. Well, lasers don't curve, so no MILES system for mortars (observer/controllers handled those details), so my mortar platoon got stuck with the ADA role & I spent way too much time on desert mountain tops waiting to whack a Blackhawk or Kiowa with a MILES Stinger, or to engage 'fast movers', typically F-4s & A-10s, with the occasional A-7 for variety with star cluster flares (NO MILES/laser engagement vs. the fixed wing birds, dunno why), then call it in to the O/Cs.

The Warthog pilots would fly over our positions at ridiculously close altitudes, inverted, 'n flip us the bird as they went over, while we'd try to bounce green phosphorous 'stars' off their canopy.

Watching them fly NOE through the mountains was mesmerizing. The way they could juke/flutter/twist throigh the air reminded me of watching barn swallows feeding at sunset.
 
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Attack pilots are a different breed. Unlike fighter jocks who see attack as just one of a bunch of things to do, they really care for the guy on the ground. I love me some A-10 and AV-8B.

@Crazy Carl , pilots flipping the bird is actually a sign of affection, and can mean many things, and none of them derogatory.
 
Chuckman said:
Attack pilots are a different breed. Unlike fighter jocks who see attack as just one of a bunch of things to do, they really care for the guy on the ground. I love me some A-10 and AV-8B.

@Crazy Carl , pilots flipping the bird is actually a sign of affection, and can mean many things, and none of them derogatory.
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Absolutely. Just having some fun where we could find it in that God forsaken desert & it was always a game between us & the Warthog jocks.

Kiowa pilots trying to blow us off the mountain was always a good time as well.
 
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Crazy Carl said:
They're very slow aircraft, but amazing to watch in flight.

A million years ago, as a newly minted 11C Indirect Fire Weapons Infantryman, aka. mortar maggot, I got sent to Ft Irwin/NTC as OPFOR. Well, lasers don't curve, so no MILES system for mortars (observer/controllers handled those details), so my mortar platoon got stuck with the ADA role & I spent way too much time on desert mountain tops waiting to whack a Blackhawk or Kiowa with a MILES Stinger, or to engage 'fast movers', typically F-4s & A-10s, with the occasional A-7 for variety with star cluster flares (NO MILES/laser engagement vs. the fixed wing birds, dunno why), then call it in to the O/Cs.

The Warthog pilots would fly over our positions at ridiculously close altitudes, inverted, 'n flip us the bird as they went over, while we'd try to bounce green phosphorous 'stars' off their canopy.

Watching them fly NOE through the mountains was mesmerizing. The way they could juke/flutter/twist throigh the air reminded me of watching barn swallows feeding at sunset.
Click to expand...

Every time I flew in a Blackhawk, I always pictured myself on the ground shooting me down. I could’ve done it guaranteed all but a couple times. I hated riding in helos

Call me a control freak but there are very few people I trust my life with and these weren’t SOAR pilots we are talking about
 
11B CIB said:
Every time I flew in a Blackhawk, I always pictured myself on the ground shooting me down. I could’ve done it guaranteed all but a couple times. I hated riding in helos

Call me a control freak but there are very few people I trust my life with and these weren’t SOAR pilots we are talking about
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The Nightstalkers are a different breed for sure.

Every flight I took in a Blackhawk, bar one, I was sitting in the door, my MC1-1D's static line hooked to the floor behind me & trying to keep my feet outta the treetops enroute to the DZ.
 
We did not fly in army helicopters much when I was attached with the Marines. But after I got my commission my assignment took me into multiple platforms including army and air force. I never really had much problem with any of the pilots, regardless of service. The Air Force special operations guys, they could drop us anywhere we wanted.

Some of the best pilots that drove us were actually national guard or reservists.
 
11B CIB said:
Every time I flew in a Blackhawk, I always pictured myself on the ground shooting me down. I could’ve done it guaranteed all but a couple times. I hated riding in helos

Call me a control freak but there are very few people I trust my life with and these weren’t SOAR pilots we are talking about
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Only view of a helicopter I was ever interested in.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Daughter of a friend of mine pilots an A-10.
 
Worked at an ew range here in ENC. I found out an A10 was making a gun run behind me about 1000 yards off line when the 30mm rounds started exploding on target. A second later, I heard the brrrrrrrrt. A couple seconds later I heard the engines as he banked away.

I would have been hamburger before I knew he was there. Sure glad they're on our side...
 
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