My private "air show"

O

OBIO

Retired SOH Admin
This afternoon, I was down at the pond testing out the "new" 5 foot ultralight fishing rod that I picked up at a garage sale this morning for $5. Need to replace the reel that came on it, but the rod is a keeper. Caught 5 Large Mouth Bass ranging in size from 13, 14 inches on the high end to barely 3 inches on the lower end...cute little bugger...almost brought him home to live in one of my aquariums but he had other plans....took a wiggle, popped out of my hand and back into the water...just as well really.

Anyhow, as I was testing the rod, I was blessed with a private "air show" of sorts. One of the 179th Air Lift Wing's C-130H Hercules was doing low level runs...looked like they were practicing cargo drop runs...straight down the valley that my hearth and home is situated in. Maybe a dozen times, the Herc would come in from the West and fly right down the middle of the valley...and right over the pond...and right over my head. Man, the sound of those 4 big turboprops right up THERE...low enough that I could make out all the markings on the underside of the plane...sure did sound amazing. I watched the plane make run after run down the valley, then it would bank to the right and make a long loop to make another run down the valley from the West. Don't know how many fish I missed out on because I was paying more attention to the Herc than what was going on in the pond...but that's okay...I really wasn't fishing...I was testing my new fishing rod.

OBIO
 
Tim ... makes your heart pump, don't it?

This was 20 years ago ... but my wife, our dog and myself were out sailing on Lake Winnebago ... about half way to the Oshkosh (west) side of the lake (you "air buffs" know where this is going, right?) . With just the sounds of water and a little sail flutter ... you can hear everything going on around you for quite some distance across the water ... and all of a sudden there's this sound ... getting louder and louder ... I turned around and here comes a B-25 with a Wildcat and, I think, a Sea Fury as escort ... coming like bats outa' hell ... only a hundred or so feet above the water ... and making for us like we were their next meal! It made me think of the Japanese fishermen off shore when Jimmy came roaring from the Hornet (without the little friends, of course). They passed nearly overhead ... it was quite a show. They swung around and made a complete circle of us before hearing off to the southeast. They were up for EAA ... just doing a little flat hatting ... because they could! God ... it was a treat!:jump:
 
Hi - well not quite as spectacular - about 20 years ago, I was walking along a beach North of Brisbane ( might have been Bribie Island ) with my now ex-wife , when I heard the distinctive sound of a 'round' engine.
Flying at not more than about 200 feet and parallel to the beach came a Beech Staggerwing - it was the only time I have ever seen one in real life and I didn't even know that there was one in Australia - of course I didn't have a camera. The ex was totally un-interested and I really wished I had my "air buff " friend with me.
 
And they've been flying in one version or another since 1954 as I recall. The B-52 gets most of the credit for longevity, but the C-130 stands tall too and give or take a few months, has about as much flight time.
 
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