One man’s dream

By lex, on January 27th, 2008

Is another man’s nightmare.

With respects, I’ve had a lot of good dreams in my time, but none of them have started off with a MiG-29 Fulcrum parked at my six.

Still, happy ending and all that.

January 27th, 2008 | Category: Flying, Navy

17 comments to One man’s dream

• Byron Audler

  January 27, 2008 at 5:15 pm

  Wonder if that was a cut from the Swiss version of “Top Gun”?

• yak

  January 27, 2008 at 5:40 pm

  It must really suck to have to get paid to fly 18s for the Suisse Air Force.

• Liz

  January 27, 2008 at 5:41 pm

  Probably, they use the same ‘put on the breaks and fly by me’ trick.

• STEVEC

  January 27, 2008 at 6:11 pm

  THAT WAS GOOD. But the idea of, what did you call them, Lex? “….“g hack” cough and g-measles on your forearms” might not be all that cool afterwards…..except that they beat the heck outta the alternative.

• lex

  January 27, 2008 at 6:55 pm

  One of the kids from my old squadron flew an exchange tour with the Swiss. Good fellah’s and all that, but the airspace was a nightmare. Small country, lots of traffic and a tradition of neutrality-cum-pacifism going back a fair piece.

  Still, you know: Hornets. In Switzerland.

• yak

  January 27, 2008 at 9:07 pm

  I remember doing a headquarters exercise at Norway’s Northern Command HQ back in the early 90s when I was stationed at HQ AFNORTH in Oslo. COMNON was located just outside of Bodo, above the Arctic Circle.

  While we were there, one of the local TV stations was broadcasting a week-long series about a Norwegian F-16 squadron. It included footage from a 2-hole F-16 chasing his lead thru the mountains and fjords of northern Norway. O-MY-GOD!

  I so-o-o-o wanted just one ride like that. But if the Marine one-star (F-4 driver) who was my boss couldn’t get a ride …

• HomefrontSix

  January 27, 2008 at 10:00 pm

  Byron ~ I was just telling MacGyver, “He’s gonna say ‘Too close for missiles…switching to guns.’” And then he did. And I about died.

  Here’s a question for all you flyboys…would you rather fly 18′s in Switzerland or Hawaii?

  Tough call.

• MaxDamage

  January 27, 2008 at 10:40 pm

  Switzerland. Better beer, there’s a schutzenfest every weekend, and if you’ve been to sea you’ve, you know, seen the water and beaches and stuff. Mountains, on the other hand, offer some real entertainment.

  So this must have come from a movie of some sort? Anybody know the title?

  – Max

• GeoSTI

  January 27, 2008 at 11:05 pm

  Not sure on that one Max, but the French film “Skyfighters” had a similar dogfight in the Alps. Coupled with zero CGI, made for some nice viewing.

• Nose

  January 28, 2008 at 4:24 am

  Ah, the dreaded “Aileron Roll / Arc across the horizon” defense. The Ruskies still haven’t figured out how to cope with that.

• Byron Audler

  January 28, 2008 at 4:46 am

  Yeah, Nose, agree…I was wondering how long it would take for the MiG to mort the Hornet, especially as badly flown as it was. And it took how long to get the helmet cuing sight down?

• ELP

  January 28, 2008 at 7:50 am

  Hmmm. In these days of new-gen helmet cued missiles on both sides in WVR… yikes.

• Jim C

  January 28, 2008 at 10:21 am

  Don’t know much about fighter tactics so I’ll leave that to you guys, but I’ll tell you that nose over right at the ridge line was pretty impressive. Left my stomach at the top of the ridge just watching it.

  Jim C

• Zane

  January 28, 2008 at 11:09 am

  I don’t know, I was expecting a mutual zero-gas kill any minute (but a kill’s a kill!).

  Nose, come on, give it up for the ground controller whose radar sees through mountains!

  And since when does Lex speak with a Swiss accent?

• fliterman

  January 28, 2008 at 12:25 pm

  Swiss neutrality should never be confused with pacifism, as Switzerland’s purchase and use of F/A-18′s would seem to indicate.

  In fact, Switzerland was the first nation in modern times to introduce compulsory military service, with every able male citizen conscripted to the armed forces. All males are issued a rifle and ammunition that they keep at their home in case of national emergency. It is said there are more military rifles per square mile in Switzerland than in all of Europe. Though neutral in WW-II, Swiss partisan snipers put fear into the Germans. Swiss marksmanship was accurate up to 500 meters compared to the German’s 100 meters.

  For centuries, Swiss mercenaries were renown and sought after by many countries for their superb fighting skills. Indeed, one mercenary group still remains – the Swiss Guards – protecting the Pope in the Vatican.

  Although neutral, Swiss defense spending has tracked very closely the spending trends – but at a lower average level – of the United States and other NATO countries. And yes, while there may be a Swiss pacifism movement, they remain a minority.

  I’ll leave comment on the superb Swiss economy and their healthcare for another time.

• Sh1fty

  January 28, 2008 at 6:07 pm

  http://www.targeta.co.uk/axalp_intro.htm

  Live fire exercise…in the mountains…in Switzerland…

  Think we should organize a field trip next fall?

• MaxDamage

  January 28, 2008 at 10:26 pm

  Fliterman, it would be remiss to overlook the fact that the Swiss system of cantons more closely approaches a Republic than most other European governments, which has a certain appeal to those of us in the USA with our system of states. Internal divisions are thus dampened while internal independence is still allowed.

  And did I mention the beer? And the schutenfests? Because nothing says lovin’ like having a place on the range to set your beer while you’re firing for score.

  Ya know, a guy could get sort of used to that.

  – Max

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