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Getting Low

By lex, on December 15th, 2011

For your delectation, an assemblage of vintage aircraft vigorously attempting to tie the low altitude record.

How low do they go?

Lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut.

Lower, even.

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December 15th, 2011 | Tags: , , , | Category: Flying, History, plane pr0n

35 comments to Getting Low

  • Comjam
    December 15, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    Yeah baby! Somewhere in massive mounds of, er, stuff, are prints of a shot I made standing at Crissy Field at the then-Presidio of San Francisco back about 1983 or so of one the Blue Angels’ solo A-4′s as he headed west-to-east for a solo pass. The picture was taken as I stood on the beach, looking straight at the nose of the A-4 as he headed right for me. You can see the front windscreen, and the pilot’s helmet quite clearly. There is very little of the belly to be seen. There is a LOT of the nose-on aspect of the Scooter.

    • Steve
      December 15, 2011 at 3:28 pm

      You’re going to find it this weekend and send it in to Lex, right? :-)

    • Comjam
      December 16, 2011 at 6:53 am

      Yeah, well I got four floors (counting basement storage) to root around in. (Hey c’mon, we only moved in 9 years ago! I still have boxes to unpack) And The Doctor has already issued Saturday’s Flight Schedule (a.k.a. “Honey Do” list). But I’ll get to work on it. Lex, I will scan and email once I get my act together.

      • Comjam
        December 16, 2011 at 6:58 am

        STOP THE PRESSES!! Found it, right in my Man Cave!! (I’d rather be lucky than good) OK, so there’s a little underside showing. Also the cockpit. Will do the email stuff Lex this weekend. BTW, clearly from Fleet Week, 1984.

  • Joe in N Calif
    December 15, 2011 at 3:04 pm

    Insane doesn’t quite cover it.

  • Paul L. Quandt
    December 15, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    Thanks Lex. That took a while to get through. I remember some low level passes on outer 3 at the Reno National Air Races. What fun.

    Paul

  • fliterman
    December 15, 2011 at 4:44 pm

    How many of those guys would get their wings pulled today?

  • DJ Elliott
    December 15, 2011 at 5:09 pm

    My ops boss in VF-213 [F14s] liked to leave a wake when flying over water. For that matter, the XO of VA-22 [A7s] used to return with SSC photos of merchant ships taken looking up at the name of the ship on the bridge. This was in the 80s before the Political Correctness Police [PCP] took over safety…

  • Stephen
    December 15, 2011 at 5:36 pm

    Wow! Alot of incredible stuff. But, the “Sandman” over Romania particularly struck me.

    Real studs, doing desperate things.

    It’s such a shame that the majority of folks in our country today don’t understand the sacrifices that have been made for them, their families, and their futures.

    That pic reminded me that yet again I need to say thank you to every one of you who have strapped in and gone “downtown” for my benefit. Thank you.

    • Dust
      December 15, 2011 at 6:35 pm

      Yeah. The Tidal Wave mission to Ploesti is one of the most moving stories of air combat history. Some of the surviving B-24s had Romanian cornstalks stuck in the bomb bay doors. Five individuals received the powder blue Max, three posthumously.

      • Stephen
        December 15, 2011 at 8:09 pm

        Regular dudes, digging deep into their souls, nutting up, and going for it. Holy cow. I don’t have appropriate words to express my admiration.

      • Justthisguy
        December 15, 2011 at 10:41 pm

        Hey, at least the survivors who were taken prisoner were treated right. The Romanians were already hedging that bet they had made, to go along with the Nazis.

        The prisoners from the Ploesti raid actually gained weight during their captivity. Rotarians among the captives were allowed to go into town and make up their missed meetings at the local Rotary club, and give talks about the raid.

        • Justthisguy
          December 15, 2011 at 10:54 pm

          This reminds me both of Halpro, the original small raid on Ploesti, and the Marine Raider raid at Makin atoll. All they accomplished was to alert the enemy to his vulnerability, and cause him to re-enforce his defenses.

          Was it Machiavelli who said, “Never do a small injury to your enemy?”

  • SK1
    December 15, 2011 at 6:15 pm

    There was a pilot who won the MOH in the Korean War as he had to fly low between two factories in North Korea to confirm they were being used for munitions manufacture. They didn’t want to bomb civilians…..so he did exactly that and dived down between the buildings, low enough to look in the windows….

    He confirmed that the target was valid, and then directed the bombing raid……ballsy.

    • Joe in N Calif
      December 16, 2011 at 8:45 am

      Quibble – “was awarded the MoH,” if you please. “Won” makes it sound like some prize.

      • Quartermaster
        December 17, 2011 at 6:40 am

        It’s a common expression that’s been around since the beginning. In my opinion, they did “win” it by their valor.

  • Busbob
    December 15, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    Have a picture somewhere in the old stuff that hasn’t been digitized, the Blues in the F-4s, God, what a show and noise. Pensacola, around spring of ’71, the four plane diamond going by the parking lot in a steep left bank, the wingtip of the left wingman below the roofs of the cars.
    Years later at an airshow at Whidbey mentioned that to a show performer and he knew exactly whereof I was speaking, said he was the left wingie in that show. Related that he wasn’t happy after he found out just how low later on, his eyes were on the lead all the way, had the sense of being close to terra firm but had no idea how close….

  • sherlock
    December 15, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    Recall reading somewhere that during the Ploesti raid, several squadrons got separated, and found their way to the target at low altitude independently. Apparently they arrived nearly simultaneously from multiple directions, bombing right through each other’s formations, convincing the Krauts that the USAAF had taken precision bombing to a whole new level!!

  • T.G. McCoy
    December 15, 2011 at 9:28 pm

    Well here is some low flying-lot of rotorhead action but take a look at the skycrane at about 2min…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-gELlf2xy4&feature=related
    good idea of what aerial fire fighting’s like from the cockpit.

    then a Calfire bit:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZAVHr8iBlk&feature=related
    been there,done that…

  • Justthisguy
    December 15, 2011 at 11:18 pm

    Wow! I have just now clicked on the link. I was reluctant to do so earlier, fearing that there might be video, which is invisible to me.

    The leading pic just warms my cockles. My favorite old bomber at the Warner Robins museum is a rare old Canberra which they have criminally and scandalously allowed to remain outdoors in the weather, corroding away. If any of you go by there, give her a hug and a kiss from me.

    P.s. The Kate was a torpedo bomber, not a dive bomber.

  • errolwi
    December 15, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    Yes, the Sunderland made its own rut…

    Memories of the co-pilot at http://bit.ly/sSHB3S

  • Justthisguy
    December 15, 2011 at 11:52 pm

    One of my favorite people, Glenn Sigafoose of Sig Balsa fame, managed to off himself while doing snap rolls at zero feet at an airshow, in his Pitts. He caught a wingtip on the ground and splattered himself and the airplane across the field.

    He and his wife had His-and-Hers Pittses. She immediately sold hers, and the Pitts Special kit shortly disappeared from the Sig catalog. I don’t blame her.

    • T.G. McCoy
      December 16, 2011 at 11:13 am

      Enjoyed that Joe- that is the Owyhee country of NE Oregon and Western Idaho.-Ok it could be Nevada and NE California too,
      but this guy is based in Nampa Id. I believe.

      • Joe in N Calif
        December 16, 2011 at 12:11 pm

        “Some’ers out west” anyway. Fantastic country. Insane flying. Well, insane landings and take offs. Very skillful, but still insane.

  • Byron
    December 16, 2011 at 6:22 pm

    Thanks, Lex, a half-hour of my life well spent!
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