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Originally Posted by likaroc13
...they would come zooming by, & like a little kid i would get up and run to the window (or outside) to look everytime...my wife laughs at me for looking, or she scolds me because i get distracted by them when driving  ...not sure what it is about planes that captures my interest so much |
I do the same thing every time a 4 engine bomber flies over the house. If it’s quiet enough, those radial engines can be heard from a long distance. I grab a camera and run outside as quick as I can.
The best example I can offer that we’re not alone in this behavior happened back in the mid 1980’s when I was driving north on Highway 17 near the San Jose airport. It was the height of the afternoon commute when a B17 and a B24 bomber appeared in the sky off to my left. The B17 was in front with the B24 trailing. The B17 was close enough I could make out the tail markings, and it was impossible to not recognize that tail fin.
Since this was the first time I had ever seen flying WWII vintage bombers I slowed down a bit to get a better look. I was very careful to watch the traffic and glance at the planes when I could, and each time I slowed down a little more. Nobody was pushing behind me, and it turned out the traffic in front of me was slowing down too. By the time I reached the runway all of the traffic going both directions had stopped, and I got to watch the B24 land. It only lasted a few seconds and the traffic started moving again. Beyond the cool factor of actually seeing the planes, I was amazed that every car on the freeway had stopped to watch, and not a single person honked their horn.
The second time I experienced a complete traffic stoppage due to airplanes was sitting on an overpass near Moffett Field. The Thunderbirds were warming up for an air show, and the Highway Patrol stopped traffic for about 15 minutes to keep drivers from wrecking while they rubbernecked.
Apparently A10 Warthogs were also part of the show, because a flight of them approached the overpass we were parked on. We first picked them up about a quarter mile away in a shallow descent from an altitude of about 1500 feet. By the time they were within 50 feet of the car they were at the same height as the overpass. We were looking directly into the cockpit and could see the markings on the lead pilot’s helmet! A friend of my older son in the back seat panicked and tried to get out of the car. The rest of us just calmly sat and watched, knowing this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it would all be over in seconds (either way)!
Of course they pulled up at the last second and cleared the cars by about 20 feet, providing a magnificent view of the bottom of an A10. I’m sure anybody that was there that day will never forget the event. I’m equally sure the pilots were probably having a great time scaring the crap out of half the spectators!
Quote:
Originally Posted by McMurphy
Heh.... 7 years of my life as a gunner on a Air Defense weapon system taught me one thing. If it is flying, identify it. Cant help it. Even after all these years I still look at anything in the sky.
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It’s the same for me with cars and airplanes, except my expertise has an age cutoff. With cars I can identify just about everything from the 1930’s up until 1973 or so. After that I just never cared even when the cars were new. Airplanes I’m pretty good from the time they started flying up until the 1960’s. I grew up an enthusiastic student of military aircraft since childhood, and certainly could identify every WWII airplane, from every country, far better than my dad could. And he served in WWII, but aircraft identification wasn't one of his passions.
It’s kind of hysterical watching old Sci-Fi movies from the 50’s, because they inserted whatever footage they had with the plane pointing in the right direction. And if it wasn't pointing the right way, they just flipped the film over and the markings are all backwards! A guy takes off in an F80, which turns into an F86, F101 Voodoo, F84 Thunderjet, F102 Delta Dagger, F104 Starfighter, etc, and they’re all suppose to be the same guy in the same plane! What surprises me (and my wife) is that I actually know what they are. I mean – who cares?!!
Interestingly we took a drive out past Fairchild Air Force Base a couple of days ago, and they had some really big cargo plane flying around I didn’t recognize. I looked up C17 and believe that was it. About all I could determine at the time was it had four engines and a T tail with the horizontal stabilizer up near the top of the vertical stabilizer. I thought maybe he was practicing tough and go landings, but after making several wide circles, about a dozen guys were seen behind the plane floating down in their parachutes. That was something neither of us had ever witnessed before, and created a memorable event.
Anyhow it’s all good. Thanks for the comments guys, they are always thought provoking.