Another great story, well told. Again, it brought back many memories. I loved the F-5, coolest jet I ever flew. I have about 500 hours in the E model. I never did any flying nearly as nifty as that Aggressor pilot. About the closest I came to that was “simulating” a Blue Angel air show above the mock runways at the China Lake weapons ranges in California. To give Navy aircraft something to attack with practice bombs, the Navy Sea Bees had bulldozed into the desert sand a facsimile of a runway and taxiways and constructed plywood buildings to simulate an enemy airbase. If you squinted just right, it would almost look real. While flying the F-5E as a TOPGUN instructor, I often found myself orbiting overhead the dirt runway waiting on F-14s and F-18s to “attack” this simulated target as part of their training syllabus. If I had a wingman, we’d get bored waiting on the fighters and so we’d pretend we were the opposing solos on the Blue Angels and try to copy their air show maneuvers. Honestly, it was an accident begging to happen. To this day I don’t know how we didn’t kill ourselves. But the F5 was nimble and forgiving and Lady Luck smiled on us. And I’m sure the jack rabbits enjoy the show.
Another great story, well told. Again, it brought back many memories. I loved the F-5, coolest jet I ever flew. I have about 500 hours in the E model. I never did any flying nearly as nifty as that Aggressor pilot. About the closest I came to that was “simulating” a Blue Angel air show above the mock runways at the China Lake weapons ranges in California. To give Navy aircraft something to attack with practice bombs, the Navy Sea Bees had bulldozed into the desert sand a facsimile of a runway and taxiways and constructed plywood buildings to simulate an enemy airbase. If you squinted just right, it would almost look real. While flying the F-5E as a TOPGUN instructor, I often found myself orbiting overhead the dirt runway waiting on F-14s and F-18s to “attack” this simulated target as part of their training syllabus. If I had a wingman, we’d get bored waiting on the fighters and so we’d pretend we were the opposing solos on the Blue Angels and try to copy their air show maneuvers. Honestly, it was an accident begging to happen. To this day I don’t know how we didn’t kill ourselves. But the F5 was nimble and forgiving and Lady Luck smiled on us. And I’m sure the jack rabbits enjoy the show.