[AT] OT. Grouse hunting

[Chuck Bealke]

Was plowing with a Farmall Super H on a hot day west of St Louis in the 50’s and kinda paying close attention to the ground, as I had plowed up some bumblebees previously
in about the same spot. All of a sudden there was a load blast all around that flat got my attention.  Seems that the Thunderbirds (flying F-4s at the time) were doing
a July 4th airshow down at the St Louis arch and flying in and out from all directions. One had flown far out at low level before circling back and zipped up from behind and right over me. By the time I got the explosive blast of sound, the Phantom was in front of me and shrinking fast. Recalling it brings back an an apt description used by guys in those days for such instantaneous, body shaking surprise, “Didn’t know whether to sh** or go blind.”

As for the Goodyear blimp, got a ride in one in the 70’s on a balmy day and it was a real hoot. When they cut the engines back to idle, you float silently through the air like a cloud and see your shadow moving along the ground below. We had the windows next to our seats down and there were no seat belts. The view was spectacular.

Chuck Bealke
Dallas, TX

> On Oct 15, 2017, at 10:05 PM, Len Rugen <rugenl at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> I was plowing or disking with an WD-45 and started hearing a very odd noise, I shut down and the noise didn't quit.  It was a Goodyear blimp.  Same think happened to Dad once on the same tractor, but a helicopter landed to ask about walnut trees.
> MO ANG F-4's used to fly pretty low over the farm making a "bomb run" on an angle of the I-70 bridge about 4 miles away.  After a few minutes you could smell the kerosene, they definitely weren't Tier-4.
> 
> 
> Len Rugen
> 
> rugenl at yahoo.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
>    On Sunday, October 15, 2017, 9:08:54 PM CDT, John Hall <jtchall at nc.rr.com> wrote:  
> 
> I bet you stopped hunting that day in search of clean underwear!!
>   I've heard old timers here mention military jets coming in real low 
> and buzzing them while they were in the tobacco fields. Sometimes the 
> National Guard comes in real low just over the trees with helicopters. 
> Like you said you hear them coming and can't see them until they are 
> right on you. On the flip side, we are in the MetLife flight path for 
> the blimps. You hear them coming, a really loud buzzing. Look up and 
> there they are--barely moving. They stay pretty low as well.
> 
> John Hall
> 
> 
> On 10/15/2017 8:28 PM, Spencer Yost wrote:
>> I did hear one request for my story, so I'll pass it along:
>> 
>> Those of you from North Carolina may be familiar with the Clinch Mountain and Elk Knob area of the state in the very extreme north west corner. You can almost spit into Tennessee.  I mention it because it is now a state park, but in the early 1980s it was simply land leased as game lands by the state of North Carolina. So only hunters came there.
>> 
>> Anyways, rumor has it that the city nearby I lived in, Boone North Carolina, was an electronic target for the Air Force. I'm sure it was just a rumor based on the number of aircraft we would see from time to time.  We would usually see bombers fairly high, but every once in a while they would be accompanied by a fighter jet consort at lower elevations.
>> 
>> Anyways one brilliant fall day shortly after the  grouse season  opened my dog and I were working up the side of the Elk Knob.  The gap is barely over 3000 feet but Elk Knob is over 5000 feet. So I was probably a good thousand feet above the gap.  It's steep land, so I probably wasn't more than 1000 feet from the axis of the gap either though. I was working  the edge of a clearing  that had been cleared by an older gentleman in the 1920s with a mule  and sweat(as I mentioned in a previous post). Suddenly I heard a plane. It was fairly loud so I kept looking for it.
>>   I couldn't see it but it just kept getting louder and louder then all the sudden this fighter jet came flying the carpet at low speed, passing through the gap between Clinch Mountain and Elk Knob. I saw that pilot turn his head and look at me - level on. He was in the gap at the same elevation I was.
>> 
>> One weird feeling.  I'm sure he wondered what the heck a guy with a gun was doing looking straight at him too though :-)
>> 
>> Spencer Yost
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> AT mailing list
>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> 
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at