Strange things you might have flown in? (Read 1,770 times)

There's not necessarily anything "strange" that I've flown in, but I've flown in a lot of different aircraft. Unfortunately, no pics of any of them tho.

I've flown in 2 or 3 different choppers, the Chinook, the Huey and the CH53.

The C130, C141 and C5 (the 130 in the jump seats was the most comfortable of the 3).

Any number of 737's and Canadian Regional Jets (CJR's), but the most unique experience was going through a carrier launch in a "COD", or C-2A Greyhound. I was in high school in the Naval Junior ROTC, and we got to have a summer trip on the USS Lexington. It was decided not to stop operations just to drop us off (there were 8 or 9 of us), so the COD was the transport of choice.

Of course, being a high school kid, photos weren't a big deal at the time. By the time they were (at least for me), I generally wasn't allowed to take pics of the planes I was interested in. Almost got my camera taken away at Guam for trying to take a pic of a 141 for crying out loud!! :

That sound awesome. I thought I had all the boxes filled on my flight list until recently. You mention glider now and just a few days ago my wife was watch the "Thomas Crown Affair" it it had a glider flight in it. Wife laughed and said you haven't done the. I guess now i need to. :thanks

Durning the balloon flight it was very quiet, well we had an elderly couple with us and they enjoyed hearing themselves talk, but kept it down. We could hear the breeze passing the ropes on the balloon. A few hawks and bald eagles swooped past us along with other birds.
The only un-natural sound was the gas burner when it lit-off to add more hot air but that only last a few seconds now and then.
I think I liked this because we were the only balloon up in the air. We had the air and sky to ourselves.
I wouldn't mind repeating that trip someday.

I just tried to get those other balloon flight pic's to load but it's a no go.


I understand that. My Dad & Grandpa always took lots of photos even wayback in the family history. My grandma has shown me dozens and dovens of old family pictures. Back when my grandpa used a team of horses on the farm and milked cows by hand, and also a horse and buggy were us to get around in. I have all those old pictures now and saved them to a CD.
I sorta took on the photo-bug after my Dad. My kids and grandkids will thank me for it.

I don't know if any of these are strange but these are the military planes I've flown in. A lot of them I jumped out of* as an Army paratrooper!

C-5
C-9
C-47*
C-130*
C-141*
KC-135
T-39
CH-47
HH-53
UH-1*
UH-60*

Of course I've got 750+ hours flying as a Flight Engineer in C-130s. (Around 300+ hours of those are in combat.) I guess the strangest was the C-47. I got a chance to jump out of one back in '92 when I was in the Army. The plane was owned by the Army but leased to the North Carolina Forest Service. I volunteered to do a test of ankle braces for student paratroopers. I thought they sucked but figured they would help the new kids. The big deal for me was the chance to jump out of a C-47!

Mark

Oh, I can't remember how many general aviation or commercial aviation aircraft I've flown in but it's alot more than the number of military aircraft I've flown in. I do know I've never flown in a civil helicopter though.

By Mark:

That is awesome, just like a D-Day jump back in history. Were you the only jumper on that test?

Lugnuts55 said:

That is very true and many people miss the photo chances of a lifetime because they don't have a camera handy. After I got to Sembach Air Base, West Germany in 1978 (my 6th year in service)I carried my camera almost daily. I was jacked-up once by the Security Police for having my restricted area badge in my pocket instead of on my shirt. I was forced to the ground and searched but they did not discover my little 110 Kodack camera. Only about 1 1/2 inches deep, 2 inches wide, and 3 inches long. Even smaller than eye class case. Guess I was lucky.

While not all these are strange, most of the ADC airlift fleet collection (*) WAS:
C-47*
C-54*
C-118*
C-119*
C-121
C-123*
C-123K*
C-124
C-130
C-131*
C-141
DC-8
F-106B
Fokker Friendship
Lockheed Electra (2 and 4 engine)
T-39*
707
727
737
757
forgot T-29
ADC airlift fleet was AKA Dogpatch Airlines.

T-34, T-2A,B,C, F-9 (single and twin seat), F-8, F-100, F-106A, B, T-33, A-4 (single and twin seat), F-14. all are weird sometimes, especially when behind the boat at 0300 in a driving rain, with a raging sea and pitching deck.

:welcome :salute
WELCOME CPTN, INTO OUR HANGAR AND ONTO OUR FLIGHT LINE, YOU SHOULDN'T FIND OUR RUNWAY ROLLING AND PITCHING, EVEN THO WE HAVE A BARRIER AT BOTH ENDS..................... The Old Sarge
:drunk :drunk :drunk These tenors are siging anchors aweigh

To quickly answer that question. No, I just don't think I have enough information and recall for a story like that. Sorry.

But I can tell you that during my assignment in the 318th FIS in the mid 1970's we had a U.S. Navy exchange pilot.
He was a fantastic pilot and most of the time on Air Combat Training (ACT) missions he beat our Air Force Pilots.

We went on TDY/Deployment to Mirmar Naval Air Station in California (TOP GUN). We were there about 3 weeks. The Navy flying F-4's against our F-106's won most of the ACT missions.
But our Naval Exchange Pilot always won the dogfight.

Then there was a big bet that our Navy Exchange Pilot could not beat a Navy pilot in an F-14 Tomcat.
A one on one ACT mission between a F-14 and a F-106 was arranged and took place.

It took some extra time and some awesome flying but the F-106 scored a kill on the F-14.
:fire_missle_ani

Also one of our pilots took a tape recorder on a few of the ACT missions and recorded the radio action. He came into our maintenance area a few times and played the tape for us.
Its great when the pilots include maintenance people in the mission's actions.