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Being zany near sfo


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Despite having spent years working and flying while based at a facility with a pair of huge blimp hangers in the '60s, I never flew through one. Though jet jockeys from El Toro did it enough we had to make sure we kept one set of hanger doors closed per hanger at all times. The noise of a Phantom Deuce flying through a hanger is truly almost unbearable!!!!

 

Recently flying around near SFO I noticed the even larger than ours, single huge blimp hanger at the Mofftett Navy field, had both doors open. I couldn't resist the temptation. So I lined up and planned and I did it in one pass! See the posts below. So then I decided that as the British would say "In for a penny, in for a pound." So I flew under the Golden Gate Bridge as well. I hope you enjoy these shots.

 

One thing I'll point out, I didn't place the plane in the hanger, I "flew" it in. The outside the plane shot was paused because I couldn't change screens quick enough to go from virtual view to outside view any other way. Then as soon as the 2nd screenie was made, I changed back to virtual screen, un-paused the flight, and flew out without hitting anything. I know that is true because my settings for the whole flight were set to recognize crashes.

 

The other thing you might have noticed a bit off was that I was off-line to the Moffett on that first shot. I'm still not good at flying from outside the plane and frankly I got distracted when I noticed the hanger doors were open. So right after I took that shot I flew a Go Around to get things back under control.

 

Enjoy, Michael

 

1 Final to Moffett.jpg

 

2 Inside the hanger.jpg

 

3 Outside but Inside.jpg

 

4 Going Under the Golden Gate.jpg

Being an old chopper guy I usually fly low and slow.
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Wow! To attempt that RW, needs solid nerves!!! :pilot:

 

Or Ignorance!! But then again Phantom II jockeys always seemed to feel they were invincible. And the doors were just short of 300' high. And I don't know the numbers, but it appears probably as wide when opened.

 

I talked to one of them wile doing S&R duty and was told they were just "creeping along" at 175 or so when they went through the hanger. No big deal!

 

The guy I always wondered about was the gunnery officer. How he'd manage to not scream when he had no control over anything is to me the miracle!:eek::eek::eek:

 

Michael

Being an old chopper guy I usually fly low and slow.
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Sorry, Michael! There's no being zany in my neck of the woods! Please turn in your pilot's license at the nearest Starbucks!

 

Nice pic, BTW! ;)

 

Moi!?? The wildest thing I/we ever did up there was land at the Presidio, roll our motorcycles out the back, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, then spend 2 days drinking wine while riding up and down the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. :p:rolleyes: Wine Tasting tours?:rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

We weren't rich either!! Back then several wineries hosted wine tasting for free! :cool: The last time I was up there I could barely afford a tasting cover charge or two.:eek::eek:

Being an old chopper guy I usually fly low and slow.
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Great fun! Now go back and do it inverted! :D

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Great fun! Now go back and do it inverted! :D

 

Better yet, do it inverted, in a Phantom II! Or a Hornet.

I distinctly recall, when I was 8 or 9, the Blue Angels flying through The Hangar at Moffett during an airshow. In the Diamond formation. Needless to say the crowd went nuts, screaming and cheering, us kids the loudest. Couldn't hear much, though, after 4 Phantoms went over at mil throttle. Those J79's were a trifle loud, after all :D

 

As I recall, the BLimp hangars are still at Tustin, in FSX. When I was stationed at El Toro I saw a number of the Phantoms fly though the hangars at Tustin. I would drive out there during time off on my motorcycle, and watch from the side of the road. It was fun to watch, although I am certain any of you Rotorheads IN the hangars didn't appreciate it much ;)

 

The good ol days of military flying, heh...

 

Have fun, all!

Pat☺

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Had a thought...then there was the smell of something burning, and sparks, and then a big fire, and then the lights went out! I guess I better not do that again!

Sgt, USMC, 10 years proud service, Inactive reserve now :D

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Better yet, do it inverted, in a Phantom II! Or a Hornet.

I distinctly recall, when I was 8 or 9, the Blue Angels flying through The Hangar at Moffett during an airshow. In the Diamond formation. Needless to say the crowd went nuts, screaming and cheering, us kids the loudest. Couldn't hear much, though, after 4 Phantoms went over at mil throttle. Those J79's were a trifle loud, after all :D

 

As I recall, the BLimp hangars are still at Tustin, in FSX. When I was stationed at El Toro I saw a number of the Phantoms fly though the hangars at Tustin. I would drive out there during time off on my motorcycle, and watch from the side of the road. It was fun to watch, although I am certain any of you Rotorheads IN the hangars didn't appreciate it much ;)

 

The good ol days of military flying, heh...

 

Have fun, all!

Pat☺

 

Hey Pat Good to hear from you!!We had lots of offices in those hangers and the pictures would come right off the wall when a plane went through. Of course that one big hanger at Moffett is much bigger than anything we had in Santa Ana.

 

You're right those J-79s are loud inside the hanger!! While I was there we published a notice then, from that day forward kept one end of each hanger closed to keep the jet jockeys out and pictures on the office walls.

 

The last couple of times I was in that area the hangers were taken down. But it's still shown on FSX as an empty field (Tustin). In fact, when I drove over there once while in the area, it was RW still an empty field. They probably had EPA clean-up issues and no one wanted the land enough to do the clean-up.

 

The facility itself was actually called Marine Corps Air Facility, Santa Ana. It was never called Tustin, and even had Santa Ana as a mailing address.

 

El Toro itself had a Tustin mailing address but has now apparently been moved to Camp Pendelton. Though it still shows on FSX as well.

 

Every year aircraft from all over the world fly into Louisville for Thunder Over Louisville, two Saturdays before the Kentucky Derby. The military aircraft start coming in to SDF around Tuesday or Wednesday before the show. Then they do "practice" and VIP flights up until Saturday morning all around the area.

 

I have a good friend who is about to retire from the Kentucky Air National Guard at Standford Field (SDF). My friend rang some chains with the National Guard, who do the parking and other things for the military aircraft for Thunder. He got me a promise, weather and other things permitting of course, to fly 2nd seat in a Huey Cobra and a Osprey on Thursday of that week. Sadly, due to the virus the air show was cancelled and I'll never get a chance to ever take either of those rides!!!

 

BTW: Hope Miss Ghost is doing well! Give her Molly and my regards.

 

Michael

Being an old chopper guy I usually fly low and slow.
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Real good to hear from you, too, Michael!

 

I wasn't sure if the blimp hangars were still up at Santa Ana, in the sim. I know, I called it Tustin, but with both of them in the city (area) of Santa Ana, we just called one El Toro, the other Tustin. You know how lazy us jet types can be. :)

I'm pretty sure there are freeware add-ons that put Tustin and El Toro back to how they were in our days. I'll see what I can find.

 

Sorry your rides got canxed! It would have been a great time for you. Maybe next year? Here's hoping!

 

Miss Ghost is doing very well. We both are. I am glad you hear both you and Molly are too :D

Oh well, at least you've still got Moffett to enjoy. Or anywhere else in the world of FSX you want :)

 

Have fun!

Pat☺

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Had a thought...then there was the smell of something burning, and sparks, and then a big fire, and then the lights went out! I guess I better not do that again!

Sgt, USMC, 10 years proud service, Inactive reserve now :D

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