Whiteman Air Force Base is about a 45 minute drive from me at Knob Knoster, MO and is home to the B2-b bomber. You know the one they call stealth. It was also Larry's last assignment before he retired. Yep, I was an Air Force wife. While he wasn't on active duty he was active reserves so when Desert Storm came he got called up to Whiteman AFB to replace some of the frontline guys. I have seen almost every plane the Air Force puts into the air: C-130 Hercules (affectionately called a Herkie bird), the C-5 which is so big it lumbers down the runway and you are certain it won't get airborne but somehow it does. I can tell those two by the sound of their engines. I've seen the Thunderbirds more than once, The Blue Angels, Canada's Snowbird flying team, Huey helos and this helicopter they call a grasshopper. I've seen the B2-b flying and on the ground. Still I love seeing all of them fly! Sometimes, when they are doing a flyover at the stadium they fly over my house and I stop everything and go watch. It's special.
The B2-b is really hard to see if you don't know where it's coming from, and even though it was probably less than a mile away from me and flying low and slow, I couldn't hear it.
Flying with the B2-b were two A-10 Warthogs.
If you look really hard at the bottom left corner you can see one of them.
I've never had one fly directly over my head before.
My camera just went click, click, click.
At the end were four T-38's.
They are flying a Missing Man formation.
I came away, as I always do, with what Gretchen Rubin calls an
America Moment.
Choked up with goosebumps.
Just looking at the photos brings that feeling back.
3 comments:
What a wierd plane! Looks like someone folded some paper. What an amzing sight. Concorde used to take off from Heathrow at around 11am and several times I managed to time my journey around London to coincide with its take off - it was so special, such a beautiful plane. xx
What a great thing to see, that sure is an unusual looking plane! My Dad loved aircraft and the DC3 was his favourite, I stop every time one flys past here too. Great memories and yes a hair raising moment.
Oh wow, that’s really cool! I’ve just been watching some YouTube of the Blue Angels. The stealth bomber always reminds me of a paper plane. We have an airbase not that far from us - Richmond RAAF, my cousin served in the RAAF and a friend was a mechanic on RAAF Hercs. He was never short of work as they broke down regularly! The Blackhawks often fly over our place on their way to a training exercise. Low and very fast. We are used to the low and slow rescue helicopters that deliver critically ill patients to the hospital. Years ago I wanted to be a pilot I thought it would be fabulous to fly but turns out it’s rather a complicated business. I enjoy reading about those early aviatrix and marvel at how gutsy they were.
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