Ah.......war stories!!

My first full duty assignment after tech school was at George AFB in the Cali desert. I was pressed into flight line duty as a grunt worker for the (small) annual air show aimed at community relations for the nearby civilians. Having helped get the viewers settled into the temporary grandstands along the flight line, we were ready for the airborne part of the show. Along with all the maneuvers, jumpers and such, the announcer set up the next act. "Ladies and gentlemen, next to fly by will be the slowest flying jet aircraft in our inventory." You could hear some muttering about "....slowest? So what!?" About that time a Phantom goes puttering bye at a couple hundred feet, wings dipping side to side as the pilot kept it just moving. Okay, whoopty dooo.................. The plane did it's turn out and disappeared into the sky. Then the announcer says "Ladies and gentlemen, now our fastest jet fighter!" . Yep, you guessed it...........the same F 4 with full afterburners at the same altitude from right to left down the line..................whoosh! WHAT A SOUND!! Gotta love it!!

Later, having become a flight crew member over the jungles, I got a grin over a tangential F 86 encounter. Our aircraft commander had been a fighter jock in Korea. The F 86 was their primary bird. He had a patch on his flight suit that always put a smile on my face. It said, "F 86, last of the sport models". Life is good..........