Airplane Stories

Solomons, Maryland

N 38 20.220 W 076 27.623

It seems that all today’s bloggables have to do with airplanes.

Last weekend, in Washington, I forgot to mention that there was an air show at nearby Andrews Air Force Base. I love air shows and we would have gone to this one except that we had no way to get out to Andrews. Anyhow, I read a local angle on the show in the Washington Post. They said that the Air Force Thunderbirds would perform at the show doing their famous acrobatics in their F16s. The paper also reminded us that another Air Force F16 was constantly on guard to defend Washington against another terrorist attack. They said that if the Thunerbird F16s (or any other plane) crossed the invisible line, that the defense F16 would scrable and shoot them down. Preposterous but true.

The next story is a good counter to the F16 story. As we left the Smithsonian on Sunday afternoon, we looked up and saw a F117 stealth fighter. Those things are unmistakable in their profile. The F117 flew directly over the Washington Monument, then over the White House, and disappeared. I figure that the F117 pilot did that deliberately to thumb his nose at the defense F16 and the article in the Washington Post. He knew that they could not see him coming on their radar and therefore he could do as he wished with impunity.

Today, having regained the Chesapeake, we were sailing northward at a very slow pace. The winds were very light, SE at 10. We were in no particular hurry and the day was beautiful. Libby had the helm and I sat on the forward deck doing my mending chores on our foresail. We were heading close to the target area in the middle of the Chesapeake. The target area is a group of objects that look like mirrors with cross hairs. They sit on poles and rise about 25 feet over the water. There are several of these things in a circular area about ½ mile in diameter.

Then along came a vessel with flashing red lights. He came along side and said that he was the range safety officer and that there was a practice bombing planned for today. He directed us to detour far to the east. We had to go about 10 nm out of our way to make the detour. That was substantial on a day when we were only making about 3.5 knots.

Anyhow, after a while we heard a roar of engines, but no planes could be seen. This happened several times. One time, we spotted a B1 bomber very high up in the sky. At our closest approach to the targets, we could hear the wump sound of impact of practice bombs as the hit the water. There were no explosions, just the impact wump. It would have been very hazardous to our health if we had been too close. When the bombing was done, two B1 bombers came down to within tree top level of the water and flew a semicircle around Tarwathie. I waved to the pilots. I’ll wager that as I envied them flying in those expensive toys, they envied Libby and I for being able to sail on such a nice boat on a beautiful day.

After passing the target area, we next passed Patuxent River Naval Air Station. That is the home of the Navy test pilot school. We expected to see nothing but the latest cutting edge technology in aircraft being tested as we sailed by. After a while I heard the noise of a propeller airplane. I grabbed my binoculars and looked up. To my amazement I saw a B24 Liberator bomber. It circled around three times doing touch and go landings. Next, I heard another sound and looked up again. This time I saw a soviet SU 29 aerobatic airplane. I remember in the late 1980s, this was the most advanced aerobatic plane available anywhere in the world. It was not what I expected to see here.