Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted May 14, 2023 Share Posted May 14, 2023 Stolen from the WWW. I was flying my FB-111 about Mach 1.2 at 200 feet above ground on a combat simulation mission at Red Flag in the Nellis Ranges through a gap in a small mountain range. There happened to be a road running through the same gap. A couple of seconds (about a third of a mile) before I crossed over it, I saw a large Winnebago type RV. I completed my mission and went on with life but got called in to my squadron commander's office about a month later. It seems that somebody was a little lost and “inadvertently" drove his RV into a restricted area — even though it was clearly marked with a warning of low flying supersonic aircraft. Seems like something they couldn't see had caused a big boom and blew out several of their windows and a door. When a damage chaim was reported the Air Force investigated and found an AWACS track match to my aircraft for the time and date. The Air Force paid the claim of about $5500 even though the RV was where it shouldn't have been and I was in an authorized supersonic flight area. The interesting thing to me was that I flew directly at and over him at 200 feet and they didn't see a thing. My crew chief asked if I wanted him to paint a Winnebago sillouette on the fuselage to record my “kill". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted May 14, 2023 Share Posted May 14, 2023 They Paid The Bill! ?? That kind of catering to the dumb and dumber members of our society only encourages them to breed more. They should have been charged for entering restricted space and told to ------ "Go Away! " * * There is a succinct and rather pungent Canadian expression that would actually be used, but the Administrators frown an those kind of phrases! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubious Don #56333 Posted May 14, 2023 Share Posted May 14, 2023 I don't find it so strange that the USAF would pay that bill. Given the time, the Air Force of yesteryear, I'd call it a good'un. I also don't find it odd that the winniebago driver didn't see nuttin.....learnt that lesson myself, once upon a time, LOL. Da*& that was fast! Was all I could get out at the time and I don't think A7's can go supersonic, LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted May 14, 2023 Share Posted May 14, 2023 When I was flying for the Civil Air Patrol, we would occasionally fly the perimeter of the firing range at Fort Riley prior to live fire exercises. Even though all the roads at the safety perimeter were barricaded, a local would sometimes move one so he could go fishing. We would report it to range control and they would send someone to escort him out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Eyed Sam Posted May 14, 2023 Share Posted May 14, 2023 More importantly did you get the Winnebago sillouette? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted May 15, 2023 Share Posted May 15, 2023 If I remember correctly that far back, the answer was "yes" and the Crew Chief painted the Winnebago on the fuselage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.