Chinese spy balloon hovering over Montana

#2,108
#2,108
Now NORAD is saying no object over Montana said it was a radar “anomaly” and fighter aircraft were dispatched to investigate.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AM64
#2,109
#2,109
Governor of Montana saying he received a briefing at the WH saying there was an object over his state so who knows?
 
#2,110
#2,110
AirVol said:
Yeyyyyyy Air Force. My boys
Click to expand...

I've been doing a little VN catch up today. You may know all this, and it may be covered later, but I didn't find the "rest of the story" in the news articles. So here goes. The F-22's were from Langley which means they were from the 1st Fighter Wing (27th and 94th Fighter Squadrons); the 1st Fighter Wing planes carry the FF tail code for "First Fighter". Where it gets interesting and makes me think this had been in the works for a while; the two F-22s were designated FRANK01 and FRANK02. One of the members of the 27th Aero Squadron was Frank Luke Jr. He is credited with shooting down ten German balloons and four aircraft in an eight day span; he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, and Luke AFB in AZ is named for him. I haven't seen which squadron the balloon busting planes were from, but since FRANK01 and FRANK 02 are obviously a way of honoring Luke's achievements they were probably from the 27th.

The 94th Fighter Squadron was Eddie Rickenbacker's WW1 94th Aero Squadron with the hat in the ring. Rickenbacker was our leading ace in WW1 and Frank Luke was #2. The other interesting thing for me personally is that my brother was assigned to the 94th twice. The first time flying F-106s and F-15s the second time. A toy company picked I think four fighter squadrons and made models (more toy than actual models) and the F-15s of the 94th were one of the planes - the box had a squadron patch and a picture of the pilots with autographs (also the front of the box) - this was during my brother's second time there. Of course, all the "kids" in the family (including me) got a plane; and I always laughed that not many people could say their brother was on the front of a model airplane box. Mine is still in the box and another is on the mantle.


94th_Fighter_Squadron.png

94th Aero Squadron
 
  • Like
Reactions: 85SugarVol, EasternVol, NorthDallas40 and 6 others
#2,111
#2,111
Orangeburst said:
The CCP seeded our corn breadbasket with Candy Corn DNA.

Now we better start to love

238_candy-corn.jpg
Click to expand...

Now you've done it. This picture is going to get McDad and GV stirred up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Orangeburst
#2,113
#2,113
Sgt_Nick_Fury said:
Wow you don't say? Well forgive me it's not your lack of years, it's your lack of awareness. Or maybe 49 years of weed brain rot. I can guarantee NORAD would have cared, and it would have been taken out well before it entered into US airspace if at all possible. They would know how important such an incursion was because we were doing the same thing. The main difference being is it would have been us launching most of the balloons (see Moby Dick program which was considered so important and sensitive it was held to same classification as hydrogen bomb program.) and the Soviets definitely would shoot them down when able. Iran having nothing to do with this discussion whatever....but given 20/20 hindsight and what Saddam became, I guess maybe it WAS a good idea to play them off one another.
Click to expand...

You get the impression that when the AF merged the old Air Defense Command (ADC) with the Tactical Air Command (TAC), a lot of priorities changed. ADC had one mission - to protect US airspace; TAC had a whole different mission.
 
#2,114
#2,114
VolStrom said:
Montana is heavily populated, they have 2 or 3 people for every 100 square miles.
Click to expand...

There's an F-106 in the AF Museum in Dayton, OH with an interesting story. The plane went into a flat spin over Montana, and the pilot couldn't recover, so he ejected. During the ejection process something changed the dynamics and the plane recovered. It was perfectly trimmed and landed in a field. The AF hauled it out of the field and did some repairs, and the plane flew again. Proves you can do lots of weird stuff in the skies above Montana without risk of damage to anyone.

 
  • Like
Reactions: VolStrom, NorthDallas40, davethevol and 1 other person
#2,115
#2,115
AM64 said:
I've been doing a little VN catch up today. You may know all this, and it may be covered later, but I didn't find the "rest of the story" in the news articles. So here goes. The F-22's were from Langley which means they were from the 1st Fighter Wing (27th and 94th Fighter Squadrons); the 1st Fighter Wing planes carry the FF tail code for "First Fighter". Where it gets interesting and makes me think this had been in the works for a while; the two F-22s were designated FRANK01 and FRANK02. One of the members of the 27th Aero Squadron was Frank Luke Jr. He is credited with shooting down ten German balloons and four aircraft in an eight day span; he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, and Luke AFB in AZ is named for him. I haven't seen which squadron the balloon busting planes were from, but since FRANK01 and FRANK 02 are obviously a way of honoring Luke's achievements they were probably from the 27th.

The 94th Fighter Squadron was Eddie Rickenbacker's WW1 94th Aero Squadron with the hat in the ring. Rickenbacker was our leading ace in WW1 and Frank Luke was #2. The other interesting thing for me personally is that my brother was assigned to the 94th twice. The first time flying F-106s and F-15s the second time. A toy company picked I think four fighter squadrons and made models (more toy than actual models) and the F-15s of the 94th were one of the planes - the box had a squadron patch and a picture of the pilots with autographs (also the front of the box) - this was during my brother's second time there. Of course, all the "kids" in the family (including me) got a plane; and I always laughed that not many people could say their brother was on the front of a model airplane box. Mine is still in the box and another is on the mantle.


View attachment 535780

94th Aero Squadron
Click to expand...
Cool!!!

I thought about the “Balloon Buster from Arizona“ when the first balloon was taken down.
Luke was a tough one. If I recall correctly, he was killed after being shot down and attempting fight off German infantry with pistols or a knife.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AM64
#2,117
#2,117
MercyPercy said:
Why did they even need to use the f-22 to do this lol. Send the most advanced air superiority fighter in the world to pop a balloon. I guess those boys haven't had much action in the past 17 years and want to be involved.
Click to expand...

Apparently the F-22 tops out just over 65,000 ft and the F-15 just under which would seem to make both capable of the intercept unless there was some other factor regarding the missile used. Looks like an F-16 couldn't quite get there and the F-35 isn't even close - 58,000 ft for the F-16 and 50,000 for the F-35.
 
#2,118
#2,118
As someone who believes there are objects flying around not from here, this is way too coincidental to be happening now after the balloon fiasco.

Something stinks, and it's not from aliens.
 
#2,119
#2,119
utvolpj said:
Term limits does nothing to change the quality. That can only be done by voters. You're trying to force it since the voters can't be bothered to put in any effort. Won't work
Click to expand...

Does lots to eliminate the cream folks are taking. Most come in idealists and gradually move to the dark side.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top