(These are REALLY old entries that I'm finally getting around to posting.)
It sucks anytime you’re told you have to work on the weekends, so none of us were very excited about the air show in October. Paul, in the Air Force for 20 plus years and having to be present at them annually, is pretty much sick of them. And yet, this one turned out all right in the end. Griff, the NCOIC over most of our techs and emergency services, arranged for Paul and I to be with him on the ambulance that went to the sea wall, where the audience would be for the show. The sea wall is an ongoing project where South Korea is building a wall in the ocean and is pumping out water while filling it in with landfill.
So there we were, walking around, watching the F15/16s and other aircraft fly over and do demonstrations, which was all right in its own way. That said, I live literally 100 yards from the flight line and see (and hear) those air frames take off every single day - the "sound of freedom" sort of loses its charm after a while, especially when they do night sorties. Later in the day, we decided to walk out on the backfill, right under where the jets were flying. One of the last air frames to demonstrate was an A-10 which flew down from the base in Osan. Paul and I were watching it and I was taking pictures and video on my camera. Here’s one clip that I thought turned out all right. An essential part of it, though, is listening to Paul’s commentary about the pilot. He was telling me about an experience he’d had when an A-10 flew right up behind him and passed just over him and he could barely hear it. Anyway, on to the clip ....
It turns out that was Halloween night, and the Juvats were having a party at their hooch. Well, one of the Juvat pilot’s brother was the pilot in the A-10 that was demonstrating, so Paul and I went and talked to him. When we told him that we were the guys out on the field, he said he’d noticed us and that he was targeting in on us. Said, “I started pulling out of my dive at about 300 ft, then leveled off at about 120.” The clip doesn’t quite do it justice, but that is REALLY close to the ground.
As mentioned, the air show fell on Halloween, so we put together some bad costumes and headed out. I'm a horrible procrastinator, so didn't plan ahead for a costume. I did get the last second idea to use my bathrobe, Speedo, dress socks (and maybe a regular sock to help “fill” out my costume,), and shoes to go out as a flasher. The dress shoes really added class to the ensemble.
