Let's face it........as mil pilots we do some pretty cool crap and so this is a thread showing such cool crap........sure we're not good enough to fly an Asiana plane, but we can fly the crap out of a jet.......WFT......anyways................http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfjTZLxekig

 

More like this
Do Something Amazing 3: KC-135 Pilot - YouTube

 

Sweet thread......

 

Tocuhé. I never really got motivated to join based on that kind of flying. And further to your point, it is the predominant type of flying in the USAF, which is rather anti-climactic. To me it was all about tactical flying. There is a reason the aerial demo teams are Vipers and Hornets, not Boeing 707s after all.

I do enjoy my current airframe a lot, I think it bridges the gap between the fighter I wanted to fly as a youth, and the heavy flying you mock in the above link.

Rocking the Rio - YouTube

In the end though, it's all about job satisfaction. I think any kind of flying where you feel an immediate and direct impact on the mission is the kind of flying that would likely leave you satisfied. Ironically, I feel that way in my current AETC assignment much more so than I ever did in my "CAF" MWS. I've always envied the Coasties in that regard. Those guys hack their mission on a weekly basis. Promotion woes of that service aside, it must be a very rewarding feeling.

 

I just threw up in my mouth

 

Nice post!!

 

Nice post!!!

 

It's interesting that the most heavily damaged aircraft in the USAF history (since 1947) to survive is a modified C-123 Cargo airplane named Patches. On display in the AF Museum, we (in Vietnam) documented over a thousand hits. The AF museum documented over 600 but they didn't remove patches to see the patches under the patches.

The 12th Air Commando Squadron (Ranch Hand) had the highest number of Purple Hearts per capita of any AF Squadron. At one point EVERY pilot in the organization had at least one Purple Heart. Two had three. There were more DFCs, and Silver Stars awarded to RH crew members then any other AF Squadron.

The year I was there we lost fifteen crew members.

All of this in a lumbering old prop driven boring cargo airplane. Having a "fighter pilot" mentality has nothing to do with what airplane you fly. It has everything to do with what mission you fly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j6Ocf-5DTs

 

And fighter pilot, Joe Jackson was awarded a CMH the C-123 (aka "The Dumpster") rescuing an SF team.

GF

 

Even Bernie Fisher earned his MOH in an old prop driven A1. I need to research; did any "jet' fighter pilot earn a MOH for inflight actions during Vietnam ? I'm aware of Lance Sijan and others who earned the MOH for actions as a POW.