Mr. Bookie's Home for Unusual Weapons

It wasn't in Germany, it was back when 7th ID was at Ft Ord and the planes and pilots were statione at Edwards AFB. Now I am super curious about what they were. Unfortunately, I have NO contacts with the unit anymore as it was deactivated years ago so my curiosity will probably never be resolved. I HATE not knowing something. This is going to annoy me for years now. Even more annoying. When I think back and try to picture the plane. I can't figure out if what I am remembering is exactly what I saw or if my mind is just sticking images of A-10's into the memory. Getting old sucks. I swear I was positive they were A-10s, But now I am not even sure they had the GAU in front or if I just see it there because my mind knows that an A-10 has one so it places it there. This sucks :(
 
Last edited:
Shavru said:
It wasn't in Germany, it was back when 7th ID was at Ft Ord and the planes and pilots were statione at Edwards AFB. Now I am super curious about what they were. Unfortunately, I have NO contacts with the unit anymore as it was deactivated years ago so my curiosity will probably never be resolved. I HATE not knowing something. This is going to annoy me for years now. Even more annoying. When I think back and try to picture the plane. I can't figure out if what I am remembering is exactly what I saw or if my mind is just sticking images of A-10's into the memory. Getting old sucks. I swear I was positive they were A-10s, But now I am not even sure they had the GAU in front or if I just see it there because my mind knows that an A-10 has one so it places it there. This sucks :(
Click to expand...

Sorry to throw your memory for a loop. But one possibility if it wasn't the A-10 and it was something designed for ground attack would be the F-15E Strike Eagle. It's a fighter-bomber that emphasizes the bomber part, where the F-15C is just a fighter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-15E_Strike_Eagle
 
Nope wasn't a F-15. The 2 seats were side by side Not 1 behind the other. Ah well. I will probably be thumbing through something years from now and suddenly come across a picture and think. That is it. LoL, meanwhile I will be annoyed that I can't figure it out until I forget what I can't figure out. One of the PLUS sides to having no long term memory any more. Hmm after looking at Edward's wiki. It seems there are a LOT of unique planes there at the test center. So the odds of me ever figuring it out is very slim.
 
Last edited:
Shavru said:
Nope wasn't a F-15. The 2 seats were side by side Not 1 behind the other...
Click to expand...


Maybe it was the A-37 (or OA-37) Dragonfly?
753px-A-37B_Minigun.jpg
 
Let's see, USAF has not had many airframes with side by side seats. The two-seat A-10s were one behind the other, so it wasn't that.

Let's see, the A-37 as Steve mentions. It did have a 7.62 minigun mounted, and it was a very light plane, so firing it could have been very noticeable. The EA-6B had side by side (I find it very unlikely you would have been given a flight in an electronic warfare aircraft because of how closely guarded EW info is). Then there's the F-111. It was a terrible fighter, supposed to be a do-anything airplane. It turned out to be pretty good as a fast light bomber, but it was horrible in any form of dogfight. The gun was an optional weapon for it.

I'd say the most likely candidate is the A-37, in its OA-37 role. The OA-37 was meant for use in light close air support, and target spotting and marking for other planes. That meant it would be working closely with Army units. May I know more or less when you had your flights?
 
ffar out, bookie. make the bad man go boom.

p.s. - the A-10 was always one of my favourites. get a wing shot off and fly home anyway. never flew one, but saw one brrrrp a few tanks on a range once. like the old war horse b52, they keep usin' them because there is nothing that can do the job better (or even the same) yet. way back when i had an A-10 flight simulator on my pc. low res graphics, but really fun zapping the enemy tanks.
 
kronckew said:
ffar out, bookie. make the bad man go boom.

p.s. - the A-10 was always one of my favourites. get a wing shot off and fly home anyway. never flew one, but saw one brrrrp a few tanks on a range once. like the old war horse b52, they keep usin' them because there is nothing that can do the job better (or even the same) yet. way back when i had an A-10 flight simulator on my pc. low res graphics, but really fun zapping the enemy tanks.
Click to expand...

Though it was actually an F-15 that lost an entire wing and still managed to make it back to base and land safely. It was an IAF F-15, and it lost a wing in a midair collision. The pilot managed to get control back and land it, despite an entire wing being gone. But it was the A-10 that made it back safely during Desert Storm despite one dead engine, half the tail missing, and holes all over the place. Few things can take a beating like the Warthog.

As people can probably tell by now, I'm kind of one of those aviation junkies. I even work in aviation now. Rotary wing though, and really small ones at that. Drones actually. I'm a certified Remote Pilot. Means I can do a lot of stuff with drones that other people already do, but I can do it legally. You wouldn't believe how many people fly drones illegally next to airports.
 
Kronck, can you imagine busting a T59 tank with an old Cobra at 300 meters.......
 
i would prefer if the tank was looking the other way, that .51 machine gun can poke holes in cobras at 300 yds. i imagine dropping a ffar thru an open hatch might annoy them sufficiently tho.

Capture%20001_1.jpg


a 30mm depleted uranium penetrator thru the top might annoy the iraqis even more...

bit like the t-rex in the jurassic park sequel, one turns to the other and says about the jeep 'they've got a hard shell, but once you get past that, the insides are tasty'.

(works for tanks, and cobras too i imagine)
 
I think one of them mini guns and maybe a rocket pod would be nice on the roof of my van.
Cept of course for parking garages I reckon. Might have to make them retractable or something.
 
Bawanna said:
I think one of them mini guns and maybe a rocket pod would be nice on the roof of my van.
Cept of course for parking garages I reckon. Might have to make them retractable or something.
Click to expand...

i was gonna mount one to pop thru my VW's sunroof. kinda squished the springs.

decided on a side car instead. talk about recoil!

sidecar.jpg


i do have a bit of a parking problem...

:)
 
i know, y'all mean one of these, the dillon tactical vehicle

[video=youtube;_j0eJ0xB7LU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j0eJ0xB7LU[/video]
 
That might work better for my purposes. I'd need a heads up display and ability to shoot it remotely. I'd not want to be trying to wrestle myself up into the turrent every time. Plus I often travel alone so need to drive.
I'm not a believer in multi tasking. Like Charles Emerson Winchester the third, I prefer to do one thing at a time, do it very very well and then move on, but in this case I'd certainly make an exception.
 
when i was a coast guard inspector, i'd occasionally drive from NOLA to grand isle to inspect crew boats or barges, most of the drive is on a rather straight boring section of the I-10. not too bad going, but returning after a day on a hot boat or barge you start getting road hypnosis. one of the games i played myself to keep alive was road gunner. you pick a spot on the windscreen (aka windshield), down there usually a squashed bug, which was your gunsight. you'd then make appropriate machine gun noises as you tried to shoot up the car ahead of you. the dillon would be a whole 'nother level of that. :D
 
I used to also be a CG inspector. The rest of your post is too familiar, too. Two cherry blossoms on the license plate, breaking right......
 
kronckew said:
when i was a coast guard inspector, i'd occasionally drive from NOLA to grand isle to inspect crew boats or barges, most of the drive is on a rather straight boring section of the I-10. not too bad going, but returning after a day on a hot boat or barge you start getting road hypnosis. one of the games i played myself to keep alive was road gunner. you pick a spot on the windscreen (aka windshield), down there usually a squashed bug, which was your gunsight. you'd then make appropriate machine gun noises as you tried to shoot up the car ahead of you. the dillon would be a whole 'nother level of that. :D
Click to expand...
Urgggg! That was never a good trip! I used to come from Fuschan LA and Morgan city back to Texas regularly and things got way too hypnotizing. Id always stop in Jennings LA and sleep a few hours then head home. Several workmates of mine never saw the next day. Oilfield was no fun partly for that reason.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top