low flying
- Thread starter sunny91
- Start date
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cheddar cheese
Major General
Just a bit... 
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
LOVE IT - AND THE CRAZY BLOKE GOT HIS FLAPS DOWN!
Nonskimmer
Captain
Jesus!
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
the lancaster kicks ass
Major General
- 19,937
- Dec 20, 2003
wow.......
only RAF pilots............
only RAF pilots............
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
YEP - I WONDER IF THE CRUNCHED CAR COUNTS AS A KILL? 
mosquitoman
Master Sergeant
That's a bit generous, make it half a kill
Nonskimmer
Captain
I dunno. Dutch pilots can be a little whacked too. 
BlackWolf3945
Banned
The following is a story which accompanied those photos (and more if I recall correctly) on a web page that is no longer in existence, unfortunately. Glad I save stuff like this...
____________________________________________________
Low flying Aircraft
(Sent by a retired CO of an EA-6B squadron)
I can verify that the Sultan of Oman Air Force pilots fly this low. I was deployed to the Indian Ocean on the ranger during in 1983/84 while I was C.O. of an EA-6B squadron. We had exercises with the Omani air force, who were all mercenary British pilots. They flew Hunters and Jaguars under contract, and were based at Thumrait. During the exercise we had one of our J.O.s at Thumrait as the air wing coordinator and observer. He had a great time. He told us of how low the Brits flew, most of the time never getting above 100 feet on a hop. He told us about an airplane ripping the top off of a car while he was there - this may have been the same incident as that pilot was sent home also. Flying over Oman was like flying over a moonscape. The air wing conducted raids against Thumrait, opposed by the Omani jags and Hunters. When we went in we would send the F-14's ahead on a fighter sweep to take out the opposing Jags and Hunters. The Brits litterally stayed down in the sagebrush and gullies and waited for the F-14's to blow by and then they came up to oppose the A-6, A-7, EA-6Bb aircraft. The Brits were very impressive. When we rolled in on Thumrait we flew down the runway at better than 500 knots and 30-40 feet on the radar altimeter and then pulled off and flew directly over the hangars. Great fun. As we were exiting the target area we saw another EA-6B off to our left and turned to join on it. We were still very low - about 100 feet AGL. The other EA-6B was about the same altitude as we were. I noticed what I thought to be the airplane's shadow just behind it on the ground. as we got closer I saw that it was not a shadow but it was a jaguar flying UNDER the EA-6B, and the EA-6B was flying about 100 feet AGL. As we closed, the jag saw us and turned toward us to attack. We turned into him and he passed just off to our right. We were still around 100 feet AGL and going as fast as we could go. We jumped into a canyon and followed it out to sea. Didn't see the jag again. What a flight! It was great fun working with the Brits, who were absolutely superb. That is one flight that I will never forget and I still think about it every time I see a map of the area.
--Larry
____________________________________________________
This is another bit which, I THINK, came from the same page as the bit above... not totally sure. There's a few pages with these pictures and stories floating around out there...
The setting is SW Oman at a base called Thumrait in the mid '80s. The pilots are all RAF on secondment or ex-RAF. The story behind the flattened car (with the fortunate-to-be-alive driver standing beside it) is that the driver was one of the Hunter pilots driving up the highway to Muscat some 300 miles away when he happened to check his rear view mirror as a Jaguar passed close by to one side and saw he was about to be overtaken by another Jaguar (the aircraft not the car!). He flung himself across the passenger seat as the strakes on the underside of the Jag dinged his roof and flattened the car. The Jag pilot was sent home in disgrace a few days later. They knew he was en-route and had set out to ambush him - but not to have quite such an effect as it turned out. Meanwhile, the groundcrew quickly got into the sensible habit of checking left and right for high speed traffic before leaving the HAS's and crossing the taxiways.
____________________________________________________
There was also a story of an Omani pilot who wiped out a camel or some such with a Hunter. I can't find it... I dunna think I saved it. Anyhoo, if I remember right, the pilot's family was imprisoned until the pilot could pay the owner of the camel for not only the animal itself but for the loss of potential offspring... something like that. I could have it wrong but they do things in a different way in that part of the world and I can certainly believe it!
____________________________________________________
Here's one of my faves.
Appropriately enough, this P-38 was named 'Scatterbrain Kid'...
There's a photoshopped version of this picture going around which has the ship even lower than this, but it's easy to spot... 'twas a bad photochop...
Fade to Black...
____________________________________________________
Low flying Aircraft
(Sent by a retired CO of an EA-6B squadron)
I can verify that the Sultan of Oman Air Force pilots fly this low. I was deployed to the Indian Ocean on the ranger during in 1983/84 while I was C.O. of an EA-6B squadron. We had exercises with the Omani air force, who were all mercenary British pilots. They flew Hunters and Jaguars under contract, and were based at Thumrait. During the exercise we had one of our J.O.s at Thumrait as the air wing coordinator and observer. He had a great time. He told us of how low the Brits flew, most of the time never getting above 100 feet on a hop. He told us about an airplane ripping the top off of a car while he was there - this may have been the same incident as that pilot was sent home also. Flying over Oman was like flying over a moonscape. The air wing conducted raids against Thumrait, opposed by the Omani jags and Hunters. When we went in we would send the F-14's ahead on a fighter sweep to take out the opposing Jags and Hunters. The Brits litterally stayed down in the sagebrush and gullies and waited for the F-14's to blow by and then they came up to oppose the A-6, A-7, EA-6Bb aircraft. The Brits were very impressive. When we rolled in on Thumrait we flew down the runway at better than 500 knots and 30-40 feet on the radar altimeter and then pulled off and flew directly over the hangars. Great fun. As we were exiting the target area we saw another EA-6B off to our left and turned to join on it. We were still very low - about 100 feet AGL. The other EA-6B was about the same altitude as we were. I noticed what I thought to be the airplane's shadow just behind it on the ground. as we got closer I saw that it was not a shadow but it was a jaguar flying UNDER the EA-6B, and the EA-6B was flying about 100 feet AGL. As we closed, the jag saw us and turned toward us to attack. We turned into him and he passed just off to our right. We were still around 100 feet AGL and going as fast as we could go. We jumped into a canyon and followed it out to sea. Didn't see the jag again. What a flight! It was great fun working with the Brits, who were absolutely superb. That is one flight that I will never forget and I still think about it every time I see a map of the area.
--Larry
____________________________________________________
This is another bit which, I THINK, came from the same page as the bit above... not totally sure. There's a few pages with these pictures and stories floating around out there...
The setting is SW Oman at a base called Thumrait in the mid '80s. The pilots are all RAF on secondment or ex-RAF. The story behind the flattened car (with the fortunate-to-be-alive driver standing beside it) is that the driver was one of the Hunter pilots driving up the highway to Muscat some 300 miles away when he happened to check his rear view mirror as a Jaguar passed close by to one side and saw he was about to be overtaken by another Jaguar (the aircraft not the car!). He flung himself across the passenger seat as the strakes on the underside of the Jag dinged his roof and flattened the car. The Jag pilot was sent home in disgrace a few days later. They knew he was en-route and had set out to ambush him - but not to have quite such an effect as it turned out. Meanwhile, the groundcrew quickly got into the sensible habit of checking left and right for high speed traffic before leaving the HAS's and crossing the taxiways.
____________________________________________________
There was also a story of an Omani pilot who wiped out a camel or some such with a Hunter. I can't find it... I dunna think I saved it. Anyhoo, if I remember right, the pilot's family was imprisoned until the pilot could pay the owner of the camel for not only the animal itself but for the loss of potential offspring... something like that. I could have it wrong but they do things in a different way in that part of the world and I can certainly believe it!
____________________________________________________
Here's one of my faves.
Appropriately enough, this P-38 was named 'Scatterbrain Kid'...
There's a photoshopped version of this picture going around which has the ship even lower than this, but it's easy to spot... 'twas a bad photochop...
Fade to Black...
evangilder
"Shooter"
Jesus, no wonder ScatterBrain Kid is in pieces today. Notice that one of the props is feathered?!!!
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
HOLY CRAP! 
BlackWolf3945
Banned
EDIT: Hmmm... I just created a royal CF here... mods if you see this post please delete...
Fade to Black...
Fade to Black...
BlackWolf3945
Banned
That's a different airframe... 'Scatterbrain Kid II'. The aircraft pictured above was destroyed in 1974. And, yes, the prop is feathered. I guess the pilot, George Harper, had a propensity for doing stuff like this and although I dunno the circumstances of the crash which destroyed both he and the plane, I'd have to say that he probably wasn't killed while flying straight and level at 5000 agl...evangilder said:
Here's a couple more grass cutters. I wish I could find a larger version of this first image...
The photo below was taken during filming of 'The War Lover'.
I think this is 'Sentimental Journey' in her early days.
Some more Jags...
Fade to Black...
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Those are awesome! The B&W B-17 looks like its from the movie "The War Lover." Any info? 
Nonskimmer
Captain
That first one is a DeHavilland (Canada) Buffalo, isn't it?
cheddar cheese
Major General
Love that P-38 one! 8) *Steals*
evangilder
"Shooter"
Great shots! I am surprised they flew Sentimental Journey like that. Today, that airplane is treated very gingerly.
Concorde247
Senior Airman
sunny91 said:
Its either a fast aperture shot, or his props arent turning!!
evangilder
"Shooter"
That's right, BW, Scatterbrain Kid II is the one in pieces. Argh, too many aircraft with similar names!
