https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a...rkansas-state-park/ar-AAF3wMn?ocid=spartandhp I wonder how much its worth. Any story about the Crater of Diamonds State Park often makes me sad though. Even though it was under an hour from our house we never went. Even though my mom expressed a desire to go a number of times (she only drove in emergencies). There were plenty of times when I was grown that I could've take mom to the park. That and an Arkansas Travelers baseball game but I did neither. I never took dad to an air show either though I had an opportunity or two.
What's that boy? You took a crap in the middle of the room and have worms! Bad dog!, Very bad dog! You crap outside, and quit bringing up the poor creatures that infest your digestive tract. No one wants to hear about those pieces of shit.
I went to an air show with my mom & dad when I lived in Phoenix in the 80's. They had a lot of vintage birds like B-24, B-17 and P-51 Mustangs!
I had just gotten out of the air force at the time - I was a little burned out from jets, so those old school aircraft were (and still are) my favorite era of aviation. That said the A-10 is still the most awesome perfectly designed workhorse of a jet that will ever be. If it was a guitar it would be a Stratocaster!
Whenever A-10s, A-7s, or F-4s would fly over our farm we'd always watch them until they were gone. I'll never forget the day the B-52 made two passes over our house while my sisters and I were playing volleyball. Or the time an F-14 made such a low pass that you could see its tailhook.
An A-7 went down with the pilot being killed just a few miles away from our house one year. Rumors were that it was part of what we later called the F-117A program as they were known to fly A-7s as part of the early days of training with the stealth fighters due to having similar characteristics.
I grew up around them as my father was an ATC and for several years would work the onsite for the Toronto Air Show. Of course, we went to a ton of different ones as road trips, too. I remember Oshkosh when I was a child, but the best was the one he and I went to in, I think it was 1991, in Hartford. Prat and Whitney had examples of just about anything they'd ever put an engine in.
We had a cottage in North Bay when I was a kid, which was also just before the RCAF started to switch up to the F18 from our fleets of F5s, 101s (Voodoos), and CF 100s (the Clunk). So I'd get to see them fly over frequently. There was also at least one Vampire still in service as some senior officer's private ride that would make an occasional appearance in the summer skies.
My step-father went to an Oshkosh show (he lived near Chicago, so it's not too far) a couple of times when he was younger - he said it was great. Great would be an understatement, it's legendary as you know.
The F-100 was also called "The Lead Sled" and I saw a few of them come through briefly at Lakenheath in the early 80's. I think they were just about phased out by then. Heck maybe the F-111 we had are phased out by now too! I feel so old. When I went to bomb-loading school (graduated last in my class!) in 1980 we had F-106, B-52, F-4, F-16, F-111 and maybe a few more. That B-52 looked SERIOUSLY HUGE when it was inside a hangar! BTW when the F-111 kicked in the afterburner it seemed like the entire sky is getting ripped apart. That said the A-10 purrs like a kitten - until that 30mm gun belches!
There is a junkyard sitting along I30 just south of Texarkana, TX. that has had an F-111 sitting there for at least 25 years. I've been meaning to stop and ask the owner about it. A pity as it has been exposed to the weather all that time.
After the P&W show, we pulled into what I remember as the Mass. ANG museum. Highlights of that were the F100 simulator and a fuselage of a B47! I recently got a bunch of old posters and swag passed along... all airshow stuff. Among the collection is a double of an autographed team pic of the Blue Angels near the end of their time in A-4s. Just side views of each aircraft. I'll try and post a pic later. Biggest thing I've ever seen was an AN-124 at YYZ in the mid 90s. Dad had amazing clearance there so we were able to do a walk around in the hanger.
I had to google the AN-124 - wow! You better have one very thick reinforced runway to handle that behemoth!
