Touch & Go

[ehowton]

The aircraft in my avatar is the Lockheed U2 which made two very important insertions into my life during my Air Force career, the last of which was in Korea in 1996 - I was the imagery analyst mission supervisor, trudging up a slippery mud hill in full Mission Oriented Protective Posturing (MOPP) gear designed against nuclear, chemical, and biological attack at three in the morning with only a red-tinted 90-degree flashlight strapped to my Load-Bearing Equipment (LBE) and dodging concertina wire embarkments during full exercises.

Good times.

But it was my first encounter with this gawkish wonder of flight which has made its most lasting impression on me. And while I'm sure I've related this story several times throughout my blog (perhaps not as its own post), it was only the other night that I was reminded of it once again. You see, a storm ripped through Anna overnight. Act of God level thunder, crashing all around the house, howling wind the likes we haven't seen around these parts in ages. The emergency sirens blared at a such tremendous volume, that for the first time in recent history every neighborhood in the city heard it. Roused the entire city from their deep slumber.

Of course I didn't find out about it until the next morning. There was chatter on the forum, my neighbor told me all about the storm the next morning as we were standing with our children waiting for the school bus, and it was on the news.

I slept through the entire thing.

It used to amaze my wife that when the children would hiccup in their cribs she'd hear it and bolt upright in bed, but laying a screaming baby between us in the dead of night would never rouse me.


6 Det "Black Cats", Osan AB, Korea (That patch is on my jacket.)

You see, when I was stationed in England, I worked 12-hour overnight shifts, sleeping during the day. My dorm faced the flightline. Did you know the U2 could perform a vertical takeoff? Neither did I! These planes were so difficult to land, that the pilots practiced ceaselessly. And believe me, when you only have a few hours sleep before another 12-hour overnight shift and your dorm faces the flightline, you tend to notice these things.

Designed for standoff tactical reconnaissance in Europe, the TR-1A was structurally identical to the U-2R. The 17th Reconnaissance Wing, Royal Air Force Station Alconbury, England used operational TR-1As from 1983 until 1991.

Because landing was so cumbersome - requiring speeding chase cars to run down the runway talking the pilot down, and because the long wingtips landed on skids, which were folded up into the wings to be replaced by long, thin 'pogo' sticks with wheels on the end which detached once the plane was airborne, the pilots performed a 'touch & go' - that is, wheels down on the runway, simulate landing, then - full throttle, straight up!

Rinse, wash, repeat.

It looks like an unassuming enough aircraft. But full throttle on that Pratt & Whitney J75 engine, especially under the strain of what is basically a glider, being forced vertical, sounded like a rocket being launched outside my bedroom door, at 20-minute intervals, eight times a day, for two full years.

Yeah, I got used to it. I had to.

And these days? Nothing rouses me from my sleep.

ehowton @ 6 Det, Osan AB, Korea

Comments

[catttitude.livejournal.com]

Baby you look good in those BDU's.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Do I make you randy?

[melancthe.livejournal.com]

The first thing I noticed was the astonishingly phallic aircraft in the first pic.

Maybe I just have a one-track mind.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

She's called Dragon Lady despite her long, impressively rigid and stout nosecone.

[melancthe.livejournal.com]

Her nosecone looks positively ... fascinating.

Mmm, yes.

[galinda822.livejournal.com]

I always enjoy your stories about your time in the Air Force. And you do look great in the pictures.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I always enjoy writing them - especially when I have a picture to go along. The shot of me was one I burned from 8mm video tape in Saint Louis. I'm just now getting around to using it!

[wardlejew.livejournal.com]

In my house, I am the one who wakes up when the baby turns over in their bed in a room on the opposite side of the house. My wife doesn't even know I've been up with the kids sometimes. However, she amazingly hears thieves tapping on the front door or windows all the time.

Forgive me for thinking of nothing but "Back to the Future" after seeing that first picture. I wish I could quote movies like you. I'm sure there is a good line in that movie I could use right now.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

[texas-tangent.livejournal.com]

Neat story! I was awake and not scared as the storm approached. The only thing that caused me concern was when the sirens went off. Considering you live a couple miles south of me I am sure you heard "Act of God" thunder. It was not that bad here. One of the storms passed right between my home and Melissa. Come to think of it. It probably passed right over you.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Thanks! We got the brunt of the storm (so I was told) and while I was vaguely aware of thunder (it made me happy and all snuggly to the point I reached a deeper, more peaceful sleep) I really didn't comprehend the full ferocity of the thunder.

MOAR U2's PLEAZE!

[glodowg.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm your story clarifies for me why I can sleep through anything! And I do mean anything. MR did manage to rouse me the other night, but I fell back asleep immediately.

Growing up we lived 1 mile from the practice field launch zone for land to air missiles. Have you ever been within a few miles of a launch?

Our town was comprised entirely of wood frame houses with single pane windows. Can you imagine the rattling, shuddering and movement that I endured as a youngster? Yep I learned to sleep through anything!

Glad MR has the "ears" in our family!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Makes perfect sense to me!