Funniest Airshow Stories

[sevenhelmet]

Fleet Week in a fleet concentration area? WTF is the point? Fleet Week in an appreciative US city with no military presence nearby is incredible. It's like being a rock star for a few days. Especially when your boat is moored in Manhattan and is open to the city. Wearing whites got you in EVERYWHERE (Yankees games, empire state, subway, museums) for free and no end to free drinks and food. The experienced enlisted guys had multiple Dixie cups with them so they could give them away to kids and girls. We had guys get a ride back to the ship from the NYPD with the lights on so they didnt bust liberty expiration. Wife drove up to meet me, Boss gave me overnight libo, and we had a grand time out in town. Sex In The City had a Fleet Week episode if that helps give you an idea of what Fleet Week means to the single ladies of NYC.

You make a good point. I went to school in NYC. Started in summer 2001 at the USMMA. After 9/11, whites were a free ticket to literally anything for about 6 months. Liberty was incredible!

My initial response was based on the fact that, as a city, I vastly prefer San Diego to NYC. Better weather, nicer people, cleaner town, still expensive as hell, but the Navy occasionally pays me to go there. That said, your point on fleet week is well taken, and I must concede you are right.

 

[pourts]

Fleet Week in a fleet concentration area? WTF is the point? Fleet Week in an appreciative US city with no military presence nearby is incredible. It's like being a rock star for a few days. Especially when your boat is moored in Manhattan and is open to the city. Wearing whites got you in EVERYWHERE (Yankees games, empire state, subway, museums) for free and no end to free drinks and food. The experienced enlisted guys had multiple Dixie cups with them so they could give them away to kids and girls. We had guys get a ride back to the ship from the NYPD with the lights on so they didnt bust liberty expiration. Wife drove up to meet me, Boss gave me overnight libo, and we had a grand time out in town. Sex In The City had a Fleet Week episode if that helps give you an idea of what Fleet Week means to the single ladies of NYC.

Even better, Fleet Week San Diego is 3 weeks after the Miramar Airshow. Seems like it would make sense to spread out those two big military events in the same city.

 

[HuggyU2]

W

Even better, Fleet Week San Diego is 3 weeks after the Miramar Airshow. Seems like it would make sense to spread out those two big military events in the same city.

You expect the Marines and the Navy to meet, communicate, and agree on a deconfliction plan by having one of them move their traditional date??? Crazy talk.

Sorry we didn't get to meet in Miramar. I was just overextended.

 

[LFCFan]

You mean this cinematic masterpiece?

Hah! You know, I'd never actually seen it or bothered to look up the scene. That was a good laugh.

 

[ea6bflyr]

Hah! You know, I'd never actually seen it or bothered to look up the scene. That was a good laugh.

Nerd alert: Oceanic Airlines is the preferred mode of transport for all of Hollywood.

Unlike Qantas, I'd recommend NOT flying via this airline EVER.

 

[nittany03]

Nerd alert: Oceanic Airlines is the preferred mode of transport for all of Hollywood.

Unlike Qantas, I'd recommend NOT flying via this airline EVER.

I'm glad I was able to get from LAX to Sydney successfully this summer, and didn't end up on a weird island with polar bears and a smoke monster. Of course, I was flying Virgin Australia, so that probably helped.

 

[sparky]

Every week is Fleet Week when you're in Norfolk.

I just got around to reading this thread ... and at this post, now I need a new keyboard and cup of coffee!

Hey, Norfolk is OK for a SWO concentration area. Not a bad place to find a new next ex-wife.

BT

I suppose Fleet Week SD is pretty good if it's all you know. For the Left Coast it was fun.

But Fleet Week in New York is the big leagues.

 

[HuggyU2]

But Fleet Week in New York is the big leagues.

I don't believe Fleet Week New York has an airshow component to it. Does it?
There is a show at Jones Beach, but that is not part of Fleet Week. Is that what you're referring to?

OBTW, for the "Left Coast", try San Francisco's Fleet Week. THAT is Fleet Week with a lot of cool airshow flying right along the city shoreline.

 

[sparky]

I don't believe Fleet Week New York has an airshow component to it. Does it?
There is a show at Jones Beach, but that is not part of Fleet Week. Is that what you're referring to?
OBTW, for the "Left Coast", try San Francisco's Fleet Week. THAT is Fleet Week with a lot of cool airshow flying right along the city shoreline.

Wasn't when I was there, and I don't think there's every been except for maybe a couple helo or plopter fly-ins - I meant the female people of NYC were quite ... welcoming and accommodating. One redhead Rangers fan was particularly so.

Leave at the right time and place worked for me. Would have been cool to have an airshow component. But not necessary to have a good time

 

[sparky]

Sorry I missed your point and the original point of the thread by riffing on Fleet Weeks, @huggyu2; I got caught up in the reminiscing around one of the cooler Navy-centric events I've been in or around.

And I reckoned nobody here would be impressed by any airshow experiences I've had. We've pretty much already blown past the sonobuoy tubes being declared the "Admiral's Winerack" (useful for those return trips from Sig, Rota, etc.), the stinger being a dipping sonar, and the stinger being "a rearward firing nuclear depth charge/missile that gives us time to get out of the blast zone". I might have used that last one when a lovely lass asked me why "we had a missile sticking out of the tail".

I did know an RA-5C crew where the pilot lost it when some probably well-read kid argued with him that the fuel dump was a chaff chute ... and the NFO talking to some AF guys - one of whom recalled the A-5A ejected the bomb/fuel package over target - sold the notion the RA-5 could just fly over the carrier, pull up, and drop the reconnaissance package on deck to speed up processing, you know, if the carrier was busy recovering other airplanes.