Luke Field, Starfighters and the m61 Vulcan gun

[biglakejake]

mom and dad left bellemont and Navajo ordinance depot in 1956 when dad got accepted as an m61 armorer. first at Willie and then Luke. don't see dad in any of this but i will wager a few of these starfighters buzzed us at black canyon lake circa 1968-69. mom and dad talked every night by phone and if we were going to the lake dad put the instructor pilots on us. they would fly up the canyon and go vertical when they got to the dam. some show. the germans decided to put bombs on a missle and made it into the widowmaker.

 

 

lee

[Red Rabbit]

I think I had a plastic model of the F104 as a kid

[Saguaro]

Thanks for sharing. It reminds me of growing up near a radar station. Holbrook had an Air Force installation until about 1994. During that time you would see the B52 and B1 fly at low levels in the area. Some of the people working that station said that a few of the mock bombing targets were Cholla Power Plant and the Hennessy Buttes. There were plenty of times where I was near the Pink Cliffs and a B1 would fly over me at about 200'. It put a smile on my face the rest of the day. I would mostly see the B52 at the Hennessy Buttes.

[biglakejake]

in '94 my son and i watched a B1 do a simulated peek-a-boo launch right over us while we were shooting prarie dogs south of Hunt. lifetime memory.

 

lee

[Edge]

The Germans were still flying the 104's when I got to Luke in 1980. Due to their wing and fuel tank configuration the planes would constantly snag the SUU illumination flares while on night sorties over the range.

 

Can't imagine the tense moments the pilots went through while having a 4500'F flare burning along side your aircraft

As if that weren't enough, there was also an explosive bolt on the flare to separate the flare from it's chute when the magnesium candle has buried out. Kept many crash response crews on their toes, but I don't recall losing any 104s