Earned my wings at Webb AFB class 70-02. First of the T-38 IPs at Columbus AFB January 1970. Loved strappng on my go-fast pants and flying formation. Best people I knew were fellow IPs; every one was a class act.
As a 3000 hr T-38 instructor at Laughlin (Del Rio by the Sea) TX, it was THE best job of my life. Now a retired B787 captain with over 38,000 hours and still flying corporate jets I'll never equal that experience in the T-38
One of the reasons i wanted to join back in 79.. Yall flew a lowlevel route behind our house. I miss hearing and seeing the birds. Be safe and fly on the wings of eagles.
Looks great! Wonderful dedication. So, sorry for your loss. The ground shots of the area were familiar. Columbus was my Dad's last duty station. Dad, Maj. Gaylon O. Smith, helped open up the base for flight training operations in the 3650th PTW in 1970 and retired in 1972. You may have cleared out the plaques of those first few classes in the renovation, but Dad would not have minded. He knew that life moves on and would have wished you all well. (He passed Nov. 26th, 2022.) I still have some student class books and patches that students gave Dad. I called the base there a few years back, trying to find a high-resolution copy of a pair of white Columbus Talons in banking in formation against a deep blue sky with a few puffy white clouds behind them. They were never able to find it. (Low-res copies are all over the Internet.) Dad wanted bookend photos of his career. He started in a Aeronca Champ in CAP and ended with a T-38 Talon with CB on the tail in ATC. With plenty of aircraft in between, including the F4C Phantom and the F-100 Super Saber in Vietnam. Blue skies, all.
My uncle was the guy that if you failing flight school that you would have to prove that you what it takes to pass. If all yee who enter here have fear.
Is the 310th transitioning to the F-35 or is it getting deactivated? Additionally, will the 309th keep putting out viper pilots or are they ridding Luke of all active-duty F-16 B-Course training?
I remember when I lived in Phoenix for a short while and I would drive down to Luke on my days off to watch the F-16s and F-35s takeoff just dreaming that I had the capability to be in the skies alongside them. My asthma diagnosis is what kept me from achieving that alongside the worst case of ADHD. Life is not fair man... Great video though!
They should make a movie about Airforce aviators and not just the Navy. Can we have a reboot of Iron Eagle series please? Lets also have a Firebirds reboot as well while we are at it.
