[Partymember]

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

Yeah, those were some neat planes-ugly as home-made sin, but functional and definitely easy to recognize! I used to see these everyday, too, when I lived nearer the coast, since they were based at the now-closed Myrtle Beach AFB. They got a lot of notoriety in the first Gulf War, right before the base was closed, and a lot of folks around here were hoping that the success of those planes would stop the Pentagon from closing MBAFB, but no luck. Fortunately, that area was able to recover financially from the loss due to the increase in tourism, as was Charleston, but many places that lost major military bases weren't so lucky.

I guess I just prefer military to civilian planes, really. I'm not much for traveling on a plane. I've only done it once, and while it wasn't the most harrowing thing I've been through, I can't say I really enjoyed it, either. Living near a major AFB, you just can't help but develop a familiarity with military aircraft, since you see and hear them so much. I can actually identify many of the jets and helicopters based at Shaw AFB by their sound, without even seeing the actual vehicle; they're just that commonplace in the skies around here.

pitbulllady

cool stuff. Yeah the A-10s fly over my place all the time, pretty low too. Awesome aircraft, nearly indestructable and they pack some serious firepower, 30mm cannon. Nasty buisness. Aparently the pilot sits in basically an armored tub. They say even direct hits from a Browning .50 at short ranges can't penetrate the thing!