[SampleMan]

The Ranger wasn't the only CV/CVN to have a Buff below the flight deck, and as I mentioned earlier, I have personally looked down from the flight deck into the cockpit of a German Tornado.

I also remember having the 200-400 foot altitude block, while working with the Argentine Navy and having one of their S-2's working below us. On their MAD runs, you could see their prop pattern on the water.

Down low at 400 knots is a lot more fun than Mach 1 at 20,000 ft. What did you fly? KC-135 or KC-10?

[TankerKC]

What did you fly? KC-135 or KC-10?

I am (or was) a maintenance guy on B-52, KC-135, KC-10, & F-16s.

[Ron Wingerter]

Thanks for posting the picture of the B-52 flyby.

I think you may have your dates wrong. I was a Sea College Airman on the Ranger from 1987-1989, so I caught a the 87 and 88 WESTPAC. I was in the V5 division and I worked in Pri-Fly and on the LSO platform.

In 1988 we were working up for a WESTPAC a few hundred miles out of San Diego. They sent the Air Force out to find us, and war game us. We killed them all, and the Boss let them fly by. We all thought this guy was a goner, and the Boss had a word with Air Force observers in the tower.

Notice how the deck is almost empty, we had a lot of birds in the air for the fight. It's one of those days and sights you never forget. I guess it could have happened in 1990 too, but I was back in Florida in school, so I wouldn't know.