That’s kind of odd that this would get posted. You see one of my strongest memories of 9/11 involves fighter jets. My place of work is 5 miles away from an ANG base. I work nights. All I could hear all night was F-16’s just like the one in the photo taking off and going full afterburner after “wheels up” on combat air patrol. By that time they were probably armed to the teeth. That, and the KC-135’s going up to refuel the fighters. All night long. Watching the running lights drawing huge circles in the sky.
CC
Thanks for the comments. That would have been interesting to be that close to the base and watch what you could.
On 9/11 were only 14 armed aircraft on alert at 7 bases
around country
Aircraft are normally not kept fueled and armed for safety