Posted on 02/25/2002 9:32:57 AM PST by codebreaker
3 F-15's scrambling overhead in attack formation.
General direction over the National Cathedral...
---max
This was just unusual - probably nothing - but it is, in fact, unusual for Northern VA and DC to see these fighter jets flying lower than commercial airlines taking off or landing from National. If they were closer to Andrews AFB when it happened, I'd have felt differently. I'm glad it was nothing.
Really? Guess someone forgot to tell the fine folks at Jeppesen about these new approaches.
Not Echelon, Eschaton.
+=<);^)
Come on....
Come on....
I wondered how anything could get out of DCA because that route is a flight path. Later figured the DCA traffic might have been taking off to the south.
The rest of you jaded contributers here who are used to this kind of thing can pardon us because even when Bolling was pushing planes out and with Andrews sometimes spewing out planes of all kinds over the Beltway, in 40 years I have not experienced anything like it. Nor through any of the "wars" we have had during that time.
Whether you want to call it "scrambling" or "ambling", I hope they were having a good time. But if this is going to go on I figure I am not well advised to use DCA and put myself in that kind of circumstance. At least they were traveling over the River and not over the Pentagon, and they DID veer east a little as they shot by DCA. One wonders whether the Tower at DCA knew.
One more thought: Col Francis "Gabby" Gabreski, the AF's leading ace in Europe during WWII, died late last week. If Gabby was buried at Arlington, the fly-by (if that's what it was) might have been for him.
He wasn't, so it wasn't.
WWII flying ace Francis 'Gabby' Gabreski dies at 83
Obituaries
Raffaele D. Caggainello
Anna J. Fiore
Alfredo G. Martino
Herbert Strong, celebrated GE physicist, dies at 93
Lee A. O'Keefe
Pearl Harbor Survivor Robert D. West Dies at 82
By FRANK ELTMAN
Associated Press Writer
February 2, 2002
Eds: SUBS 4th graf, Gabreski began ... , to CLARIFY kill tally system
AP Photo NYR106
NEW YORK (AP) -- Retired Col. Francis "Gabby" Gabreski, who for many years was known as "America's Greatest Living Ace," has died, his daughter said Friday.
Gabreski, who recorded 37 1/2 kills as a fighter pilot in both World War II and the Korean War, died Thursday at a hospital after suffering a heart attack at his home in Dix Hills, on Long Island, said Frances Philipps. He had just celebrated his 83rd birthday on Monday, she said.
"His quiet, self-deprecating personality masked the spirit of an American fighter pilot," Gov. George Pataki said in a statement. "Through his aerial victories he created a legacy of excellence as a military leader and left a nation far stronger and far better prepared to defend its freedoms. This valiant man will be missed, but his place in our American heritage will never fade."
Gabreski began taking flying lessons as a pre-med student at the University of Notre Dame. He joined the Army Air Corps and earned his wings in 1941. Throughout the war, Gabreski tallied a successful string of kills, or downed enemy planes, that eventually totaled a record 31. He added 6 1/2 more kills, sharing credit for one, during the Korean War, his daughter said.
Gabreski was shot down over Europe and spent the last eight months of the war in a German prisoner of war camp.
"He was a very dedicated individual who strived to perform at his very best ability at all times," said fellow fighter pilot Jerry Johnson, who knew Gabreski for 60 years.
In a telephone interview from his home in Florida, Johnson explained that he had been shot down and was already in a POW camp when Gabreski arrived. Allied prisoners had hidden a tiny crystal radio and heard the news over the BBC that Gabreski had been shot down.
"I was hoping I would see him alive," Johnson said, but confessed that seeing him come into the POW camp one day was hardly a happy reunion. "I liked him too much to say 'I'm glad to see you,"' he said.
"He recognized that he was probably not the best pilot and not the best shot," Johnson said. "But he tried to overcome that by being very aggressive and really determined to seek out the enemy."
After WWII, Gabreski spent several years in flight testing and in command of fighter units before being assigned as commander of the 51st Fighter Wing. He helped develop tactics for jet fighters and shot down 6 1/2 MiG-15s between July 1951 and April 1952.
After his military career, he worked in the aviation industry and later served as president of the Long Island Rail Road.
Gabreski wrote about his military career in his autobiography, "Gabby, A Fighter Pilot's Life."
A member of the National Aviation Hall of Fame, an airport in Westhampton Beach on eastern Long Island bears his name. He also was the honorary squadron commander of the American Airpower Museum at Republic Airport in Farmingdale.
"Col. Francis Gabreski was an inspiration to me personally and a driving force behind this museum," said museum president Jeff Clyman.
"He was a great family man, father, and grandfather," his daughter said. "His led his life by three guidelines: God, country and family."
In addition to Philipps, Gabreski is survived by five other daughters and three sons, 18 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
A wake was scheduled for Tuesday at the Mangano Funeral Home in Deer Park; a full military funeral will be held Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church in Dix Hills, with burial at Calverton National Cemetery.
Copyright © 2002, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
I hope they did a *missing man* flyover for Gabby Gabreski; I can't think of many folks who would deserve one more. But I hope the planes they used for it had props on them....
You know, maybe we should consider going back to our republican form of government, more like the Swiss.
Then maybe we'd have less of this type of problem.
But your mention was the first I saw of the passing of Gabby Gabreski. He hails from the northwestern part of my state - Pennsylvania - and he was also a jet ace in Korea. Pretty fine accomplishments for a guy who worked hard to get the very most out of his flying skills.
Fly high & soar free, Colonel Gabreski
Regards to you spook !
You probably hit the nail on the head.
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