My feeling is that if they weren’t breaking glass, causing pregnant women to give birth prematurely and cleaning leaves and branches off the planes after they land, it is a egregious waste of taxpayer money because THEY WEREN’T LOW ENOUGH!
But hey...that’s just me...
Over the summer, I watched an episode of "Dogfights" on the History Channel which told the story of F-86 pilot Robbie Risner and his dogfight with a Russian "honcho" flying a MiG-15.
Much of the dogfight took place in a dry riverbed, and after shooting down the Russian and returning to base, Risner had to sheepishly explain to his crew chief how he got so much mud on the bottom of his F-86, as well as the dents in its fuselage from the rocks and dirt thrown up from the ground.
Here's the story, which climaxes at at the 7:00 minute mark.