Has anyone else done an Air Combat mission?

[maintcoder]

I thought I would share with everyone an interesting and exhilarating experience I had yesterday. My wife had purchased me a 'Fighter Pilot for a Day' package earlier in the year at a charity auction and I had my 'mission' yesterday. For all your armchair fighter pilots (or real pilots) out there, this was an incredibly exciting, fun, and challenging experience. From the pre-mission briefing with the experienced fighter pilots you fly with (which is packed with lots of information but also humorously entertaining), to the formation flying and practice drills, through the 6 actual dogfights, you will have a great time. The group I flew with was from Air Combat USA http://www.aircombatusa.com and 'Boot' (my instructor) and 'Nails' (the opponent's instructor) were awesome.

Has anyone else done this type of thing before and if so, who did you fly with and what was your experience?

 

[Dixon Cannon]

No I haven't...

Thanks for reminding me! Neither have I flown that beautiful P-51T (two seater) down in Florida!

But these are things that I intend to do once my ship comes in. Of course, I'll be at the airport again and will have missed that boat too!

I did however have the opportunity to fly with the CAF AZ/Wing in
B-17G 'Sentimental Journey'. I flew as the Bombardier outbound and as 'Tailgunner Joe' on the return.

Here are a couple of snaps from the old Kodak from the fateful mission!

Fasten your seatbelt!

 

[maintcoder]

Video excerpts from my 'mission'

That sounds awesome, Dixon... I may have to do that next year when the Wings of Freedom come to Seattle. I missed my chance this year

Here is the link to the 6 dogfights from my 'mission' on Saturday along with a few vidcaps.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v280/maintcoder/2007/Air Combat/

Enjoy...