Tank Silencer

[1911 Junkie]

Hey, Is that a tank silencer or are you just happy to see me?

Did they really have to make it look like that?

[cooptire]

I'm not sure how it is at Ft. Sill, but in Manhattan, KS the range is right next to town and in the middle of well populated ag areas ... not to mention K State is pretty darn close.  Driving down the highway you can look at the hill tops and see the barrels swinging from side to side.  Nothing like laying in bed at night listening to the booming of distant thunder or whatever is in bound  

That is the absolute truth. I used to lay in bed and night in the fraternity dorm and listen to the big guns all the way down to the Ma Duece. I thought that was the coolest thing about living close to Ft. Riley. Certainly a better experience that the rest of my time at K-State. (Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, GO KU!!) I got to go to a firepower demostration there one time that was given for a group of graduating ROTC students ( I was a still in high school at the time ). From squad level weapons all the way up to M60 tank fire, Cobra gunships and their cannons and 2.75 FFAR to the ultimate gunslingers, the A-10 and their GAU-8 Cannon!!!!!!!  

Heck, they even had a pair of F-111's from somewhere fly over and drop a load of bombs!! The was the most awesome experience I've ever personally witnessed.  The only problem was the 81mm mortar (I think) squad in the M113 style APC had a problem. One man hung a round before the first round had exited the barrel! You could see both rounds tumbling down range a short ways. The soldier's hands were burned if I remember but didn't have permanent damage, IIRC.

[tombogan03884]

 At your age the FB 111's may have been out of NH or NY ( the NH base closed in the early 90's )

[cooptire]

At your age the FB 111's may have been out of NH or NY ( the NH base closed in the early 90's )

Sounds about right, actually. Of course, at my age  , I don't remember much, so anything might sound like the right air base. 

[GASPASSERDELUXE]

  The F111's would have been from Cannon AFB in Clovis NM.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

 The F111's would have been from Cannon AFB in Clovis NM.

They don't believe they moved there until Pease was closed in the 90's. They had been on SAC stand by for deployment to England.

[GASPASSERDELUXE]

The F111's were at cannon back in the 70's up until about 2003 or 2004 when they went to the bone yard at DM and were replaced with F16's. These were F111 D  models, Cannon was the only base to have them. They originally started with about 80 acft but lost several thru crashes when flying hi speed low level flights. The pilots usually chickened out and turned off the auto pilot which did them in.

[Fatman]

I think they should fill it with multi-colored shaving cream prior to firing a round through it. Oddball would love it.

[tombogan03884]

The F111's were at cannon back in the 70's up until about 2003 or 2004 when they went to the bone yard at DM and were replaced with F16's. These were F111 D  models, Cannon was the only base to have them. They originally started with about 80 acft but lost several thru crashes when flying hi speed low level flights. The pilots usually chickened out and turned off the auto pilot which did them in.

I lived under the flight path for 20 years .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pease_Air_Force_Base

By 1 Dec 1969, the wing had transferred all its B-52D aircraft to other SAC units in preparation for transition to the FB-111A. Redesignated as the 509th Bombardment Wing, Medium, the 509th had no bomber aircraft from November 1969 until 1970, but continued KC-135 refueling and alert operations and performed FB-111 ground training. The wing resumed flying training with the FB-111 in December 1970 and assumed FB–111 alert commitments from 1 Jul 1971 until September 1990. During this time, the 509th won the SAC Bombing and Navigation Competition and the Fairchild Trophy in 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1983. The wing was also awarded the Sanders Trophy for best air refueling unit in 1982.

Following the 1988 BRAC decision to close Pease, the 509th transferred its FB-111 assets to Tactical Air Command (TAC) and its KC-135 assets to other SAC units. The wing was then administratively moved to Whiteman AFB, Missouri on 30 Sep 1990, but not manned until April 1993. Following the disestablishment of TAC and SAC, the renamed 509th Bomb Wing (509 BW) became a unit of the newly-established Air Combat Command (ACC) on 1 Sep 1991. After two years of non-operational status, the 509th became operational at Whiteman AFB with delivery of its first operational B-2 Spirit stealth bomber on 17 December 1993, coinciding with the 49th anniversary of the founding of the original 509th Composite Group.