Whidbey Island Thunder Jets ?

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Inertia

Inertia

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I live on Vancouver Island at the entrance to Puget Sound.
For years we occasionally get these really huge sounds like thunder, but way steady and long lasting.
I have always wondered, and it's often discussed in our media, but never really answered.
Do you guys have any B-52s or other noisy aircraft taking off today, and the last few days ?
Thanks much .
 
Navy F-18 hornets, 10 years ago. Corsairs (sp) before that. I’m not sure now.

They do this maneuver where they fall slowly and attempt to lock onto another plane doing the same thing. I don’t know what it takes to hold that position as they descend but they are loud!

They do it over Forks a lot and what annoys me is it seems like every clear day and you know how few we get like that. Truth is they do it more often but I think cloud cover absorbs some of the noise. Or we aren’t out or both. Impossible to hear elk or yourself think!

I lived near Shreveport just a year ago. B52s are comparatively silent!!
 
We don't hear it often, and I've never heard a B-52, but just imagined after "Strangelove" lol . . and you say they are relatively quiet, lol.
It must have something to do with wind direction, it almost rattles
windows, very strange. .
Thnx for responding .
 
For our Canadian brothers that live up north, that’s the sound of freedom.:usflag:
 
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I was in the Air Force years ago and there was nothing like the earth trembling sound of a KC-135 (Boeing 707) taking off using water injection.
 
446acuda said:
I was in the Air Force years ago and there was nothing like the earth trembling sound of a KC-135 (Boeing 707) taking off using water injection.
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The introduction of turbofans and high bypass ratio engines has made those old jets sound like dinosaurs.

Those fully loaded flying gas tanks had those 4 engines pinned on takeoff So it must have sounded like few other things.
 
I believe what you hear are the Growlers from that base. They practice touch and go landings on Whidbey
 
Nothing like the sound of B52s doing a minimum interval takeoff. When I was a kid my mom worked at Travis AFB. At the time Travis was as a SAC base. I remember seeing the B52s sitting across the field with Groundhog missiles slung under their wings.

We came on base one afternoon and while driving up the main drag toward the hospital sirens started going off and the street lights started flashing. Has to get off to the side of the road. We could hear all the B52s spooling up. The noise was quite loud. Then they started taxiing and one by one within seconds of each other took off all spewing black smoke. We could see in the distance all of the planes peeling off from one another.

Little did I realize that if that had been a real alert within 30 minutes we would of been toast.
 
B-52 have an engine that sounds like nothing else.

Easy to recognize if you've heard them a few times.


A couple of years ago, here in FL we had a very long rumble that sounded like thunder but lasted something like 17 minutes.

Never heard anything about it.
 
YY1 said:
B-52 have an engine that sounds like nothing else.

Easy to recognize if you've heard them a few times.


A couple of years ago, here in FL we had a very long rumble that sounded like thunder but lasted something like 17 minutes.

Never heard anything about it.
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Could of been a B1
 
I grew up 5 blocks from Wright-Patterson AFB.

ALL SORTS of things flew around there all the time.
WPAFB was a "test wing" and the home of the B-1 project, and also was a huge B-52 base.

Aircraft I remember being based there in quantity:

F-4
F-15
F-16
F-111
T-38
A-10
B-1
B-52
B-58
Any "135"
E-2
E-3
C-5
C-130
C-141

I'm sure I've forgotten several.
 
I live on their east-west flight path. Definitely noisy at times. But like said before, it’s the sound of freedom.
 
Funny, I was looking at satellite photos of Vancouver Island the other day. Looks like you could get up there and no one would ever find you if you didn't want them too.
 
H22A4 said:
The introduction of turbofans and high bypass ratio engines has made those old jets sound like dinosaurs.

Those fully loaded flying gas tanks had those 4 engines pinned on takeoff So it must have sounded like few other things.
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During the time I was in the early '90's they started retrofitting 135 tankers with F108 (CFM56) turbofan engines that greatly reduced engine ground clearance but were better than the J57 in all other categories.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Funny, I was looking at satellite photos of Vancouver Island the other day. Looks like you could get up there and no one would ever find you if you didn't want them too.
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The whole Pacific Northwest is a boaters paradise, Puget Sound, San Juan Islands to Desolation Sound has a gazillion gunk holes and bays to explore, and enjoy, - drop a hook/anchor, quiet days away from work and the track . Drop the sailing dingy, drink in one hand, tiller/sheet in the other .
 
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Pfffffffffffffffsssssssssssssssffffffffffff ttttttttttttttttttttttt!!!!

NAS Miramar (then "Top Gun" school, "Fightertown, USA")

I was a GCA RADAR tech, and there would be times they'd launch FOUR F-4's, two in each parallel. (24L, 24R)

AFTERBURNERS!!!

This poor clip was taken from a video on yewtoob

That is two of the three GCA RADARS then at Miramar, right between the two runways near launch

s3f483-jpg.jpg




A young new E-4 "me" sometime around 1970 pretending to know what I was doing


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dart4forte said:
Are you back from your trip?
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yep, 6000 miles (it was a BLAST!) plus visits to Chryslers @ Carlisle, Mopar Nats and Moparfest in Ontario. Car is stored in Pennsylvania and we will return in July 2024 to do those shows and drive back home doing all of Rt66 and the Pacific Coast Highway again.
 
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