F18's... sometimes now F35's....

And it's amazing how close they get to the ground sometimes. I can easily see the cockpit and perhaps the pilot..although that might be my overactive imagination.

With both the Stealth Fighter and the Bomber.. .the B2, we actually saw them overhead out here BEFORE they were ever announced.... still 'semi-secret'. We had a B2 once do a low altitude fly over when we were playing golf.... we were waving like made men and YES.... the gave us a wing salute. It was fantastic.

But my favorite all time experience with Lemoore was way back in the 70's. It was about 11pm and we were picking cotton in a field we had on the old Kings River... over a mile away from any paved road. No houses, no building, pitch dark. We carried some powerful spotlights with us for when breakdowns occurred. I had just bought my new spotlight, the most powerful made at that time, and showing it off.. I was very proud of it... WHEN.....

We could hear it but we couldn't see it, no lights.... a helicopter was passing overhead at low altitude. No lights so we knew it was out of Lemoore.... military. I giggled at my co-workers and said, "Watch This".... aimed my spotlight at the passing helicopter and hit the on switch....

it lit up beautifully... there was even a guy sitting in the open doorway. We were lauging our asses off when suddenly.... IT WAS DAYLIGHT. They hit us with a spotlight on the helicopter than made my spotlight look like a single match stick burning. Seriously.. I can't exaggerate it... we were blinded. As bright as daylight if not brighter.

I know for sure that whoever those guys were in the helicopter are telling that story to this day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2020 11:11AM by JamesJM.