[ScanIndiana] RE: [MilCom] need quick info

Tue Jul 5 00:55:16 EDT 2005

OK, time to report in on the annual LaPorte, IN
4th of July Flyover.  Some of you may recall that
I pitched a major fit last year (and maybe the year 
before that, too!) about the 122 FW IN ANG not being
able to fly a straight line down the main drag.

Apparently, the "city fathers" noticed it too, as
this year our F16 flyby was "said" to have been from
the 181 FW instead.  But before they showed up came
a serious surprise.....

When I got onto the parade route, I called out on our
2 meter repeater asking for any visual contacts.  One
of the local hams up there was involved with the JayCees
and advised that there would be an extra aircraft and it
seemed like he barely got the "F117" out of his mouth and
sure enough, one each Lockheed-Martin Skunk Works F117A
Nighthawk came tootin' down the main drag.  Not bad for 
a 25,000 population town!  We must have had a congresscritter
looking out for us this year.  :-)  (some of us DID send 
some email.....   :-)  )  I never picked up a peep from 
him on the scanner but then, not knowing he was going to
be there, I hadn't put any of the "Stealthxx" stuff in
the R10.  

The guy was good, and his entire pass couldn't have been 
more than about 20 feet +/- deadass center.  As I said on
the repeater "THAT's the way you do it!", and he turned 
SW and left us.

Shortly after that, I started getting hits on the ANG
freqs and a couple of the hams down at the east end (I was
on the west end of the flyover route - gives me more time
to react for either still or video shooting...today the 
XYL was doing motor-driven still shots on the "Nikon from
hell" which is really a Nikon from heaven, IMHO) gave
"heads up".  And, a pair of F16's in a tight echelon pair
made an also superb pass, dead-on target.

(I really wish I had taken "two-ton tessie", my full-size
VHS camcorder for this one - The video would have been short
but they were low enough I think I could have captured some
splendiferous video....)

You could tell the crowd really appreciated the tremendous
improvement and surprise because they were really cheering.
While it was only one pass each they were both well done.
Funny was the fact that there were some jaws hanging on the
pavement when the F117 came over, and I heard one guy behind
me say something like "what in THE hell is THAT?" and then
one of his compadres clued him in.

Some people in my hometown, methinks, don't get out very
much.  :-)

A little later on, ANG freq became active again and full
S9+ sig with callsign SNAKE1 - which had to be one of the
Fort Wayne guys from the 122nd.  With such a strong signal
I thought maybe we were getting a mid-parade add-in but
the sig left as quickly as it came on.  I heard a brief
reference to Michigan City (NW of LaPorte and right
on Lake Michigan)  so it may be that he was on his way
there and just passing near LaPorte.

So I will give this July 4 flyover a rating of "outstanding".

Now here's a twist.  I think it was Ken who some months back
had posted the URL's to check schedules of approved events.
I had been unable to get into the Air Force site for several
days.....but on the off chance that maybe there was a 
cross-link I went to the NAVY site (we have had the Navy
do flyovers in the past) and sure enough, the NAVY site
had a listing for our parade.  I am a bit puzzled and I think
will email the local contact person to see if she knows the
story behind the whole thing.

I hadn't heard of any F117's being transferred to Naval
Service.  :-)

I suppose I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the
most common freq. for the mil flyboys was 257.8.  There
appeared to be a couple others that "hit" so briefly that
I didn't see them before the scan had gone on.  My list gives
that as a tower freq. for the 122nd in Fort Wayne but some
of that list is nearly 10 years old, and it could possibly
be a more generic IN ANG used by both 122 and 181 wings. 

And then a question for y'all - did anyone pick up any
calls from STEALTHxx in the Midwest either Sunday or 
Monday?  

Duane
Lafayette, IN

-----Original Message-----
From: scanindiana-bounces+wb9omc=nlci.com at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:scanindiana-bounces+wb9omc=nlci.com at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
Duane Mantick
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 3:14 AM
To: milcom at mailman.qth.net; 'Indiana Scanning'
Subject: [ScanIndiana] RE: [MilCom] need quick info

X-SpamKiller-AcctId: 1
X-SpamKiller-MsgId: 1108433585.9970

As usual, my own home town newspaper is apparently too stupid to coordinate
with their JayCees on their July 4th parade and flyover.....so before I
truck up there to visit the folks I've been hunting the web.  Listed for
LaPorte, IN is an approved event for the NAVY, which is unusual but not
unheard of.  Didn't find this out until nearly 3AM Sunday morning.  :-(

(my Dad said there had so far been NOTHING in the paper about it)

So, what I need to know is if anyone out there has any comms for a naval
aircraft, one or more, probably giving destination South Bend, IN - possibly
to Grissom ARB.
They've done either one in the past, and then flown direct to LaPorte and
then back at parade time.

If there were two A/C, there'd be a possibility of A2A comms but if its a
single and they have a ground contact, anybody have any good ideas for freqs
for either case?
I'll probably plug in the South Bend info., whatever I can find and the
little bit there is for LaPorte Airport - I am assuming that the local
pilots probably will get called on a Unicom freq and told to get the hell
out of the way.  :-)

I will check my email for any replies before I head up to LaPorte a bit
before noon.  Anyone with ANY good suggestions, I am wide open!

Thanks in advance -
Duane
WB9OMC
Lafayette, IN

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