Flyover 1970’s ?
- Thread starter Coledawg
- Start date
Had just walked in the stadium and in fact standing in the portal. It shook the stadium and scared the crap out of us. Good times !
Whenever we played Navy
but I don't believe that was in the 70's. (9-17-83) Recall sever chill bumps that day.
But we have had several flyovers.
Not sure the one you are referring to was the Navy game, but we had one game,
that had about 3 or 4 jets fly thru, just above the lights. That was wild.
but I don't believe that was in the 70's. (9-17-83) Recall sever chill bumps that day.
But we have had several flyovers.
Not sure the one you are referring to was the Navy game, but we had one game,
that had about 3 or 4 jets fly thru, just above the lights. That was wild.
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One was early 80s.
Sitting in top row of stadium, most folks in the stands ducked.
F4 Phantoms(2?), sounded like they lit afterburners just before getting over the stadium.
I grew up in a Navy air base town, going to the Blue Angels yearly. It was LOUD.
I have a vague memory they got in trouble.
From the top row I swear you could see the tops of the stadium lights over one of the jets.
Sitting in top row of stadium, most folks in the stands ducked.
F4 Phantoms(2?), sounded like they lit afterburners just before getting over the stadium.
I grew up in a Navy air base town, going to the Blue Angels yearly. It was LOUD.
I have a vague memory they got in trouble.
From the top row I swear you could see the tops of the stadium lights over one of the jets.
Yes, that’s one, does anyone know if there’s a ytube? And the other was Dickie Scuggs incident
During an a&m game in Starkville (one with an 11:00 kickoff) we were running behind haven just driven up, parked and saw some a10's coming in pretty low. The Air Force and low flyovers are the greatest thing in sports. I know they don't like them going in low, but it's freaking incredible
It was a cloudy twilight. We knew they were coming, but with the weather...
conditions, you really couldn't see them until the last second. That's what really made everybody gasp and jump.
Like others, they were barely above the lights ... and since there were no lights at the ends of the stadium, they may have been "lights level".
conditions, you really couldn't see them until the last second. That's what really made everybody gasp and jump.
Like others, they were barely above the lights ... and since there were no lights at the ends of the stadium, they may have been "lights level".
Wasn’t there a game where Tennessee came to town and some UT alum in an orange striped Gulfstream buzzed Scott Field? Seem to remember the FAA fined him for it.
I believe Dickie flew Miss Air National Guard and buzzed a game at Memorial in a flyover too low and was reprimanded - vague, maybe someone has more details
Sept 17, 1983 MS Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson game won by the Dogs 38-10. Notable player from that game for Navy was Napoleon McCallum. Jets flew over the stadium from East to West seemingly barely clearing the top of University of MS Med Center. From my memory they hit the after burners near the West endzone and climbed about as straight up in the air as a fighter jet possibly could. One of them then peeled off drastically the right in the "missing man" formation. People in the West end zone swore they could feel the heat from the afterburners. I was on the South side of stadium about midfield. Loudest most impressive flyover I've ever seen.
Edit: It was a night game right at dusk when they flew over which made the after burners that much more impressive
Edit: It was a night game right at dusk when they flew over which made the after burners that much more impressive
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I was flying one of the jets (RF-4C Phantoms - hence my username) for the low flyover at MSU. I wasn’t leading it; I think I was #3 (or #4 - it’s been a long time ago - we did several back in the day and did lead several others; just not that particular one). Since I was not leading the formation, I didn’t know how low we were until we were passing through the stadium and I could see the grandstands with my peripheral vision. My attention was necessarily focused on the jet I was flying formation on. We did light the burners (pre-planned) on the signal from the flight lead.
Good times. It was 1993 when our unit stopped flying Phantoms and now I’m able to go as long as 2-3 hours on some days without thinking about them.
Also, I believe that Scruggs was involved in the flyover at Memorial Stadium (I wasn’t) but he wouldn’t have been reprimanded for it because at the time he wasn’t checked out as a flight lead and, if anyone was reprimanded, it would have been the flight lead because the other guys are just flying off of him and not making decisions about where, when, how low, or how fast to go.
Good times. It was 1993 when our unit stopped flying Phantoms and now I’m able to go as long as 2-3 hours on some days without thinking about them.
Also, I believe that Scruggs was involved in the flyover at Memorial Stadium (I wasn’t) but he wouldn’t have been reprimanded for it because at the time he wasn’t checked out as a flight lead and, if anyone was reprimanded, it would have been the flight lead because the other guys are just flying off of him and not making decisions about where, when, how low, or how fast to go.
Thank you, awesome stuff, would be great for something like this in the Jomo era.
I wasn't at the game in Jackson with the F4's but I remember one in Starkville with F16's where one had to raise a wingtip because he was getting close to the lights. A professor of mine at the time had upper deck tickets and told me that he was looking down into the cockpit when it went by.
1983...Memorial Stadium in Jackson. Stadium is laid out north to south with the south end zone being open. The Mississippi Air National Guard did the flyover as Phred Phantom described. I wasn't at the game but listening to it on the radio with Jack painting a verbal picture. We had several pilots at FedEx flying in the Meridian unit and one, Vern Barton gave me the story. I worked in the chief pilots office and was trying hard to hire the Mississippi pilots. Of course, because we were playing Navy, the Air Force was not going to be shown up. Let's just say there are tons of rules by the FAA concerning flyovers and that night the rules went out the window. As it was told to me, the flight lead was named "Chicken John" due to his having buzzed some chicken houses and the farmer claimed lots of dead chickens from the incident. Scruggs was a Navy pilot, but could have transferred to the AF? Bottom line, Navy loved the flyover, the FAA tried to violate everyone and Sonny Montgomery squashed the investigation. Phred, did i get it right?
You are correct. That was the Kendal Watkins basket catch in the south end zone for the Walkoff Win game.
It was pretty low. When exiting stadium, it was a orange and white checker board limo in the junction. Presumably waiting for whomever was in that jet.
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Sorry - I don’t know how to quote posts on my phone so ...
Fedxdog said:
1983...Memorial Stadium in Jackson. Stadium is laid out north to south with the south end zone being open. The Mississippi Air National Guard did the flyover as Phred Phantom described. I wasn't at the game but listening to it on the radio with Jack painting a verbal picture. We had several pilots at FedEx flying in the Meridian unit and one, Vern Barton gave me the story. I worked in the chief pilots office and was trying hard to hire the Mississippi pilots. Of course, because we were playing Navy, the Air Force was not going to be shown up. Let's just say there are tons of rules by the FAA concerning flyovers and that night the rules went out the window. As it was told to me, the flight lead was named "Chicken John" due to his having buzzed some chicken houses and the farmer claimed lots of dead chickens from the incident. Scruggs was a Navy pilot, but could have transferred to the AF? Bottom line, Navy loved the flyover, the FAA tried to violate everyone and Sonny Montgomery squashed the investigation. Phred, did i get it right?
—————
As I mentioned, I wasn’t in that particular flyover but from hearing the “talk around the table” in Ops, that’s a pretty good description of how I remember things going down.
Scruggs was a former Navy pilot and joined our unit when he got out of the Navy so he could continue flying jets. Later, when his personal (not his law firm’s - his. Or so I’ve heard) portion of the Mississippi Tobacco Settlement (his law firm was the lead law firm) was $900,000,000 (not a typo - nine-hundred-million dollars) he got out of the Guard and bought his own jet(s). I guess he must have used some of that to buy judges with and got caught doing it. Somehow it’s not a complete surprise to me that someone with an Ole Miss mentality would think it would be a good idea to cheat as evidenced by their current situation in regard to NCAA sanctions, etc.
Fedxdog said:
1983...Memorial Stadium in Jackson. Stadium is laid out north to south with the south end zone being open. The Mississippi Air National Guard did the flyover as Phred Phantom described. I wasn't at the game but listening to it on the radio with Jack painting a verbal picture. We had several pilots at FedEx flying in the Meridian unit and one, Vern Barton gave me the story. I worked in the chief pilots office and was trying hard to hire the Mississippi pilots. Of course, because we were playing Navy, the Air Force was not going to be shown up. Let's just say there are tons of rules by the FAA concerning flyovers and that night the rules went out the window. As it was told to me, the flight lead was named "Chicken John" due to his having buzzed some chicken houses and the farmer claimed lots of dead chickens from the incident. Scruggs was a Navy pilot, but could have transferred to the AF? Bottom line, Navy loved the flyover, the FAA tried to violate everyone and Sonny Montgomery squashed the investigation. Phred, did i get it right?
—————
As I mentioned, I wasn’t in that particular flyover but from hearing the “talk around the table” in Ops, that’s a pretty good description of how I remember things going down.
Scruggs was a former Navy pilot and joined our unit when he got out of the Navy so he could continue flying jets. Later, when his personal (not his law firm’s - his. Or so I’ve heard) portion of the Mississippi Tobacco Settlement (his law firm was the lead law firm) was $900,000,000 (not a typo - nine-hundred-million dollars) he got out of the Guard and bought his own jet(s). I guess he must have used some of that to buy judges with and got caught doing it. Somehow it’s not a complete surprise to me that someone with an Ole Miss mentality would think it would be a good idea to cheat as evidenced by their current situation in regard to NCAA sanctions, etc.
I was at that 1983 Navy vs. MSU game sitting on the top row of the student section. I'll swear to this day when the jets went through I was looking into the cockpits. Most impressive fly through I've ever witnessed.
Napoleon McCallum WAS Navy's offense. I think he rushed for 130 or so yards. He was an absolute beast.
I miss the double header football Saturdays in Memorial Stadium. Especially when the State Fair was in town. Two football games and the state fair in one day. There wasn't a better football atmosphere anywhere. Too bad things have regressed to the point where this is no longer possible.
Napoleon McCallum WAS Navy's offense. I think he rushed for 130 or so yards. He was an absolute beast.
I miss the double header football Saturdays in Memorial Stadium. Especially when the State Fair was in town. Two football games and the state fair in one day. There wasn't a better football atmosphere anywhere. Too bad things have regressed to the point where this is no longer possible.
YouTube has several videos of military flyovers where top rows of stadium are looking down into the planes.
So there was an attempt at discipline that fell short. Sounds about right.
Navy and Marine pilots aren't known for always following the rules.
I once hit the deck on the 8th tee of the NAS Millington golf course when an A4 went a few feet over our heads.
Was about to swing, heard him adding power, all 3 of us ended up flat on the grass.
There was a short runway usually used for touch and goes just over the fence from the tee.
Was likely preceded by "Watch this." or "Think I can make those long hairs duck?" on the radio.
Navy and Marine pilots aren't known for always following the rules.
I once hit the deck on the 8th tee of the NAS Millington golf course when an A4 went a few feet over our heads.
Was about to swing, heard him adding power, all 3 of us ended up flat on the grass.
There was a short runway usually used for touch and goes just over the fence from the tee.
Was likely preceded by "Watch this." or "Think I can make those long hairs duck?" on the radio.
I gave you guys a free fly over at Dudy Noble during Super Bulldog Weekend in 2014, I think.
I was ferrying a section of H-1s from the west coast to the east coast. We stopped in Starkville for the night and I was giving everyone a tour of campus before landing.
I saw the baseball lights on and headed that way. As we passed over the Sanderson, I noticed everyone was lined up looking out to center field, and then I realized we there right in the middle of the National Anthem. Totally unplanned! I thought 17, we're probably on TV tonight!
We landed, got checked into a hotel, cleaned up, and made it to the Dude by the 5th inning. You guys made a bunch of Mississippi State Fans out of the rest of my crew and maintainers. Super Bulldog weekend brought out the best that night!
I was ferrying a section of H-1s from the west coast to the east coast. We stopped in Starkville for the night and I was giving everyone a tour of campus before landing.
I saw the baseball lights on and headed that way. As we passed over the Sanderson, I noticed everyone was lined up looking out to center field, and then I realized we there right in the middle of the National Anthem. Totally unplanned! I thought 17, we're probably on TV tonight!
We landed, got checked into a hotel, cleaned up, and made it to the Dude by the 5th inning. You guys made a bunch of Mississippi State Fans out of the rest of my crew and maintainers. Super Bulldog weekend brought out the best that night!
Nothing has regressed. The reason we can't have double headers is that State and OM now play all big games at home stadium, not in Jackson. Big improvement.
I know we are getting off track, but I was in Fayetteville last year for our game and they did a helicopter flyover with a low cloud deck and gusty winds, and I swear they barely cleared the stadium and it looked like some in the upper decks were a little worried!
How did we let that happen for so long? Our President doing the flyover from a cropduster, and our head coach riding around in a golf cart.
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