I was working quietly on my Warhammer miniatures, it was about 23:00h and it was quiet because my children were already sleeping.
Suddenly I heard a “Boom”. Far away, but it sounded like a reverberating gunshot. Then, a few seconds later, another one.
First I thought: Huh. What kind of dumb*** hunter shoots a deer so close to the suburb that I can hear it?
Then I thought. Hmmm… maybe some idiot attacked the new refugee home which is a few blocks away?
No further noises were heard though, so I decided to just ask around and read the newspapers the next day.
…then I kinda forgot about it. Until I read this news story today:
Basically it says: A korean airliner, a 777 it seems, had a nonfunctional radio in the Stuttgart area. They sent a pair of Eurofighters and forced it to land at Stuttgart. The fighters went supersonic to catch up with it.
I live in that area. The noises I heard were the sonic booms.
I haven’t heard a sonic boom in more than 20 years because the Luftwaffe is prohibited flying supersonic over populated areas since some point in the 1990s.
Interesting that I didn’t even think that it could have been a sonic boom. Those were heard often in my youth. I almost forgot how they sound.
Cool story…! I remembering hearing the thump of sonic booms fairly regularly when I lived in Seoul, Korea back in the 80s. I don’t think I’ve heard one since.
Unfortunately, in our last neighborhood (we just moved) the sound probably would have been gun shots…multiple gun shots…and not from hunters… “gang bangers doing a drive by”…I actually got to witness one…over our 4 years living there, I cannot remember the times we called the police after hearing gunfire…did I mention we just moved…
Being in the Navy, and mainly stationed on air craft carriers, I’ve heard my fair share of sonic booms - out at sea we sometimes hold an "Air Power Demonstration (we aren’t allowed to call them “Air Shows”…really) I was fortunate enough to have had F-14s in the air wings attached to our ship. A pair of F-14s doing a supersonic flyby at 100 ft AGL about 100 yards/meters from the ship definitely get one’s attention - the booms ares as much felt hitting your chest as they are heard (through hearing protection),
BTW I used to live near Stuttgart - Patch Barracks - HQ US European Command - 1996-1999 - we miss the people, the food, the beer and the wine…especially the wine…it is very hard to get a good Trocken Riesling in the US.
More of a NATOPS thing, and somewhat of a JAG thing.
NATOPS: Only a few pilots in an administrative wing–like the Hornet wing at Oceana - are qualified to fly an Air Show routine. When I was in a squadron you ad to be a LCDR doing your second operational tour in the aircraft. There is a NATOPS training syllabus you have to successfully complete. The air show flight is carefully scripted - no deviations - they are pretty strict. The one time they gave a LT wavier to train to be an air show pilot, he put his jet (and himself and his RIO) into the mud down on the Dare Co ranges.
Anyway, that is the only thing that is technically an “air show” performance. They probably don’t want any confusion.
JAG: In an Air Power Demonstration they do not do anything beyond what they might do in training…within limits. The gas that they use comes from training dollars. It wouldn’t do for Joe Taxpayer to have his taxes go for an air show…but for an Air Power Demonstration…which is really just training…that’s OK.
