Hachinohe Air Show

Ok, just ask my wife, and she'll tell you she married a bonafide honest-to-god, American war-hero veteran.  And if she denies it, ask me and I'll tell you.  Anyway, part of the awesomeness of flying fighters (which is already "can't-stare-directly-at-it-because-it's-so-awesome" kind of awesome) is getting to go to airshows where the common masses stare at you like you are some kind of zipper-suited sun god (thanks to Uncyclopedia for that one:  http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Fighter_pilot

So my buddy Dixon and I (his last name is Kuntz ...) flew a pair of Vipers down to the town of Hachinohe for their local airshow.  I had heard that we would enjoy the celebrity status most commonly reserved for Rock Stars but I was skeptical.  Upon landing however, I immediately understood why Rock Stars are so awesome - people treat them like they are awesome, and they respond accordingly.  Again, I wasn't expecting the kind of reaction that we got.  Several Japanese women handed us a Sharpie and asked us to sign their t-shirts.  On their breasts.  While they were wearing them.  And being the "ambassadors in blue" that we are, how could we say no?  To be fair, the women were all in wheelchairs, and had down syndrome, and our wives were standing ten feet away laughing at us the whole time, but I choose to gloss over those facts in this retelling.

In all seriousness, the Japanese LOVE airshows, and the cameras the average tourist was packing at this thing was easily 5 figures with all the lenses and tripods and other equipment.  And the Japanese women were gorgeous.  And they loved that real-life fighter pilots were taking pictures with them.  My wife told me I wasn't allowed to sleep in bed with her that night because there wouldn't be enough room for my uber-inflated ego after all of it ...

 Katie loved the F-16.  Standard.  Who wouldn't?

 

Katie wanted to know why this F-16 was green.  I had to explain to her that is the far inferior version that the Japanese reverse-engineered and called the F-2.  She said it was pretty.  I died a little inside.

 

All day long people wanted their pictures taken with us.

 

World's finest pair of zipper-suited sun gods.

Last week we also got to head down to Komatsu and fight with some Japanese F-15s.  The training was awesome, but I wanted to take a second and post a picture of the fleet's finest aircraft, 92-3895.  Why the fleet's finest?  For starters, it used to be the 5th Air Force flagship flown by Gen Wright.  But now, it has my name on it ... yeah I'm biased, but it's a SWEET jet.

 

The fleet's finest.  Detractors look on with jealousy.

 

895's crew chief, SrA Chris "Sweetfist" Cerrillo.  895 may have my name on her canopy, but there is no denying that she is Sweetfist's jet.