Around 4 this afternoon I started hearing the very loud rumbling of jets. Very loud. About a half hour later I decided to go to Wal-Mart. As I exited my abode I heard jets roaring again, looked up and saw what I believe were a pair of those new F-22 fighter planes flying over.The F-22's are built by Lockheed here in Fort Worth. Yes, Fort Worth has a big arms supply industry. I did not know this before I moved here. Seems like I've always lived near big plane builders. In Washington it was Boeing and their humongous 747 manufacturing plant in Everett.
In Fort Worth the jets being built are smaller and so are the buildings. But the noise is big.
In Washington I lived near the Whidbey Island Naval Air Base. I don't know if it is still open. There is a billboard near the entry to the base that says something like "Pardon Our Noise. That's the Sound of Freedom." When I'd read that I always thought, no it's not, it's the sound of noisy jets. It was an issue when the Navy was in practice mode, because Washington's most popular, most scenic state park, Deception Pass, is near by. It could be unsettling to be sitting on top of a peak in Deception Pass and have a jet roar overhead.
So, today as I drove the long 2 miles to Wal-Mart, I saw people stopped at the side of the road, looking up. By the time I got to the Wal-Mart parking lot and got out, I was able to see that there were 2 pairs of jets flying a circle that went right over Wal-Mart. It did not take long for a pair of the jets to pass over the Wal-Mart, so I could take a picture.
When I was in the store the Sound of Freedom shook the store 5 or 6 times. I forgot what I was shopping for.
You should be on the ground beneath the B-1 B bomber when it's ripping a hole in the sky. They were stationed at the Naval Air Station (Carswell) temporarily while Dyess's flight line was getting a new surface. I was at Ridgmar mall when they would take off and many of the cars with alarms would blare their response to the rolling thunder. I don't know if it's "the sound of freedom" or not but it would certainly strike fear in the heart of someone on the receiving end of it's payload.
ReplyDelete