A Thrilling Display of Power
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (118433)
Gainesville, Florida
April 8, 2018 10:16am CST
At the end of March, my son and I went on a week-long backpacking adventure in the remote wilderness of the interior of north central Florida. The trail we selected--which is one of our favorites--took us near a Navy bombing range. My son and I have been on this trail numerous times, and have never encountered or witnessed military action on the bombing range...that is until this year.
As we were hiking along as we headed toward our remote camping spot, we could hear the roar of jet engines from the distance. I immediately recognized the sound as military fighter jets (my dad was a Navy pilot), and so I stopped my son and told him to get out his phone and get ready to take some pictures.
Given that we were adjacent to a Navy bombing range, and there is a Navy base a couple of hours away, we expected Navy fighter jets but were completely surprised when a squadron of Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts appeared in the sky above us and started their maneuvers to do strafing runs with their 30mm cannons! Anyone who has ever seen an A-10 in action will know what an amazing sight and sound it is to see and hear them fire those cannons! The A-10 is one of the most feared fighter planes in the American military arsenal due to its deadly accuracy in hitting targets with its guns.
My son and I were able to get some good photos and video of the A-10's in action due to how close were were to them and how slow and low they flew when making their attack runs
I have seen some amazing bombing runs of our military planes before (some of my favorites were watching F-4 Phantoms when I was a kid), but seeing these A-10's in action from such close distance had to be the best I've ever seen!
18 people like this
17 responses
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Apr 18
Yes, there are no laws against photographing military fighter jets here. I was photographing them from a public place. We were about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the bombing range. They have a perimeter road that encircles the bombing range, and many people park alongside that road and watch and photograph military fighters all the time. That's where my dad and I would go when I was a child to watch the F-4 Phantoms drop their bombs!
3 people like this
@LadyDuck (458006)
• Switzerland
8 Apr 18
@moffittjc I am glad to know that you are free to take photos. Last week we heard two big bangs caused by 2 military jets breaking the sound barrier. They were after an Air France plane who had lost control with the Airport.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Apr 18
@LadyDuck Where I live in north Florida, we hear sonic booms all the time, but not from military fighter jets. The Navy will often fire cruise missiles from the Atlantic Ocean to our east that travel over the state and hit targets in the Gulf of Mexico to our west. The cruise missiles travel over the part of the state with very little population so as not to endanger anyone should a missile malfunction. We just get used to the sonic booms after a while.
We also used to hear a lot of sonic booms whenever the space shuttle would return from space and land at the Kennedy Space Center. It was always a very exciting thing to try and look up in the sky and see the space shuttle gliding back down to earth as it made its approach to the Kennedy Space Center!
4 people like this
@sabtraversa (12923)
• Italy
8 Apr 18
I would have been slightly scared. 
Especially after knowing they have accurate cannons like those. 
Especially after knowing they have accurate cannons like those. 2 people like this
@sabtraversa (12923)
• Italy
9 Apr 18
@moffittjc The cannon might just hit a needle in the haystack, avoiding the whole haystack? 
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Apr 18
@sabtraversa Sure, I guess it's possible. But I'm pretty sure the 2,000 rounds of 30 mm bullets would probably do a little bit of damage to that haystack! lol
1 person likes this
@infatuatedbby (95001)
• United States
17 Apr 18
I would have been really scared to camp there given that they're near by! Then again, theres navy bases near where I live too.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
17 Apr 18
@infatuatedbby The bears didn't bother us too much.
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@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
17 Apr 18
Where we ended up camping was much farther away from the spot where we saw the A-10s practicing. We were perfectly safe where we set up camp. Well, I mean, if you don't count all the bears, we were safe! haha
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40053)
• Laguna Woods, California
13 Apr 18
What an exciting adventure for you and your son! That is an awesome photo you got. I'm glad you had a great time.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 Apr 18
@DeborahDiane I love airshows, and one of the nice things about living in Florida is the number of excellent airshows that take place here, especially in the winter. The Ft. Lauderdale Air and Sea Show is my favorite, but it's a 5-hour drive to get down to it, so I only go every few years. The Jacksonville Air Show is much closer, so I make sure to go to that one every year. And since there is a Navy base in Jax, the Blue Angels always make an appearance every year!
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40053)
• Laguna Woods, California
14 Apr 18
@moffittjc - My husband would have loved it. We used to always go to air shows when we were younger. What an incredible show this must have been!
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40053)
• Laguna Woods, California
16 Apr 18
@moffittjc - That really is cool! When the husband of one of our daughters was in the Navy, they lived in base housing and we got to watch an incredible air show once from their back yard! We loved it.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Apr 18
The A-10 Thunderbolt is one of my favorite military fighter jets of all time, and this was the first time I had ever seen one in action. I've seen them before at military bases parked in hangars or along the runways, but this was the first time seeing them in the air! It was quite exciting for me!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Apr 18
@JudyEv I wasn't quite jumping up and down, as I had on a very heavy backpack at the time, but inside my mind I was jumping for joy!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325696)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Apr 18
@moffittjc Were you jumping up and down? I nearly was at the endurance when we met a rider originally from Canada who had a Quarter horse/Rocky Mountain/Tennessee Walking Horse cross. We see plenty of Quarter Horses in Australia but the other breeds are never seen here.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
8 Apr 18
Nice! I love getting photos of things I love.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Apr 18
Me too! In the case of these fighter jets, I shot more video than I did still photos, Luckily, A-10s fly low and slow (which is why they are so deadly in hitting their targets), so we were able to capture great video and photos, some so close you could clearly see the pilots!
@snowy22315 (169916)
• United States
8 Apr 18
That is great..one thing that is cool in this county is that every year around Labor Day they have a free air show..lots of different planes and types of planes. I don't think the air field has the capacity to handle jets..but bi planes a plenty!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Apr 18
@snowy22315 The top speed of that plane is only 90 mph. It felt like we weren't moving at all. It just amazed me that something the was basically a big tin can could stay airborne at such a slow speed, but she flew like a champ!
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Apr 18
I just went to an air show at our local airport this weekend! I got to fly in a 1928 Ford Tri-Motor plane. What an amazing experience!
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
14 Apr 18
It sounds like they put on a show for you, not what you usually get when out camping.
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
14 Apr 18
@moffittjc I know where the Ocala National Forest is but I didn't know about the bombing range. Interesting.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Apr 18
@BelleStarr It's right smack in the middle of the forest! In fact, back in the days of WWII, the bombing range was much larger. When my dad and I used to hunt in the forest back in the late 70s/early 80s, there would be signs posted everywhere in the forest that said "Danger: Unexploded Bombs. Please Report Immediately if Found"
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Apr 18
It was really awesome, and it was on the first day of our multi-day hike out into the wilderness. You live in Ocala, are you familiar with the Pinecastle bombing range in the middle of Ocala National Forest? We hiked and camped in the Juniper Prairie Wilderness for a week.
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
9 Apr 18
How exciting! I live near an air force base and we used to hear sonic booms all the time when I was a kid. Haven't heard one in a long time, though. I've definitely seen some interesting things in the skies above my town, including a lot of "UFO" sightings! 
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
12 Apr 18
@moffittjc Isn't it interesting? Whenever I see something unusual in the skies, I just assume it's the military. They send out drones at night to spy on us! Or to monitor something. You can see them circling around at night.
I don't think I've heard a sonic boom since the late '90s, possibly the early '00s. I think they may have passed a law in our state prohibiting them.
Whenever I see something unusual in the skies, I just assume it's the military. They send out drones at night to spy on us! Or to monitor something. You can see them circling around at night.
I don't think I've heard a sonic boom since the late '90s, possibly the early '00s. I think they may have passed a law in our state prohibiting them.1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Apr 18
I always find it interesting that a good number of UFO sightings always seems to take place near military bases. lol
It's been a while since I've heard a sonic boom too. I mean, I'm not complaining, but it has been a long time.
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
9 Apr 18
What an awesome experience to get that close to the action and I am sure your son got some great pictures.
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
14 Apr 18
@moffittjc That is great. The closest I have ever come to a bomber is in the museum.
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@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Apr 18
@Freelanzer These are fighter jets more than they are bombers, although they do carry bombs and missiles. I haven't ever seen a real bomber in action before either. Now that would be an amazing sight to see!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Apr 18
We got some great video footage too! And the nighttime display was pretty cool too! We could hear the bombs exploding, but couldn't really make out the fighter jets until such time as they fired up their after-burners on their engines to climb out of the attack runs. Seeing those after-burners light up in the pitch-black darkness was quite a sight to behold!
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@MarymargII (12422)
• Toronto, Ontario
15 Apr 18
I am so glad you had that super fun display! It is powerful to see them and especially when you were with your son. Good memories there!
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@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
15 Apr 18
Oh definitely some good memories. It's been two weeks now and my son and I are still talking about it!
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@MarymargII (12422)
• Toronto, Ontario
15 Apr 18
@moffittjc And those are the things that make life worthwhile for sure.
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)@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 Apr 18
It doesn't hurt the eardrums at all. The explosions aren't as loud as you think, as the bombing range is very large (10 miles by 10 miles, or 100 square miles). The bomb right in the middle of that area, so the closest you could get if you were standing on the perimeter road is 5 miles from the bombing. You feel the ground shake more than you hear the sound of the bombs exploding. And at night when we were in our campsite (which was about 14 miles away), it just sounded like thunder in the distance.
@mlgen1037 (29886)
• Manila, Philippines
8 Apr 18
Nice. I really got to go with you in your adventures. Sounds fun. Haha
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Apr 18
We experienced this on the first day of our hike. A week later, on the last night we were camping, the Navy was conducting night bombing practice, and all night long we could hear bombs exploding on the range as the fighter jets unleashed their fury. We were close enough that we could not only hear the bombs, but could also feel the ground shaking from the explosions.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Apr 18
@mlgen1037 We were okay. By that point, we were probably about 14 miles (22.5 kim) away, so we could hear the explosions and feel the ground shaking slightly under our feet. But it was very subtle, so nothing to be afraid of.
1 person likes this
@mlgen1037 (29886)
• Manila, Philippines
8 Apr 18
@moffittjc Woah. But you and your son are okay? What does it feel when you heard those explosions?
1 person likes this
@Jessabuma (31700)
• Baguio, Philippines
8 Apr 18
Ohh it seems scary! Are you not afraid?
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@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Apr 18
No, I wasn't scared, I was very excited! My dad was a fighter pilot in the Navy, so I grew up around military jets, so I have never been afraid of them.
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@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
15 Apr 18
I've waited for years to see action on that bombing range again! I thought maybe the Navy didn't use it anymore, but talking with locals, it still gets used on a frequent basis. Now that I know that, I may try to spend more time hanging around the perimeter of the bombing range in the hopes to catch glimpses of more fighter jets and bombers!
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (94483)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
17 Apr 18
Seeing our brave men and women in uniform flying the aircraft is a thrill of one lifetime.
1 person likes this
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
8 Apr 18
Good things those cannons weren't pointed at you.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118433)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Apr 18
There would have been zero chance of survival if they were pointed at us! A-10s will destroy anything in their path with deadly accuracy!
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