January 6, 1999
This is one of the last of my late father’s flying stories. I posted some of this in rec.aviation.student some time ago, but have since had a chance to check on a few facts, and thought I’d repost it for completeness.
When Dad was still a Cadet at Moffitt Field in the Bay area just before WWII, a favorite stunt among the Cadets was to fly under the Golden Gate bridge, preferably in formation, at night. This was strictly against regulations but the army pretty much looked the other way when Dad was a Cadet because it showed "esprit de corps." After the war started this became a bit more dangerous because there were shore batteries at both ends of the bridge. The idea was to zoom down from over the bay to get plenty of speed up, fly under the center span, and then climb out away from the batteries’ searchlights in order to conceal their tail numbers as much as possible. A riskier approach after Pearl Harbor was from the West, where it was less obvious to the gunners that the aircraft were probably friendly! It was also risky because cables and ropes were sometimes left dangling from the bridge, probably to discourage this sort of stunt. I don’t believe anyone ever hit one of these cables, but they sure made things more challenging.
Dad said classes after his continued to do this for a while, but eventually some hot dog had to try something even crazier and ruined everything. This guy tried the same thing under (I believe) the San Mateo Bridge. Even at low tide this bridge, long but more of a causeway than a bridge, is only 8-10' off the water! Unfortunately he didn't make it, but managed to survive. His BT-13 didn't. After the army made an example of him, the flights under the bay area bridges pretty much stopped.
Didn't someone take an Aero Commander under the St. Louis Arch just after it was finished? Dad once told me that after the arch opened there was a FAR specifically forbidding flying under it, but I can't find it now. Dad said the guy who did it was spotted washing off the paint he'd used to conceal his N-number in a field west of St. Louis, but was never caught. Any of you guys?
Bob
Copyright Ó 1999 Robert T. Chilcoat