I've experienced these close and personal jets too. Back in the early 70s I was on a wildland fire fighting Helitack crew. We would fly into fires on the Sequoia National Forest. On one such fire assignment, we were flying down the Kern River at about 800' AGL, when all of a sudden a Corsair came up in front of us. (He must of been trailing us as he snuck under us and I could see the pilot). The Corsair was traveling very very slow with flaps out and landing gear down. The plane probably came out of Lemoore Naval Air Station. My helicopter was traveling about 60-80 knots, the Corsair wasn't going much faster as he passed underneath us. As he got further ahead he picked up his landing gear, tucked in his flaps and hit the gas. I remember seeing the flame of the engine as he roared off. That was cool for a 18 year old to see first hand. Through out my career as a wildland firefighter, I work closely with the the Navy as we share airspace all the time and mixed missions together. Most recently, I coordinated flights of cruise missiles through my fire's TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction airspace) so as not to cause conflicts with the military's scheduled training missions. PS. When I was even younger, I worked on constructing trails in the Kern River drainage, and many times I would see these Navy jets on the deck below me carving the river. Speak of a roar!!
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