Cannon Range Open House 2007


Every other year Cannon Range at Ft Leonard Wood holds an open house and invites the public to see what they do for one day. The range is an aircraft target range where pilots (primarily Air Force Reserve) practice their bombing and strafing skills. They are scored on accuracy as part of their proficiency ratings. The open house is a great opportunity for civilians to see our military professionals showcase their considerable skills. It is definitely something the average person doesn't get to see very often. Most of the action consists of A-10's and F-16's dropping 25lb and 500lb bombs and strafing with their cannons. The targets consist of a "strafe pit" with a target and an electronic scoring system and a large number of obsolete vehicles such as M-60 tanks, M113 APC's, Cobra gunships, "Slicks", and others as well as manufactured targets such as "buildings" built from storage containers with painted on doors and windows, fake artillery pieces, and vehicles (SCUD launchers, Russian Tanks & APC's, etc) built from sheet metal, wood & styrofoam. They even fire fake SAMs. Most of the time there are also a few other types of aircraft that perform fly overs and usually a helicopter or two (Apaches, Blackhawks, etc) including at least one helicopter landing.

The Range


Here are a few pictures of the range itself taken from the spectator area:


Wide Angle of Range

An extremely wide angle view of the range with an F-16 on a bomb run


View Downrange

A closer view downrange with some targets (M-60, buildings, etc)


Strafe Pit

The Strafe Pit


SAM Launcher

The SAM Launcher

First Flight (F-16's)


The first flight of the day was a pair of F-16's


F-16 Makes a Close Pass

An F-16 Makes a Close Pass


F-16 Firing 20mm Cannon

An F-16 Firing 20mm Cannon (the dark trail behind the aircraft is cannon smoke)

Firing SAMs


A SAM being fired to keep the pilots on their toes


SAM lifting off

A SAM leaves the launcher


SAM in flight

A SAM streaks skyward

Second Flight (A-10's)


The second flight of the day was a pair of A-10's


A-10 Drops 500lb bombs

An A-10 Drops a pair of 500lb bombs


A-10 Drops a 25lb bomb

An A-10 Drops a 25lb bombs


A-10 Drops 25lb bomb

Another A-10 Drops a 25lb bomb

Sequences


I shot some sequences of bomb runs, strafing runs, etc that show a sequence of events kind of like stop motion video. I actually shot some video in 2005 but haven't gotten it digitized yet. You can click the thumbnails in the sequence shots to display an 800X600 version of that particular frame.


First is a sequence of an A-10 dropping a pair of 500lb bombs on an M-60 tank.


A-10 Bomb Run Sequence 1

A-10 Bomb Run Sequence 2

A-10 Bomb Run Sequence 3

A-10 Bomb Run Sequence 4

A-10 Bomb Run Sequence 1

A-10 Bomb Run Sequence 2

A-10 Bomb Run Sequence 3

A-10 Bomb Run Sequence 4


Next is a sequence of an A-10 making a low pass over the trees to show just how low they were getting.


A-10 Low Pass Sequence 1

A-10 Low Pass Sequence 2

A-10 Low Pass Sequence 3

A-10 Low Pass Sequence 1

A-10 Low Pass Sequence 2

A-10 Low Pass Sequence 3


This sequence is an A-10 making a strafing run with 30mm cannon.


A-10 Strafing Run Sequence 1

A-10 Strafing Run Sequence 2

A-10 Strafing Run Sequence 3

A-10 Strafing Run Sequence 3

A-10 Strafing Run Sequence 1

A-10 Strafing Run Sequence 2

A-10 Strafing Run Sequence 3

A-10 Strafing Run Sequence 3


This is the last flight of A-10's flying by in formation as they leave the range.


A-10 4 Ship Formation Sequence 1

A-10 4 Ship Formation Sequence 2

A-10 4 Ship Formation Sequence 1

A-10 4 Ship Formation Sequence 2

Miscellanous Pics


Finally here are some miscellanous shots that I thought were interesting


Water vapor forming over the wings of an A-10

Water vapor forming over the wings of an A-10


A-10 Firing cannon directly overhead

An A-10 Firing cannon directly over my head


Close up of A-10 Flying past

Close up of A-10 Flying past


A-10 making hard turn

A-10 making hard turn


Near miss on APC

Near miss on APC