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:
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An extremely wide angle view of the range with an F-16 on a bomb run |
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A closer view downrange with some targets (M-60, buildings, etc) |
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The Strafe Pit |
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The SAM Launcher |
First Flight (F-16's)
The first flight of the day was a pair of F-16's
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An F-16 Makes a Close Pass |
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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
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A SAM leaves the launcher |
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A SAM streaks skyward |
Second Flight (A-10's)
The second flight of the day was a pair of A-10's
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An A-10 Drops a pair of 500lb bombs |
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An A-10 Drops a 25lb bombs |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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Water vapor forming over the wings of an A-10 |
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An A-10 Firing cannon directly over my head |
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Close up of A-10 Flying past |
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A-10 making hard turn |
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Near miss on APC |