As a kid in the late 60's early 70's I remember my parents bitching about sonic booms. Presumably F-111's out of Plattsburgh AFB. They had to replace several windows in my Grandmother's house that were broken by them. Funny thing, even though we only lived about a mile away we never had any windows break. She was down in a river valley and we were up on a hill. Any of you know if that would make a difference in the shock wave? Never even thought about it until now.

Growing up in southern Idaho I had the same experience. I used to love hearing the booms and later, when building fences for the BLM, we'd occasionally get buzzed by fighters. Loved it. At one point there was talk about modifying/closing the ranges south of Mountain Home. Seems some bunny huggers were concerned about the stress the noise was causing for the jack rabbits. Such BS. I miss hearing it.

As a kid I was consumed with anxiety at the thought of thermonuclear war with the USSR. I watched the press conference where Reagan joked about launching missiles and actually shat my pants. The sound of any jets or sonic booms startled me as I played outside digging subterranean forts and pretending to be an Ewok. Not much has changed. I don't miss em.

Last one I felt.....1990... Nimitz. An F14 did a high speed pass. The sonic boom hit the ship so hard I thought we had hit something. Put one of the flight deck guys in the hospital.....he was just passing through a door on the flight deck into the super structure.....pressure wave hit the door with him in between the door and the jamb.

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Grassstrippilot wrote:Growing up in southern Idaho I had the same experience. I used to love hearing the booms and later, when building fences for the BLM, we'd occasionally get buzzed by fighters. Loved it. At one point there was talk about modifying/closing the ranges south of Mountain Home. Seems some bunny huggers were concerned about the stress the noise was causing for the jack rabbits. Such BS. I miss hearing it.

Well, it’s not quite as simple as that, though that's certainly the message some people wanted the public to hear. What the “bunny huggers” were fighting against was the expansion of a LIVE FIRE bombing range into the Owyhee Canyon Lands…one of the most remote, rugged and magical places in the US.

Making it a bombing range would have 1: excluded the public from any access, essentially forever, as even if the live fire were discontinued the UXB’s would make the land uninhabitable, and 2: subjected it to an endless series of wildfires until all the indigenous vegetation was replaced by cheatgrass, which would still burn continually throughout the year.

The Idaho Fish and Game was horrified by the proposal, as the Canyon Lands is home to the largest and most genetically diverse population of California Bighorn Sheep in the world, and they would be displaced in a matter of years with the bombing and subsequent change in vegetation.

The Idaho office of the BLM was horrified because they understood the biological diversity of the area and what it would mean to loose it. They pointed out that there are several million acres of flat, monocultural, over-grazed and burnt-over rangeland adjacent to the existing MOA’s which would make perfect bombing ranges. Washington promptly told the Idaho office in no uncertain terms that they were not allowed to comment on the proposal…said flat, monocultural, over-grazed rangeland was being leased by the JR Simplot Corporation and they didn’t want to give it up.

The powers that wanted it tried to sell the public a pack of lies, such as it was the only available real estate (it wasn't), and that Mountain Home AFB would close without it (it didn't). They painted the people who were against it as "radical environmentalists" who value shrubs and bunnies more than American Freedom (propagandistic bullshit). Saying that anyone who isn't with you is against you is the lowest form of bullying.

It was a ludicrously stupid proposal that was defeated in the end thanks to environmental and conservation groups who understood what was at risk. I’m proud to be one of the people who fought against it, and if that makes me a "bunny hugger" then I'm proud to be one of those too...though it's hard to square that with the memory of keeping a rifle in my junior high school locker so I could hunt rabbits after class.

I’ve spent weeks at a time in the Owyhee Canyon Lands and I’ve never seen another person down there. It is one of the most magical places I’ve ever been and one of my favorite places on earth. I don’t even bother counting the bighorn sheep I see every day I’m in there. You have to work hard to get there. A skilled boater can access the canyon a few weeks in the spring if there’s enough snow pack. Other than that, even in a stout 4x4 you can only get to the edge, and then all the trails are made by bighorn sheep. It's hard walking.

It’s one of the few places left where a man can simply drop off the face of the earth if he wants to. That’s worth a LOT in my book.

Hammer wrote:

Grassstrippilot wrote:Growing up in southern Idaho I had the same experience. I used to love hearing the booms and later, when building fences for the BLM, we'd occasionally get buzzed by fighters. Loved it. At one point there was talk about modifying/closing the ranges south of Mountain Home. Seems some bunny huggers were concerned about the stress the noise was causing for the jack rabbits. Such BS. I miss hearing it.

Well, it’s not quite as simple as that, though that's certainly the message some people wanted the public to hear. What the “bunny huggers” were fighting against was the expansion of a LIVE FIRE bombing range into the Owyhee Canyon Lands…one of the most remote, rugged and magical places in the US.

Making it a bombing range would have 1: excluded the public from any access, essentially forever, as even if the live fire were discontinued the UXB’s would make the land uninhabitable, and 2: subjected it to an endless series of wildfires until all the indigenous vegetation was replaced by cheatgrass, which would still burn continually throughout the year.

The Idaho Fish and Game was horrified by the proposal, as the Canyon Lands is home to the largest and most genetically diverse population of California Bighorn Sheep in the world, and they would be displaced in a matter of years with the bombing and subsequent change in vegetation.

The Idaho office of the BLM was horrified because they understood the biological diversity of the area and what it would mean to loose it. They pointed out that there are several million acres of flat, monocultural, over-grazed and burnt-over rangeland adjacent to the existing MOA’s which would make perfect bombing ranges. Washington promptly told the Idaho office in no uncertain terms that they were not allowed to comment on the proposal…said flat, monocultural, over-grazed rangeland was being leased by the JR Simplot Corporation and they didn’t want to give it up.

The powers that wanted it tried to sell the public a pack of lies, such as it was the only available real estate (it wasn't), and that Mountain Home AFB would close without it (it didn't). They painted the people who were against it as "radical environmentalists" who value shrubs and bunnies more than American Freedom (propagandistic bullshit). Saying that anyone who isn't with you is against you is the lowest form of bullying.

It was a ludicrously stupid proposal that was defeated in the end thanks to environmental and conservation groups who understood what was at risk. I’m proud to be one of the people who fought against it, and if that makes me a "bunny hugger" then I'm proud to be one of those too...though it's hard to square that with the memory of keeping a rifle in my junior high school locker so I could hunt rabbits after class.

I’ve spent weeks at a time in the Owyhee Canyon Lands and I’ve never seen another person down there. It is one of the most magical places I’ve ever been and one of my favorite places on earth. I don’t even bother counting the bighorn sheep I see every day I’m in there. You have to work hard to get there. A skilled boater can access the canyon a few weeks in the spring if there’s enough snow pack. Other than that, even in a stout 4x4 you can only get to the edge, and then all the trails are made by bighorn sheep. It's hard walking.

It’s one of the few places left where a man can simply drop off the face of the earth if he wants to. That’s worth a LOT in my book.

WHAT!!! You had a gun in school? How many people did it jump out and shoot??? I can't believe this!!! dont you know guns kill people!

I have to agree dont bomb something beautiful... go bomb something ugly like oklahoma or kansas they need some bumps in their surface. lol

Hammer, it looks like you may have answered your own question. [emoji1]

Those are some nice pictures of a beautiful area. I'd love to visit there.

Go to the North Nellis range -Area 51 it's very common -daily event.

Apparently their propaganda worked. In my defense, though, I was only a teenager at the time, so thanks for the additional info. The sad thing is propaganda like that works because "radical environmentalists" push the limits to save anything and everything, which probably doesn't help their cause when something as legit as this comes along.

Guns in school! I miss those days. My senior year my best friend, for speech, demonstrated how to clean a shotgun. I clearly remember us walking down the hallway with him, shotgun over his shoulder. Taking a cue from him, I did my demonstration on how to load and fire a muzzle loader. I took the class out to the football field, which had a large field next to it, and blasted a five gallon jug a couple of times. No one thought a thing about it.