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Hardwood Range Open House 16 October, 2009

Photos ©Copyright Joe Oliva - U.S. Military may use without restriction.
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  B-1 bomber B-1B Bomber Low Pass on Range B-1 Bomb release Look closely, released Mk. 82 bomb is visible against bomb bay door  
  b-1 bomb release Mark 82 500 lb. high-drag bomb released. The purpose of the "Ballute" on the rear of the bomb is to create drag to permit the dropping aircraft to pull away and not get damaged by the impact explosion. b-1 bomb release Two bombs have collided, while the ballutte of the third bomb has failed to deploy  
  bomb in flight Mk. 82 500 lb high-drag bomb a split second before impact. The ballute is shown to good advantage here. bombs in flight The two bombs which had collided have found their way to the target. These training bombs are concrete-filled, and do not explode unlike the real ones.  
               
  cannon target The target for the Civil War Artillery Demo, an M113 Armored Personnel Carrier is pushed out to the range. Weston Hoeper The Hardwood Range Control Officer, Capt. Hoeper, perhaps holds the sole distinction of hitting a target on the Hardwood Range with both An F-16 cannon and a Civil War Cannon!  
  Civil War Cannon firing. Look closely near the right edge of the picture to see the cannon ball in flight! bullseye Ka-Boom! The split-second moment of impact is captured in this picture. Note that the cannon ball is visible at the center of the impact smoke ring!  
  Med Flight The Bell 222 Med Evac helicopter from the Marshfield Clinic was on hand for display. bullseye About 1/4 second after the above picture, a new hole in the target is visible, and the silver cannon ball is visible in the air to the left of the target!  
               
  f-16 Most of the Madison 115 FW F-16s deployed overseas last month. The few that remained behind put on a strafing show in the morning, and a Close Air Support (CAS) Demo in the afternoon. f-16 The Madison F-16s really put on a terrifec CAS Demo. Having this demo performed on the range with targets and Smokey Sams really makes it realistic!  
  f-16 flare An F-16 drops a flare in response to a Surface to Air (SAM) missile launch. f-16 F-16 performs a "Show of Force" manuever. This low-level, high-speed pass is meant to intimidate potential adversaries to cease and desist. This is very loud, and if repeated, on the next pass the bombs leave the racks.  
  UH-60 The Wisconsin Army Guard Unit from West Bend flew in their UH-60 MedEvac / Search and Rescue helo, and gave a great SAR demo SAR Demo "Rescued" aircrew is hoisted aboard a WI ARNG UH-60.  
  SAR Demo Getting pulled aboard. In a real SAR mission, there would be a machine gunner in the window to the right. Hardwood Navy This is the entire Hardwood Range Navy, consisting of one "Flying Boat". I didn't think it could fly, but the Madison 115 FW Explosive Ordnance Experts assured me that packed with enough C-4 Plastic Explosives, it would fly just fine!  
  KaBoom True to their word, the "Flying Boat" took off faster than the Space Shuttle... KaBoom ...But when the smoke cleared, the boat was nowhere to be found. Perhaps it is still up there, somewhere!