I'll add another story.
I was a department head (Maintenance Officer) in VFA-82, probably around 2000. Our squadron was transitioning from older Lot 10 F/A-18C's to brand new Lot 18's. Whenever we got a new jet delivered, it would need a Pro A acceptance hop. Basically go out and test everything to make sure it works (shut down engines, emergency gear extension, lots of other fun stuff). The best part about the new jet that it's slick: no external pylons or kit. So it can go really fast.
I took the jet out into the warning area off of South Carolina and ran through the Pro A profile lickity split and had about 8,000 lbs of gas left. So, I decided to see how fast this new bird could fly. I started a Rutowski climb profile. Accelerated to Mach 0.9 and started a climb to 45,000 ft. I turned south abeam North Carolina and pushed the nose over to accelerate to Mach 1.3. Then climbed back up to 45,000 ft at 1.3M and let her run. Got to Mach 1.92 abeam Jacksonville, FL (that's as fast as the Hornet would go. The inlet geometry limited the airflow at this speed). That turned out to be just north of 1,500 mph ground speed. I thought that was cool, but wanted to see how fast I could get the calibrated airspeed up to. Pushed the nose over at 45,000 ft about 30 deg nose down. Let the KCAS climb until I got scared. I pulled up at around 16,000 ft and saw 820 KCAS in the HUD. That was really cool. (The engineers told me later that the canopy was only rated to 780 KCAS. I told them no it isn't).
About then, I looked outside and I was abeam Miami and short on gas, so I pointed her north and headed home on a bingo profile (luckily I didn't have to declare an emergency for low fuel), feeling pretty good about my pilot skills.
I landed and taxied back to the flight line and shut down. The line chief was there and asked how the hop went, and I said fine. Then he walked around the jet and yelled "What the hell did you do to my jet?" I walked back to where he was and he pointed to the starboard vertical stabilizer that was now missing quite a bit of paint. I said oops, and told him they should make the paint more durable.
I think I flew at the speed of heat that day.
Corn
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