DID YOU EVER WONDER: Scan the skies. A bird? A plane? Make that many, many planes

There have been so many different types of planes flying over the past several weeks. Some are, I’m sure, for AFA football games but what about all the others when it isn’t game day?
— Allen

ANSWER: By coincidence, just as we were contacting the Air Force Academy with your question on Monday, a C-130 flew over. The C-130s, cargo planes often used on firefighting missions, fly out of Peterson Air Force Base and can be spotted on a regular basis.

There have been other types of aircraft including some tracking criminals and some long-range military training missions stopping to refuel at Peterson, but the academy has, indeed, had a number of overhead visitors, according to spokesman John Van Winkle.

For last weekend’s home game against San Diego State, the Wings of Blue parachute team jumped from a C-17 Globemaster 3 military transport.

Some of the others from that weekend: a P-51 Mustang, A-10 Thunderbolt and an F-15E, Heritage Day flyover of the cadets’ noon meal formation; four F-15Cs, a missing man formation for the members lost from the AFA Class of 1989; F-22 Raptors and F-15Cs, missing-man formation for the cadet wing retreat where names are called out of those from the academy who died over the past year.

On Monday the C-130 flew over the noon meal formation as a motivation for cadets. Also Monday there was a flyover for the funeral of a retired brigadier general who was buried at the academy.

And get ready for a plethora of aircraft out in full force the weekend of Nov. 7 for that traditional rivalry when Army plays Air Force.

They’re not just flying around for fun, they’re in the area for a reason, Van Winkle said. “We make sure it’s a training mission, to be good stewards of the dollar.” There are a required number of flights each year.

Besides the planes at the academy there were New Mexico Reserve helicopters, Apache and Chinook copters from Fort Carson and, on Sept. 19, F-16s from Buckley Air Force base honoring the fallen firefighters whose names were added to the wall in Memorial Park.

These are just some of the many you might have seen. The skies around here are often interesting because of the military presence.

Who’s that buried off Tomah Road?

Just south of the Tomah Road exit off I-25 on the west side is a white picket fence with a black cross on the gate.  Is this a cemetery? If so, who is buried there?
— Martine Arndt

ANSWER: The folks at the Jellystone Park RV park near Tomah Road south of Castle Rock knew exactly what it is: a horse grave. One of our editors, who drives past that spot daily, surmised, “That must have been a really special horse.”

If we hear more we’ll pass it along.
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Send questions to linda.navarro@gazette.com with “Column Question” in the subject line; mail to “Did You Ever Wonder?,” P.O. Box 1779, Colorado Springs 80901; blog at gazette.com. Queries must be signed. No personal replies.