A couple of Red Flag stories.....................
As Dougie M says, the USAF C-130s were regarded by the Aggressors as a turkey shoot. They flew, straight and level, at about 3,000'. In fairness to them, they were flying a lot of old aircraft with fatigue problems. The 130s were supposed to have fighter cover but the 'Cream of American Youth' (CAY) decided to go off and have fun elsewhere.
We were flying 'a lot lower' and definitely not straight and level and, also, meant to have fighter cover.The Aggressors were waiting for us as soon as we entered the Range and gave us a hard time.
After a couple of days of this, our intrepid Captain went off to remonstrate with the CAYs and came back with a couple of Air National Guard guys in tow. These guys flew B737s during the week and Corsairs at the weekend. On entering our office, they noticed the barrel of Watneys c/w gas bottle and pump. (We had brought 'sufficient' with us to cover the det.)
We made a deal with them.......they look after us and we keep them refreshed during the debrief. For the rest of the week we were never without our Guardian Angels.
The Corsair guys all wore fake stick-on name tags - it was surreal to be de-briefed by 'Joda - Jedi Master'
A couple of years later we were back at Nellis. In our hotel we met a bunch of guys who were in LV for the weekend. They had come from SFO and, during the conversation, they mentioned that they worked at the SFO ATCC. It turned out these were the guys we talked to as we climbed to leave the Range. The standard route was over the Grand Canyon at 14,000 before peeling off into Nellis.
We mentioned that the view was great and it would be terrific if we could get a better look at the Canyon.
They told us that there was a 'Canyon Recovery' which, when approved, allowed flight along the Canyon - no lower than 1000' above the rim. After asking us for our call-sign (Limey XX) they told us that they would make sure we would be approved if we made the request.
So, the next time we flew, on leaving the Range we called SFO Centre and requested a Canyon Recovery. We were cleared to descend and 'carry out the Standard Canyon Recovery'. With a big grins on our faces, we descended, slowed down, opened the ramp and door and cruised along the Canyon.
We had a couple of USAF observers on board and they were very impressed. The word got round very quickly and for the next couple of trips we had, at least, two Generals with us........all with their cameras.
This was more than 30 years ago and, since, there have been quite a few light a/c accidents in the Canyon area. The rules have now changed and flying over the Canyon is strictly controlled.