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Flightdeck Friday: Planning, Building and Training for the Future

(which might also serve as a cautionary tale to those who decry ‘future warists’ – SJS) …Investments in blood and treasure: Jan. 1927: 8 officers and 81 enlisted men of VO-1M, led by Maj. Ross Rowell, arrived at Corinto, Nicaragua with six DH’s. Amidst the anarchy of the civil and banditry, the U.S. Marines held…

Saturday Matinee: Marauders In Action

The “Flying Prostitute” it was called – the design, radical for the time, featured wings so short in span that there appeared to be “no visible means of support,” hence the moniker.  Later, as inexperienced crews were dropping more and more of them into the waters of Tampa Bay, it earned another – “widow maker.” …

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Flightdeck Friday: USMC WWII MIA Return Edition

The Official press release: Marine Pilot Missing In Action From WWII Is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors He is…

Flightdeck Friday – of Willie Fudds and Stoofs with Roofs

17 December 1956. The icy fog of the mid-December morning had long dissipated when an odd appearing aircraft took the active duty runway.  Twin-engines and a shoulder mounted wing marked its lineage to with that of the S-2 family, but a set of twn tails and more importantly, a huge, airfoil-shaped radome that stretched back…

Flightdeck Friday: On the Road Again…

Traveling again for the next few days so posting will, perforce, be light.  Stay tuned, couple of major announcements when we return that will have some influence around these parts in the coming year.  In the meantime, a couple of golden oldies for your consideration over the weekend: Phantom Records – 5 Dec 1961: Commander…

Flightdeck Friday: MIA Edition – Missing WWII Airman Returns Home

The ‘MIA Returned’  series of posts has sort of grown on its own accord and as such, has become one of our favorties.  For new readers, whenever the remains of American servicemen are recovered and positively identified through a complex and rigorous DNA process, the DoD’s POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) issues a short announcement of that fact,…

Flightdeck Friday: P-38 Lightning Edition (Part I)

OK, so it’s back onto the (Air)bus with the rest of the sardines and head back to Occupied Territory after a week of TDY near the Rockies’ Front Range. Presently researching a (near) future post that includes the events surrounding an engagement between 22 P-38J’s of the 474th Fighter Group temporarily based at St Marceau, France…

Flightdeck Friday: MIA Edition – Vietnam War Era Pilot Identified

First, the official release: Pilot Missing in Action From The Vietnam War is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He…