Flightdeck Friday – Bonus Edition
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…
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Flightdeck Friday – Early Edition: The Doolittle Raid
Sixty-five years ago Guts, determination, innovation – courage were defined (and well before Joint was “cool”) Conceived in the dark aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the raid had its genesis in the idea of CAPT Frank Lowe, USN who predicted that Army twin-engine bombers could be launched form a carrier under the right…
Flightdeck Friday – Fleet Air Arm Edition: Hawker Sea Hawk
Hawker Sea Hawk F.Mk.1-6 It may (but really shouldn’t) surprise some readers that the Royal Navy once boasted an air arm of flattops with airwings similar in composition to those of the US (mix of fighters, attack, ASW and of course, AEW) which saw action in various corners of the world. Alas, that heritage is…
Raptors’ Thanksgiving Intercept of Tu-95 Bears
While there aren’t any official photos out of the 22 Nov sunset intercept, there are a couple homemade ones floating around the ‘sphere – like these courtesy AW&ST’s Ares blog (subscription maybe required). No shots w/Bears – yet: Word is the package was a couple of Raptors, a tanker (natch) and an AWACS. Do you see what we…
Flightdeck Friday – Flat-top oddities
Over the years, the acreage afforded by carriers from the Essex through Nimitz-classes have stirred some creative thinking as to what might be launched and/or recovered therein. Of course, everyone should remember the specially configured P2V-3C’s that provided an iterim nuclear capability until the AJ Savage could come along. Along the way, though have been…
Flightdeck Friday Special Edition: Kitty Hawk Decommissioning
We noted last year that the Kitty Hawk would not be with us much longer…Today, forty-eight years after being commissioned, the mighty Battle Kat was finally silenced: Kitty Hawk’s Final Chapter “It ties a loop around almost half a century,” Capt. Todd Zecchin, the ship’s 34th and final commanding officer, said of the event. Martinelli, 68,…
Flightdeck Friday: Countdown to Midway – USN Carrier-based Air Order of Battle (AOB)
Task Force 17 – Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher in Yorktown Task Group 17.5 Carrier Group – CAPT Elliott Buckmaster USS Yorktown (CV-5) CAPT Buckmaster CVG-5 – LCDR Oscar Pederson VS-5 LT Wallace Clark Short, Jr. 19 (17) x SBD-3 VF-3 LCDR John Smith Thach 27 (25) x F4F-4 VB-3 LCDR Maxwell Franklin Leslie 18…