Came across the following while researching something else:
Have to wonder how long the formation lasted after the photographer took the shot. Talk about a range of disparity – from the B-36/B-52 bringing up the rear to the Dart and Super Sabre in lead and the transports stuck in the middle, you know there had to be a lot of muscle movements going on in all those cockpits to keep the formation(relatively) tight. Wonder what speed they were making?
As a squadron of U.S. Navy dive bombers, flying at 12,000 feet, closed in on a Japanese target the sky ahead would fill up with bursting anti-aircraft shells as the Japanese defenders ranged in their guns. A high speed run in to 10,000 feet placed the squadron almost two miles high over the target in…
Have been a bit sparing of late on posting here and at USNI, in large part because the day job(s) have been demanding their pound (more like tens of pounds) of flesh. And developments appear to promise a major surge on one front in the next few weeks, so we’ll take advantage of the relative…
History – IAF in Lebanon War (1982)…Here’s one from the historical archives during the last dust-up in the region. For fellow Hawkeyes, what primary rule do you see the IAF crew violating?-SJS
Prelude 21 February 1945. Bismarck Sea (CVE 95) is sunk by kamikaze attack off Iwo Jima. In the same action, USS Saratoga (CV-3) was removed from action for what would be the remainder of the war and USS Enterprise suffered significant damage. April-May 1945. Kamikazes are extracting a heavy price during the invasion of Okinawa….
…And then writes about it. This past week I spent a day with the “Greyhawks†of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron ONE TWO ZERO (VAW-120) – the Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) for Hawkeye and Greyhound aircraft. As an FRP squadron, VAW-120 is tasked with training pilots, naval flight officers (NFOs), and aircrew and maintenance personnel…
The latest to join the milbog/aviation ‘verse is RememberedSky.com – brought to you by a former Crusader/Corsair II naval aviator with 170 combat missions in the A-7 over Vietnam while flying off the USS Midway in the 1972-73 timeframe. Consider one of the more recent posts: All days come from one day, as the writer,…
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Oh to be a fly on the wall at that briefing! 😀
I’m guessing they flew a couple or three stepped down individual formations and had the faster ones join on the slower. When they were all in the frame they started shooting like mad…and praying!
Thanks for finding that little gem!
VR,
Andy
Definitely looks like the formation is stepped down from the relative sizes of the aircraft. I’ll bet 1Andy is right.
Oops. I mean Andy.