"At a minimum, Washington should delay the planned 2010 retirement of the Space Shuttle until a new space plane can replace it, as a way to retain a deterring potential military capability. China’s unwillingness to comment on its military space plans, coupled with the Shenlong space plane, confirms its larger aversion to military transparency. The…
Continuing from yesterday’s posting, today we look at some of the unique aspects of the Ford’s operational history. Flying the Ford: The Ford, besides having a noteworthy climb rate, was also very maneuverable, featuring an incredible roll rate. One Navy test pilot who flew the Skyray said that Air Force chase-plane pilots were desperate to…
trans·for·ma·tion (trÄns’fÉ™r-mÄ’shÉ™n): the act of changing in form or shape or appearance. 1928. Boeing is rolling the dice and has invested its own money in developing two prototype aircraft it hopes to demonstrate to the Navy and later the Army as replacements for the F3B, currently serving with the Navy, and PW-9, serving with the…
Sunday, 17 May 1942. PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, 7th Air Force): The 7th Air Force is placed on alert in anticipation of a possible attack on Midway. For the next 10 days the old B-18’s on hand are used on sea searches to supplement the B-17’s. VII Bomber Command receives an influx of B-17’s during…
7 Feb 1950: In a demonstration of carrier long-range attack capabilities, a P2V-3C Neptune, with Commander Thomas Robinson in command, took off from Franklin D. Roosevelt off Jacksonville, Fla., and flew over Charleston, S.C., the Bahamas, the Panama Canal, up the coast of Central America and over Mexico to land next day at the Municipal…
When all else fails – and your butt is on the line with a major PR catastrophe looming, it is best to man-up, square your shoulders and do your duty as organizational lead by assuming responsibility before The Big Guy…unless you are the head of Russia’s ROSKOSMOS space agency. Then you can hint darkly about…
