What happens when you get so clever in planning a covert invasion that you paint your aircraft like that of the country you are invading and then fly them over “friendly†forces conducting the invasion? You get shot: As for the aircraft overhead, Lynch had problems not only with Castro’s aircraft, but the Brigade B-26’s…
“In the information age we substitute mass for speed, a high degree of simultaneity for sequential action,” he said. “And access is highly valued: access to information, access to ideas, access to the domains of conflict. The Streetfighter concepts are meant to secure access and achieve high speed. That is, to be able to alter…
“Washington should show its political will and stop playing with guns on China’s doorsteps. ‘Good fences make good neighbors’ the words of the American poet Robert Frost also hold true for this relationship.” – China Daily (27 July 2011) Last week the Taiwanese press revealed an incident that occurred on the 29th of June wherein…
From 1923 to 1940, the US Navy conducted 21 “Fleet Problems” as it sought to understand, exploit and incorporate new technologies and capabilities while developing the tactics, training and procedures to employ the same should war present itself – which by the 1930s was beginning to look more and more likely to the discerning observer….
As I’ve noted elsewhere – one of the great things about running a blog are the contacts you make from around the world about the darnedest things. Some few years back I put up a post in the MIA section about the return of 2ndLt Ray Packard, a rookie P-38 pilot thrown into a battle…
As we move deeper into the Centennial celebrations focused on US Naval Aviation, there are those amongst us who think it consists primarily of blue airplanes from WWII flying form with Hornets in throwback blue…and miss a whole other part of our heritage, that provided by the USCG. Aviators from the USCG have been flying…
While Midway was not the combat debut of the B-26 Marauder (that was left to B-26’s of the 22nd Bombardment Group launching attacks against Rabaul two months earlier), Midway was nonetheless the most auspicious of the Marauder’s early actions. Originating from a 1939 Army Air Corps specification for a twin-engined medium bomber (Circular Proposal 39-640),…
Update: See also “What do I know, I was 19 years old and saw the whole thing backwards?” (h/t Boris the SLUF driver) On this, the 69th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway, the Battle of Midway Roundtable has re-posted the full post-battle letter by CDR Stanhope Ring – Hornet’s CAG. Often called the “Lost…
BOSTON (NNS) — Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced today the next Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier will be named the USS John F. Kennedy. The selection John F. Kennedy, designated CVN 79, honors the 35th President of the United States and pays tribute to his service in the Navy, in the government, and…
Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever, ‘twixt that darkness and that light. Four years ago I compiled this video…
