The ‘Conversation…’ – Pt II
(Part I here)Vital statistics:Built: 7 Aug ust 2006Delivered: 23 August 2006Mileage by 27 August 2006: 730 …yeah, it’s all that …–SJS
Saturday Comics
…and this is why nukes have PALs (well, one reason at least): And whist you are tripping the blogsphere fantastic, check out this great blog, rife with the humor endemic in Naval Aviation. Enjoy your weekend! – SJS
Flightdeck Friday!
1212L/0812Z 16 June 1959. 78 nm east of Wonsan, North Korea, a P4M Mercator assigned to VQ-1 (BuNo 122209) is conducting another “ferret†mission in international airspace over the Sea of Japan. At the controls are LCDRs Don Mayer and Vince Anania. Fours hours into the mission a pair of silver MiG-17s approach the Mercator…
Initiative and Decisiveness: Here’s one from the “Able Dogs”
Recent discussion over in Lex’s ready room on resurrection of the COIN mission and supporting aircraft types sent your humble scribe over to the Able Dog’s site for some refresher training. In so doing, stumbled across this story that is timeless in its telling and lesson. Reproduced in part here in the hope that you,…
Braindead Politicians
Black Five covers it well here as does John at Argghhh! $223M for a bridge to nowhere, but an additional $7M for troops suffering brain injuries? Nooo… Mere words fail to describe the depths this Congress continues to plumb. Pathetic. Lamentable. Wretched. Piteous. –umm, no, they all seem so…inadequate.-SJS
“It’s the End of the World as we know it…”
“But I feel Fine…” (h/t R.E.M. )Welcome to Aug 22, or, as it is known in other quarters, the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427 — the significance of which was first highlighted here . Suffice to say- we’re still here. It may have been that the thwarted British Muslim…
Powerpoint Riposte
Your humble scribe is back from TDY to the land of real mountains and clear air — but a land also infected with the blot of PPT-itis. Alas, he returns to the epicenter of all that is malodorous about this infliction from Redmond, to find his classified and unclassified email boxes packed to the gills…
Flightdeck Friday! F4D Skyray (Part 2)
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…
Flightdeck Friday! Douglas F4D Skyray (Part 1)
(The Scribe is flying back to occupied Virginia Friday, hence the early publication) Presented this week: The Douglas F4D/F-6A Skyray. Another of Ed Heinemann’s now-classic designs, the F4D counted a number of firsts in its history, but like the F3H, would be victimized by the Westinghouse J-40. In its short life, the F4D (or as…