TBT…

This one’s for Rev Paul… 🙂 Back in the day forty or so years ago…

“Lovely” Adak, by the way…

And from the mid-80s, an always ‘thrilling’ sight- Watching a Harpoon come off the wing, especially from the TACCO seat, when you did an on wing start!!! 🙂

Your hindbrain is going “Please don’t turn right, please don’t turn right”… LOL

This wasn’t one of mine, I was usually WAY too busy doing the checklist to make sure I didn’t screw something up…

Looking at it, I’m guessing this is a TLM head for data collection. Thankfully, I never had to fire one in anger.

And one more left wing melt down for ya, HERE… Sigh…

Comments

TBT… — 15 Comments

  1. How will the introduction of the P-8 change things other than the obvious answer that it’s faster, etc?

  2. I was once temporarily assigned to Pax’s NATC to fly out of the Bahamas for 10 days. (I was an IFT, and theirs was going to be busy.) It was a great time, living out of the hotel that had the Playboy casino, and flying only four test flights.

    Where am I going with this?

    I get back to Brunswick confident that I just had the best assignment in the world only to find out that my crew had been on a Harpoon exercise while I was gone. I’ve had a lot of fun assignments, but never one of those.

    This is why I had to groan when I saw that picture.

  3. Whoa, now there’s visual that brings back some memories. Not 40 years old but 50 plus. The Lockheed Neptune had 4 wing stations on each side. Not for the weapon shown here but the air to surface rockets of that day. Watching from the bow station at trigger pull, the most impressive thing was not only the launch but the “bang” sound. No silly whoosh that hollywood uses but a loud, noisy M1 on steroids.

  4. I knew that scene as soon as the site loaded – a familiar view. In winter, we used to sit by the big window in the Longview Barracks & watch the P-3s coming and going. Always nice to hear from the cockpit crew what it was like to actually do it.

  5. Thinking of Adak (a place I’ve never been) makes me think of a cousin who joined the Navy “to see the world”. After training, spent his enlistment on Adak.

    That Tim Krieder? Sure has all the (P)egressive mindset nailed.

  6. LL- Less time on station, quicker transit, a few more bouys, upgraded sensors…

    Randy- Sorry! My crew fired three over two years. Fun times… 🙂

    Bob- LOL, yep they COULD be heard inside the airplane!

    Rev- 🙂 Glad you liked it!

    WSF- Ouch… I’d have bailed too!!!

  7. Uhhhh….hate to correct you, but that’s not a Harpoon coming off the rail.

    It’s an AGM-65 Maverick, which I didn’t know was carried by a P-3.

  8. Looks like a Mav in Navy colors. Probably is. Remember McNamara wanted to standardize the military (all Branches) equipment. Anybody remember the F-4 ‘Flying Brick’? Great aircraft. Served Navy and Airforce. No I will be SILENT on the F35.

  9. JR- It is, but it was the same ‘rush’ watching it come off the wing station. The ‘Poon was a lot bigger too!

    drjim- Yep, AGM-65, but it is the ‘visual’ I was looking for. Didn’t have a pic of a Harpoon coming off station 10. Yes, the P-3s can/do carry them, along with SLAM-ERs and a few other ‘toys’…

    Chris- Good point! 🙂

  10. I was kinda thinking it looked like a Maverick, too.

    I always liked those. The G-model Mavs give Hawgs a bootleg night capability

  11. About the first link:;But, as Nietzsche said, he who does battle with shitheads must beware that he does not thereby become a shithead.

    I think he lost the battle! In fact I know he did.

    Lining up on the left side of the runway to land in the middle huh?

  12. From the link, “that his supporters have forfeited any right to be respected or taken seriously.”
    The feeling is mutual.

  13. “Liberalism is a Mental Illness.”
    This is what happens when people aren’t spanked when they’re children.