Udvar-Hazy, part deux…

Posted on by August 7, 2014

Continuing with pictures from Pediem’s and my visit to Udvar-Hazy NASM at Dulles Airport.

Again, clicken to embiggen on any picture.

This one is for Ev!  And Ev, I didn’t see a single thing being held on by duct tape!!! Smile

QH-50C, better known as DASH

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And guns… It’s a gun blog after all…

Browning 30 cal on the bottom (e.g. wings), 50 cal flex mount (e.g. wings), Ma Deuce on top (also waist guns).

Ma Deuces

And this is the first Presidential helicopter-  President Eisenhower used it in 1957 to fly from DCA to Camp David (I can’t believe the USAF let this get taken over by the Marines…LOL

Bell H-13J (forerunner of the Jet Ranger)

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And they have Baumgartner’s capsule from his parachute jump earlier this year…

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This one is one of my personal favorites…

Talk about pilots that clanked when they walked… They were lowered attached to a ‘trapeze’ then flew off, coming back to ‘catch’ the trapeze again to ‘land’…

Hence the insignia on the side.  This bird actually flew from and returned to USS Macon.

Curtiss F9C-2  Sparrowhawk

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And then we got into the ‘other’ bay…

This one needs to explanation…  She’s been rode hard and put up wet, but she made it back.  I can’t help but think of Challenger and Columbia and the losses there when I see one of these though…

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And a few close ups…

The rockets on this sucker are just plain HUGE (and one time use), the smaller nozzles are the OMS engines, which were used to maneuver in flight and for retro rockets to de-insert from orbit.  Interestingly there was NEVER a failure in an OMS engine during the entire life of the shuttle program.

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And a close up of the thrusters used for ‘fine’ maneuvering… in total there are 38 primary and 6 Vernier thrusters on a shuttle…

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And the ones on the nose… replicated on both sides or course…

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And the APU (kinda critical, they have two, lower center) and more thrusters upper left

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And yes, each tile IS numbered to a specific location, and you can see damage on the tiles above the black ones…

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There’s one more post in the hopper, one more airplane and a story with it…

Udvar Hazy…

Posted on by August 6, 2014

So I spent Saturday draggin Pediem around the Smithsonian Air and Space extension at Dulles Airport… Well, actually she ‘wanted’ to go! Smile So a few pics… I’m sure she’ll be putting a few up on her blog (hint, hint), and she had the better camera…

Clicken to embiggen on any picture…

SR 2 The iconic entry picture… SR-71…  It looks like it’s going a thousand miles and hour sitting still and it just ‘absorbs’ light…

This one is a Nieuport 28 decked out in the 94th Fighter Squadron (the oldest US fighter squadron) colors.

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And it’s ALL about different sizes for different folks…  Single seat race plane Nemesis next to the engine of Dash 80 (Boeing 707)… Nemesis weighs less than 500 lbs and goes 300mph… DSC00966 Pedi said something to the effect of hell no, that’s not an airplane you get in, it’s an airplane you PUT ON! Smile

Bonus points if you recognize the name Mike Forney and the movie where one of these appeared… DSC00996 And most people don’t realize how LITTLE the original jet fighters were… F-86/Mig-15 pair…  At the military opening, I was talking to a Korean Era pilot, he said the ‘hardest’ problem was “Seeing the little sumbitches.” DSC00999 DSC01005 It was so busy I really couldn’t get many ‘good’ shots without somebody walking through the frame… The next pair is the F-4/Mig-21. Bigger, more complex, easier to see coming at you… And you can see the F-105 “Thud” behind them. DSC01004 And this one is back in the restoration section… It’s a PBY JRS-1 (Thanks Stretch) that was at Ford Island and survived the Pearl Harbor bombing (most think because it was actually flying a patrol that morning… DSC00977 And another ‘iconic’ reason folks come to Udvar Hazy… Enola Gay I hope y’all enjoyed these, I’m working on some other pics and a story tied to one of the birds…

Stabby Thingie…

Posted on by August 3, 2014

Woo Hoo!!!

Mr. Rowe took pity on me and turned my sheath around a lot quicker than I thought… 🙂

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Walnut furniture, Damascus blade 9 1/4″ TOL…DSC01073

Made by Gordon Graham out of east Texas- Tiled DamascusDSC01075

How is it balanced??? Perfectly!!!DSC01077Kenny Rowe’s website is HERE.  Gordon Graham’s website is HERE.  I’d highly, HIGHLY recommend both of them for quality and beauty of their products and their reasonable prices!!!

FCC note- I paid for all the items pictured out of my own money pulled out of my grubby little pocket- So there…

Not saying I told you so…

Posted on by August 1, 2014

BUT…

We’ve BEEN saying this for now at least two years…

An independent panel appointed by the Pentagon and Congress said Thursday that President Obama’s strategy for sizing the armed services is too weak for today’s global threats.

Read it and weep HERE…

This is what happens when all the money goes to entitlements to buy voters.

And before somebody starts, no military retirement is NOT an entitlement, we put our asses on the line for 20 or more years to defend this country… And we were the lucky ones that made it home.

Oh yeah, and BO wants to cut more military this year and next…

WWII Poster…

Posted on by August 1, 2014

It’s the Marines turn again… 🙂

WWII Marine posterIt was done by Beck Engraving in Philly in 1942…

The only thing I could make out about the artist is I ‘believe’ it was done by Capt Guinness, apparently an active duty Marine.  He may have been one of the artists brought into government directly and given officer rank.  I ‘think’ this is actually an oil painting that was converted to a poster from the looks of the sky.

 

Anybody Recognize This???

Posted on by August 2, 2014

SR 1If you do, you know where I was today…

Drug Pediem out and then had the pleasure of Pedi and Proud Hillbilly joining me for dinner…

Great day! (other than the fact we didn’t shoot anything)…

 

Hornady Recall…

Posted on by August 2, 2014

Hornady 9mm Luger +P Ammunition Recall

Posted by  on August 1, 2014 at 11:50 am

recall-903226-lg
Hornady Mfg Company is recalling one (1) lot of 9mm 135gr +P Hornady Critical Duty™ Ammunition, Item#90226. This lot was shipped between the dates of 6-5-14 and 7-16-14.

Item number 90226 LOT # 3141635

Hornady Mfg Company ballisticians have determined that some cartridges from Lot # 3141635 may exhibit light or no powder charges. Use of this product may result in firearm damage and or personal injury.

DO NOT USE HORNADY CRITICAL DUTY 9MM 135GR. +P, LOT #3141635.

The lot number can be found printed on the underside of the box label.

This Notice Only Applies to Lot #3141635.

If you own this Lot # or have any questions regarding this recall, please call 800-338-1242. Hornady Mfg Company will make all arrangements associated with this return and replacement of the product.

ANY OTHER LOT NUMBERS OR ITEM NUMBERS ARE NOT SUBJECT TO THIS RECALL AND REQUIRE NO ACTION.

Thank you for your attention. We apologize for this inconvenience.

Random Stuff…

Posted on by August 1, 2014

Too funny…

Apparently Comcast had a major commercial internet outage yesterday morning in the area where I work.

Now you’d ‘think’ this would mean people could actually get stuff done without any interruptions, etc.  right???  I was perfectly happy, as I wasn’t getting interrupted for four solid hours!!!

Not so much, seems like people were running to windows or outside with their phones to check facebook, personal emails etc. about every half hour…

And some people were pretty incensed about it, but I ‘never’ heard a single person complain about their WORK email being down…

Sigh…

Makes you wonder how much actual WORK gets accomplished in some of these businesses everyday…

AND I wonder if they realize their companies are probably monitoring their interwebz usage… 🙂 Can we say firing offense???

In other news-

It appears there are some fractures in the façade of the MSM, with some ‘actual’ coverage starting to be done, much to the administration’s dismay.  One report that popped up and promptly disappeared was apparently how close Charlotte came to getting a person with Ebola getting on an airplane that would have come through there, but apparently the person was diagnosed BEFORE the left Africa…

And Jesse Ventura is a piece of work- Suing the Chris Kyle estate and winning, then complaining about the ‘bad coverage’ he’s been given…  If I were him, I wouldn’t be showing up at any SEAL/UDT reunions or events where SEALS might be present…  Just sayin…

And lastly, on the way in this morning I heard Chief Lanier (DC Police) being interviewed about the WIN for 2A and concealed carry in DC in the Palmer case (Thank you Alan Gura among others); then the stay of the ruling.  She was prattling on about how she ‘respects’ 2A and concealed carry, but has ‘issues’ with it due to her ‘mandate’ to protect all the high rollers, VIPs, yada, yada, yada in DC…

In other words, don’t plan on ANYTHING changing anytime soon…

I’m thinking DC is going to do a Chicago and try to drag this out on appeals until the 12th of never…

I have to go into the District this weekend, so I’ll be doing a concerted search of my truck to ‘hopefully’ get all the ammo/loose rounds/spent cases out BEFORE I cross the 14th street bridge… sigh…

Otherwise, I’ll rent a damn car…

A follow-up to pick a pair…

Posted on by July 29, 2014

Well, THAT post blew up!

I figured I might get 10 comments, not 50+!  Thanks to all who commented and it also started quite an email back and forth with some folks…

Which leads me to today’s post-

Four options have come out of the comments & emails from the earlier post-

Run early, run when you can, walk/bike out, or fort up…

It’s ALWAYS timing…  If you have ‘enough’ lead time, you can make a break early…

While not my ‘primary’ route out of Dodge, one I’ve actually driven a few times-

For example, Fairfax to Front Royal- 58 miles, 53 minutes in ‘normal’ traffic…

Nice little run out I-66, no fuss no muss…  Probably something 95% of the people would try to do, regardless…

Let’s say you aren’t able to beat the rush, but you’re still determined to drive as far as you can.  You ‘have’ mapped out alternate routes, right?

Same trek, Fairfax to Front Royal- 78 miles, 1.5 hours in ‘normal’ traffic…

Same start and finish, but over 50% longer both in distance and time (lots of 2 lane roads, not much connectivity out in the woods either), but I’m doubtful if many people even know there IS an alternative route between the two…

Now the crux of the matter- Have you actually driven your alternate route?  Do you know what to expect in various locations???

I snuck out a couple of days ago and had lunch with Jay G, and no I don’t know what the new S&W toy is… But, we got to talking about bugging out and discussing bug out routes and he came up with a wrinkle ‘I’ didn’t think of…

Have you driven your alternate route at the WORST time?  E.g. rush hour traffic?  Or coming back from (fill in the blank) holiday?

And he indicated they will have an article coming on this soon!

Honestly, no I haven’t driven either of my alternates during worst case times…  But I do know from past experience coming back into DC on I-66 during the holiday season that 58 miles can (and has) taken  THREE @%& hours on I-66 due to idjits…

And I need to go buy a bike, not only can I use the exercise, that is one of the excellent points raised in the previous post about ways to ‘carry’ things like a back pack (pushing it on the bike is a LOT easier than humping it on the back), especially for us old farts.

Thanks again to all those who commented and emailed!!!