And the score is Vito one, decorations nothing…
Or, you could call it decoration by Vito…
Q. Why do Navy airplanes need tail hooks?
A. After a tough day of flying on an aircraft carrier, the planes are always washed and they use the hooks to hang the planes over the side to dry out.
And kudos to the pilots, they didn’t even punch out…
This is probably off the USS LEXINGTON back in the day, it’s a TF-9F and probably the result of the wire breaking at the end of the roll out. Not enough airspeed left to go fly, not enough brakes to actually STOP before the deck edge. The landing area is roughly 425 feet long in case you wondered.
h/t JP
Things actually work out…
Since I had some previously scheduled meetings down in Norfolk yesterday, I got a chance to have dinner with Daddy Bear and his co-worker Jeff yesterday evening, before the slog back to NOVA. They were also in town for some work related stuff.
Took em to a ‘dive’, but DB wanted seafood… His initial reaction was “Where in hell ARE we?” 🙂
Food was good, turns out Jeff is also former Navy, and had spent time in Norfolk back in the day. As happens anytime you get military (or former military) guys together, the sea stories start (still don’t know what the Army calls em), and politics/treatment of the military- Consensus, the troops keep going in spite of the management, and the Marines WILL revolt if they get stuck with the ‘girlie’ hat…
And I’m firmly convinced the Army are the ‘champions’ at mis-use of personnel after talking to DB, Speer and others… sigh…
Really enjoyed the time, and it saved me from the dreaded HRBT traffic jams from hell in the afternoon, so I’m counting this one as a win all the way around!
I wish I had thought to try to invite the other folks in the Norfolk area that comment and are on GBC- Mea Cupla to those folks…
My SIRT training pistol finally showed up!!!
Yes, it’s a Glock format, but the nice thing is you can practice dry fire, and mag changes without having to rack the slide every time. It also has adjustments for the trigger pressure, overtravel and a number of other adjustments. You can also put specific sights on it to match your sights on your carry or target pistol too!
I’m planning on using it as a teaching aid, in addition to practicing at home (since I gave away my Laserlyte cartridge to a neighbor that had just picked up a new pistol and couldn’t get ammo to shoot regularly.
After attending the class with Bill at EIAft, I was sold, and even more so now. Now I need to start setting up a ‘training wall’ like Bill has…
Quickie road trip today, so you get this…
This is a great Rube Goldburg…
Kudos to Beneful for figuring this one out and actually getting it to work!
h/t JP
Seems that no one knows how many have actually signed up for obummercare… Delaware apparently has ONE that has actually signed up, and now this from BCBS in ND…
The Obama administration asked North Dakota’s largest health insurer not to publicize how many people have signed up for health insurance through a new online exchange, a company official says.
/snip/
Still, a spokeswoman from Blue Cross Blue Shield says about 14 North Dakotans have signed up for coverage since the federal exchange went live Oct. 1. That brings total statewide enrollment to 20 – less than one a day.
So that’s 21 that we know of…
Full article HERE.
On the other hand, companies are dumping policies like crazy because they “don’t comply” with the new rules…
Among the insurance companies terminating policies are Kaiser Permanente in California, which sent notices to 160,000 policy holders; Highmark Pittsburgh, which dropped 20% of its individual market customers; and Independence Blue Cross, a major insurer in Philadelphia, eliminating 45% of its individual policies, Kaiser reports. The biggest hit comes in Florida, where insurer Florida Blue has dropped 300,000 policies.
Full article HERE on Fox.
SOOooo, where is all the coverage of this???
And doing the math, I’d say it’s a losing proposition… Just sayin…
0622 am Oct 23, 1983 marked a historic event for the Marines…
And NOT in a good way. The Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon was bombed on this day 30 years ago, causing the highest loss of life (218) in a single event the USMC have ever experienced…
They were in Beriut as part of a UN MNF of ‘Peacekeepers’, and were pretty much locked down in their compound by policy and this included the inability to carry loaded weapons and defend themselves…
18 Sailors and 3 Soldiers were also killed in the blast. To say this was a horrific incident is putting it mildly… Two truck bombs were set off by suicide bombers that the Marines on duty were not able to stop, as they were NOT allowed loaded weapons.
You can go HERE and see the original CBS reporting.
One survivor’s story is HERE.
This is the memorial at Camp Lejeune.
For all the good it’s done, last year, after almost three decades, the families of those killed and the survivors won a $2.1 billion judgment against Iran for ordering the terrorist attack, which followed a 2007 judgment of $2.7 billion against Iran.
I doubt that they will ever see a penny of the money, but at least the families have the satisfaction of knowing there WAS a verdict in favor of those who died.
RIP gentlemen, at least here you are not forgotten.
I don’t know who did this, but it’s OUTSTANDING, and I could use some!!! Is it the weekend yet???
h/t Gerry
Kick the tires, light the fires, first one in the air is lead, brief on guard…
Uh Boss, isn’t the ground supposed to be DOWN instead of UP???
The Pentagon on Friday said it will reinstate the Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds flying teams, port visits, service weeks and band appearances, but at 45 percent of what the public outreach effort used to be.
Article HERE from the SD Union Trib…
Blues website HERE.
Oh yeah, and the Thunderchickens are cleared too… 😉
This gent never gave up on his goal…
Over the years, Wuerker learned to fly, joined the Civil Air Patrol and even built his own helicopter. That just fed his childhood urge to fly a World War II torpedo bomber.
He finally did something about it. In 2005, Wuerker found a TBM Avenger for sale, the same type of torpedo bomber used for training at NASW during the war. He plunked down $60,000 and bought it. It has taken eight years to restore and to get the FAA approvals for the plane and his own certifications needed to fly it, but Wuerker recently got it airborne for the first time since it was used to fight forest fires in Canada.
He said he finally got the feel for what “these kids” — the young men who trained at NASW, 42 of whom lost their lives in crashes around southern Cape May County between 1943 and ’45 — went through.
Oh by the way, Mr. Wuerker is 74 years young!!! 🙂
Full article from Stars and Stripes HERE.
And HERE is a link to NAS Wildwood’s Museum.
For your viewing pleasure, here’s a video of a TBM Avenger starting/taxi/flying…
Noisy bastards, and you DON’T make a right turn on takeoff under full power (P-factor torque will pull the airplane into the ground). And you’ll note he lets it go 12 blades before he flips the mags on to keep from blowing the bottom cylinders out of the engine (oil drains to the lowest cylinders, so 12 blades of turnover will get it distributed throughout the engine).
And they leak oil like a sieve… All the old recips do… In the Connie, the 3350’s had an 18 gallon oil reservoir, and was notorious for burning 6 gal and throwing 6 gal out during flights; then leaking the other 6 gal on the ground.
h/t Bob