To All,
Good Tuesday Morning July 30. Good classes last night. Day two of the heater / A/C installation starts in a bit. Nothing like living out of a suitcase in your own home as the ceiling in my closet is where the access to the system is located. They did get the old one mostly out yesterday. Clear and sunny today with 83 expected with some light winds to blow leaves in the pool.
Warm Regards,
skip
HAGD
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/. Go here to see the director's corner for all 83 H-Grams
This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History:
July 30
1918 Headquarters Company and Squadrons A, B, and C of the First Marine Aviation Force arrive at Brest, France, on board USS DeKalb (ID #3010), as U.S. enters European Theater of World War I.
1919 During an inspection by a six-man maintenance crew, the submarine USS G-2 suddenly floods and sinks at her moorings in Two Tree Channel near Niantic Bay off the Connecticut coast. She goes down in 13 1/2 fathoms, drowning three of the inspection crew.
1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the act establishing WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). During World War II, more than 80,000 officers and enlisted women serve in the WAVES.
1943 PV 1 aircraft from (VB 127) sinks German submarine (U 591) off Pernambuco, Brazil. Also on this date, TBFs and F4Fs (VC 29) from USS Santee (CVE 29) sink German submarine (U 43) in the mid-Atlantic, while (PC 624) sinks German submarine (U 375) off Tunisia.
1945 A Japanese submarine sinks USS Indianapolis (CA 35), northeast of Leyte. Only 316 of her 1,199 crew survive. Due to communications and other errors, her loss goes unnoticed until survivors are seen from a passing aircraft on Aug. 2. Four days earlier, she had delivered atomic bomb components used on Japan in August.
2005 USS Halsey (DDG 97) is commissioned at Naval Station North Island in San Diego, Calif. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer is named after U.S. Naval Academy graduate Fleet Adm. William Bull Halsey Jr., who commanded the U. S. 3rd Fleet during much of the Pacific War against Japan.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This day in World History 30 July
1619 The House of Burgesses convenes for the first time at Jamestown, Va.
1787 The French parliament refuses to approve a more equitable land tax.
1799 The French garrison at Mantua, Italy, surrenders to the Austrians.
1864 In an effort to penetrate the Confederate lines around Petersburg, Va. Union troops explode a mine underneath the Confederate trenches but fail to break through. The ensuing action is known as the Battle of the Crater.
1919 Federal troops are called out to put down Chicago race riots.
1938 George Eastman demonstrates his color motion picture process.
1940 A bombing lull ends the first phase of the Battle of Britain.
1960 Over 60,000 Buddhists march in protest against the Diem government in South Vietnam.
1965 President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Bill into law.
1967 General William Westmoreland claims that he is winning the war in Vietnam, but needs more men.
1975 Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa disappears, last seen coming out of a restaurant in Bloomingfield Hills, Michigan.
1988 King Hussein dissolves Jordan's Parliament, surrenders Jordan's claims to the West Bank to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
1990 Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent forces George Steinbrenner to resign as principal partner of the New York Yankees.
2003 The last of the uniquely shaped "old style" Volkswagen Beetles rolls off the assembly line in Mexico.
2012 Blackout in India as power grid failure leaves 300 million+ without power.
21st CENTURY
2003
Last classic VW Beetle rolls off the line »
On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Medicare, a health insurance program for elderly Americans, into law. At the bill-signing ceremony, which took place at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, former President Harry Truman was enrolled as Medicare's first beneficiary and received the first Medicare card.
Johnson wanted to recognize Truman, who, in 1945, had become the first president to propose national health insurance, an initiative that was opposed at the time by Congress.
The Great Society
The Medicare program, providing hospital and medical insurance for Americans age 65 or older, was signed into law as an amendment to the Social Security Act of 1935. Some 19 million people enrolled in Medicare when it went into effect in 1966.
In 1972, eligibility for the program was extended to Americans under 65 with certain disabilities and people of all ages with permanent kidney disease requiring dialysis or transplant. In December 2003, President George W. Bush signed into law the Medicare Modernization Act, which added outpatient prescription drug benefits to Medicare.
Medicaid, a state and federally funded program that offers health coverage to certain low-income people, was also signed into law by President Johnson on July 30, 1965, as an amendment to the Social Security Act.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT Thanks to the Bear
Skip… For The List for the week beginning Monday, 29 July 2024 and ending on Sunday, 4 August 2024… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post of 28 July -1969… Includes the details of a relentless effort to find and return the remains of two Navy warriors lost on the battlefield 55-years ago this week. "Leave no man behind," is the goal. In this case, the search goes on. And two families wait, pray and remember…
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)
(Please note the eye-watering ongoing revamp of the RTR website by Webmaster/Author Dan Heller, who has inherited the site from originators RADM Bear Taylor, USN, Retired, and Angie Morse, "Mighty Thunder")…
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and can read what happened each day to the aircraft and its crew. .Micro is the one also that goes into the archives and finds these inputs and sends them to me for incorporation in the List. It is a lot of work and our thanks goes out to him for his effort.
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "for 30 July
July 30: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=2964
Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
(This site was sent by a friend . The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
By: Kipp Hanley
AUGUST 15, 2022
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Dr. Rich and YP
Thanx to John Trotti's ODE TO E PLURIBUS UNUM!
For them have started out in wheezing Link Trainers and then Basic Instruments and then Radio Instruments. Then at night and in all sorts of weather, long before all the autopilots and magic chit. Night time in the fleet was actual instruments. You got good at it or busted your hiney. Those of us that continued into airline pukery did it in spades, but nothing like being ALONE in a single engine single seater in the wx at night.
YP
My Walking Thoughts For Sunday July 28 2024
===========
Basic Instruments Training in the T-28
Ugh! I thought as I left the ground school classroom heading for the hangar where Navy Lieutenant Winans was waiting to stuff me in the back seat under a hood and see how I reacted to a world without sunlight…a world without a horizon…a world made up in a bunch of silly gauges and dials. Yuch!
I mean real fighter pilots like John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, even James Bond didn't fight with their eyeballs in the cockpit. They flew with them focused on the tips of their thousand mile stares while looking for enemies to slaughter.
Well, if your eyeballs are filled with such scenes of Hollywood hogwash as these, they're as full of hooey as mine were…and as I was about to have driven home to me with Lt. Winans' incessant scolding chant, "scan…scan…keep your eyes moving…scan."
Unlike tales found in the creative press, I found very quickly that I can't multitask and instead was forced to create an iterative discipline called scan where you jump from one gauge to another chasing like a bouncing ball this notional condition of controlled flight.
In the beginning you learn to rely primarily on a wobbling gauge in the middle right of the panel called the attitude gyro that displays to you your aircraft's nose and wing positions relative to an artificial horizon. It's a truly nifty dude that all by itself can pretty much keep you somewhere in the middle of the air. Then if you add the heading indicator, altimeter, rate of climb indicator, airspeed indicator, and needle/ball turn-and-bank gauge, you're ready to boogie in the deepest, darkest clouds that only madmen of yore would have dared intrude.
Ahhh…but about the time you begin to get cocky about your instrument capabilities, some rotten scoundrel like Lt. Winans secretly pulls the circuit breaker on your magic window to the un-tented world and giggles as things begin to go bonkers.
My diabolical instructor lived to insert his skullduggery while I was in the middle of some other maneuver--maybe a climbing turn to a new altitude and heading; perhaps a transition from cruise to the landing configuration--some sort of transition that served to camouflage the loss of my primary reference instrument. Then it was holy moly time with me playing catch up with all the whirling, swirling mayhem that had suddenly enveloped me. I might find, for instance:
- An airspeed indicator that moments before was settled at a sedate 140 knots passing through 200 knots despite my not having done anything with the throttle.
- An altimeter not content to remain at the assigned 9,500 feet, busy unwinding itself through 9,000…no…8300…uhh…6900 feet.
- The rate of climb indicator pinned to the 'heading for the basement' peg.
- The usually placid heading indicator spinning like a top.
- And not to be forgotten, the Turn and Bank indicator—that gauge right in the center of the dash--two-blocked one direction or the other…or perhaps flopping back and forth indicating a spin.
Meanwhile in the midst of all this madness the stately attitude gyro sits there showing wings level, nose at the horizon, taunting me with this fat dumb and happy stillness…and while all this is going on, I get to listen to Lt. Winans screaming on the intercom, "Do something! Do something! Get this bird under control.
So, I set out to work the problem, sorting things out one upset mode at a time.
- Stop the rotation by reference to the turn and bank indicator
- Arrest the climb or descent by reference to the altimeter, rate of climb, and airspeed indicators.
And once some sanity has returned to the situation
- Stabilize things by bringing the altimeter to a halt, then once in control of breathing and bladder, figure out what to do next.
- Later in the solitude of my room, I promise myself—not to become complacent or fixated on one instrument…ever…ever again.
Right.
***
In all my flying I have lost the attitude gyro only twice…both times in the A-4B Skyhawk, both times because of generator icing in moist high-altitude air. In these situations, both birds lost all electrical power, meaning that along with gyro instruments I was proceeding sans radio, navigation gear or cockpit lights. The first time I was flight lead in a two-plane sortie at night over North Carolina. Dipping my wing, I passed the lead to my wingman and he led me home…end of story
The other time I was tail end Charlie in a four-plane gaggle enroute to Puerto Rico from MCAS Cherry Point, NC. We were in thick clouds at 40,000 feet when I found myself with the throttle pushed all the way to the stop yet still losing ground to Number Three on whom I was trying to fly wing.
'Trying' was the operative word as he finally drew out of sight. Turning away I went onto the instruments only to find the altimeter spinning down madly with the airspeed indicator showing mach 0.93, a near impossibility for the A-4 configured as it was with wing tanks and centerline bomb rack.
At 28,000 feet I popped out of the clouds into a hole that allowed me to see all the way to the ocean below. The radio and nav gear were both dead as I spiraled down finally breaking into the clear at 1500 feet above the water. "Ok with that," I grumbled aloud, "but where in hell am I?"
I had no clue other than the feeling I was closer to the destination than where we started, so it seemed reasonable to head pretty much to southeast and hope to come upon something that wasn't water.
Presently I came up on a freighter pointed about 20 degrees further to the east, so figuring he had to be going somewhere—hopefully San Juan rather than Casablanca--I took up his heading and soldiered on estimating I had another 40 minutes of fuel. After 15 minutes of nervous droning, I spied a land mass…followed soon by a harbor…and yep, a runway -- San Juan International I hoped, not Havana.
With no radio to contact the tower for clearance I made an overhead entry and turned downwind looking for signal lights. Seeing none I slugged the gear handle down then sighed in relief as I felt the three gear—deployed by gravity and wind-- thud home. Then, as if to show me it had all been one of Lt. Winans' tricks, the generator came back online allowing me to lower my wing flaps.
As I taxied up to the tower—yes it was San Juan International--I saw the three other aircraft from my flight already parked, their crews waving to me as I pulled up and shut down. They all had experienced the same generator icing and gone through pretty much the same cluster flummox as I.
Those are my only attitude gyro failure stories and I'm happy to leave things at that. Did my basic instrument training pay off? You betcha.
***
Join me next week when I add to my 'under the hood' challenges those that arise under the banner of radio instruments…navigation and even more insidious, communicating with the world of airline pilots and air traffic controllers.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
From the archives
These guys are nuts
Audi R8 Races Motorcycles On Public Highway - 174 mph
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Y2HKBQMQmbw#t=116
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Subject: Fwd: "They'd be better off with cigarettes."
You'll Never Work in This Town Again!
"The kids are hooked on wokeness now. They'd be better off with cigarettes." — Ian Miles Cheong on "X"
James Kunstler / 29 Jul 24
Did we just witness the suicide of Wokery? I think you saw what's called, in the argot of progressive thinking, the "queering" of the Olympics. That was some spectacle. First, Death on a Pale Horse came galloping down the Seine River so that no one would miss the point of the symbolism to follow: the beheaded Marie Antoinette portrayed singing in the window of a flaming palais (revolution anyone?). . . .
Then, a tableau vivant of DaVinci's The Last Supper"queered" to-the-max with a tattooed land-whale in the Jesus seat offering a Satan hand-signal among the swaying drag queens, plus one child ostentatiously in the mix (say, whu?). . . followed by a blue Dionysius crooning about nudity ("Nu") on a giant fruit platter, with his ball-sack clearly on display among the cherries and nectarines. . . . It rained. . .tant pis. . . . The power went out and Paris ceased to be the City of Light. Finis. . . .
Not all of Western Civ was amused by these. . . antics. Many complained that the show portrayed Christianity in a less than favorable light. Ya think? The next day, the Paris-24 organizing committee offered the world an apology of sorts. Spokesperson Anne Descamps explained that the idea was "to celebrate community tolerance." Or, shall we say, to test it? Apparently, it flunked the test. Director of the extravaganza, Thomas Jolly, said (translation), "Our intention was never to be impertinent." Of course, he lies, and of course it is the foundational premise of those in the Satanic fold to lie about everything. (Just as America's Democratic Party lies about everything.) Within hours, sponsors revolted and pulled their support for the games altogether. Lord knows what the BRICs nations make of all this. Probably something like pity.
Two-hundred-thirty years ago in Paris the Jacobin faction behind the Reign of Terror was put out of business, suddenly, all in one night, really, after turning French daily life upside-down and inside-out for one year, to the huge annoyance of the French public. On July 27 (9 Thermidor), 1794, chief Jacobin activist Maximillian Robespierre made a speech before the Convention (national assembly) denouncing those who were denouncing him (theories of conspiracy!), and the audience commenced to pelt him with fruit, vegetables, and opprobrious invective. Cries rang out for his arrest. Before long: pandemonium in the chamber! The Jacobins fled and took refuge in the city hall (Hôtel de Ville), but it was too late. The whole city had turned on them. Robespierre got shot in the jaw, possibly by himself. The Jacobin gang were declared "outlaws." The following evening, The Jacobin leaders were all executed by guillotine in the Place de la Concorde.
Thus began the Thermidorian Reaction — called that, because the Jacobins had added an extra mid-summer month, Thermidor, to their cuckoo calendar. Now, one might ask, was July 27, 2024, the start of the revolt against progressive Woke-ism? It's hard to imagine what kind of public spectacle the Left could come up with to beat the Olympic opener. Maybe human sacrifice, say Hillary Clinton eating a parboiled toddler in front of three thousand shrieking cat-ladies at the Democratic National Convention. Has it come to that?
It's hard to escape the feeling now that our own reign-of-terror, the Woke-Marxist psychopathocracy, has played out its string. A month of garish events and revelations has left the USA a hot mess: the momentous Supreme Court decisions, the debate horror show, the attempted assassination of Mr. Trump and the many loose ends still hanging from it, the coerced election withdrawal of "Joe Biden" and the shocking discovery (to many) that he's only partly still there, and the elite selection process that "nominated" Kamala Harris — these strange doings have rocked the American Zeitgeist. The artificially-induced rapture that attended the apotheosis of Veep is sputtering out as the internet explodes with memes putting her clueless vacuity on laughable display.
We're informed (in great detail here by Naomi Wolf) that the Veep's handlers haven't even bothered with the required Federal Election Commission filings to be a candidate (nor has "Joe Biden" submitted his official withdrawal paperwork). So, you can surmise that the whole thing is another Democratic Party prank, leading to more shenanigans as the August 19 Convention cometh.
Do you think the repulsive Olympic opener was unconnected to what has been going on in our country? And do you doubt that the tide is now going out on all that?
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Brett and STRATFOR
A Deadly Golan Heights Attack Sharply Raises the Risk of an Israel-Hezbollah War
Jul 29, 2024
Israel will likely respond to the deadly rocket attack on Majdal Shams by intensifying its attacks on Hezbollah military sites deeper in Lebanon, though despite its current preference to avoid sparking a full-scale war, should Israel strike Beirut in its response, Hezbollah would retaliate by striking Haifa or Tel Aviv, initiating a tit-for-tat cycle that would almost certainly slide into a wider war. On July 28, Israel's security cabinet granted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government the authority to determine the ''manner and timing'' of a response to a deadly rocket attack in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on July 27. In that incident, a rocket struck a football field in the town of Majdal Shams, killing at least 12 individuals, including teenagers and children, while injuring dozens of others. Israel quickly attributed the attack to the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which had launched dozens of rocket attacks just before the incident, including an attack on an Israeli military base around Mount Hermon a few miles away from the town of Majdel Shams. The United States also attributed the attack to Hezbollah, though the group was quick to deny involvement, instead claiming Israel's air defense system had failed and that one of its rockets hit the football field. The incident marks the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since the Oct. 7 surprise attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. In response, Israel has pledged a strong-scale retaliation against Hezbollah in Lebanon, raising the specter of a slide toward a wider war.
• In response to the attack on Majdal Shams, Israeli politicians largely united in demanding escalation, with opposition leader Yair Lapid calling for action that would end the threat to Israel's north, while far-right politicians, like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, demanded strikes on Beirut itself in retaliation.
• On July 27, Israeli air defenses intercepted a Hezbollah reconnaissance drone heading toward the Karish gas field, a contested area with Lebanon for decades. In a speech the week earlier, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah threatened to target unevacuated Israeli border towns and deeper areas in Israel if Israel continued to strike civilians in Lebanon.
• Since June, both Israel and Hezbollah have intensified their attacks deeper into each other's territories, with Israel consistently striking Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah targeting areas in Israel's lower Galilee, including Nahariya, Acre and regions near Nazareth.
Israel is unlikely to immediately launch a wider ground military operation on Lebanon, but will intensify its attacks in ways that sustain the risk of a larger conflict. Israel's reluctance to initiate an imminent ground invasion in the wake of the Majdal Shams attack is due to several factors, including the town's location in the disputed Golan Heights and the victims' Druze identity, whose community has a weak political influence in the Israeli government. Furthermore, Western powers, notably the United States, have urged Israel to avoid striking targets, such as Beirut, that might provoke a stronger Hezbollah response to prevent tensions from escalating into a regional war. Despite these constraints, the Majdel Shams attack offers Israel an opportunity for a more significant escalation than usual, which it will likely seize to intensify its targeting of Hezbollah military infrastructure, potentially expanding its air campaign to include southern Lebanese cities like Nabatieh, Tyre and Sidon, while also targeting towns in the Bekaa Valley more often. This escalation would likely also involve airstrikes on Hezbollah positions and stockpiles in Syria. Additionally, Israel may use this opportunity to assassinate Hezbollah commanders and officials who are higher up in the group's chain of commanders, and are located in areas deeper inside Lebanon and Syria. In response to these attacks, Hezbollah would likely strike sensitive Israeli military sites in Israel's north. To this end, daily skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah will likely intensify in the coming weeks, thereby sustaining the possibility of either side conducting a miscalculation similar to the Majdal Shams attack that could then trigger a wider conflict.
• Israel has clearly communicated, via diplomatic channels and several public statements by Israeli officials, that retaliation is intended to damage Hezbollah without triggering a wider war, despite calls from the Israeli far-right to launch an invasion into Lebanon.
In the unlikely event that Israel attacks the Lebanese capital of Beirut or strikes vital civilian infrastructure such as the city's international airport, Hezbollah would likely respond by targeting major Israeli cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem, or Israel's gas fields, almost certainly triggering a wider war. Under either political pressure or out of a strategic desire to respond strongly to the Golan Heights attack, Israel may still choose to strike high-profile targets in missions intended to signal the escalated risks of Hezbollah action against Israel. Such an attack would initiate a tit-for-tat cycle by making Israel's targeting of major Lebanese cities more frequent, which would, in turn, likely compel Hezbollah to respond in kind by attacking Israeli cities to maintain its deterrence capabilities and uphold the pre-existing rules of engagement with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). If Israel does decide to strike Beirut, it would be intended to deliver a political and logistical blow to Hezbollah, demonstrating the group's inability to protect vital Lebanese infrastructure and cutting off its air supply route to Iran. While Israel would hope to deter the group from responding to such an attack and push it toward a military withdrawal from southern Lebanon, a strike on Beirut — especially if accompanied by more frequent attacks against other major Lebanese cities and civilian infrastructure — would breach significant red lines for both sides, making sustained war almost certain. An Israeli attack on Beirut would also significantly increase the risk to personal safety in Israel, particularly for travelers, due to potential collateral damage. Targeting the Beirut airport would cause substantial travel disruptions, especially if the runway is targeted, similar to the 2006 war.
• The United States has cautioned Israel against targeting Beirut, fearing that it would cross Hezbollah's red lines and trigger a wider war, especially as Hezbollah would respond proportionally by targeting other cities.
• The Associated Press reported on July 28 that Hezbollah has moved its more advanced precision-guided missiles away from Lebanon's southern border with Israel to protect the missiles and retain them for use should there be a need in the aftermath of Israel's impending retaliation.
The Golan Heights attack will make Israel's political leadership more hawkish, raising the specter of Israeli ground incursions into Lebanon in the coming months, in turn keeping the risks of regional war elevated. The IDF has already completed operational plans for a major cross-border operation in southern Lebanon and awaits the political order from the government to carry them out. The Israeli government — wary of the lessons of its 2006 war with Hezbollah, which saw the Israeli government collapse not long after the conflict ended — is hesitant to invade without sufficient political support, both at home and abroad. But the recent Majdal Shams attack has notably increased domestic and international support for an operation to secure Israel's northern border, with the United States reinforcing that Israel has a right to defend itself from such attacks. Barring an unlikely diplomatic breakthrough between Hezbollah and Israel that sees Hezbollah withdraw from the border zones and end its attacks on Israel, Israel's government will continue to mobilize resources and international support for eventual ground incursions designed to pressure Hezbollah into withdrawal. But even a limited ground incursion would be difficult to contain to the areas along the Israeli-Lebanese border, especially if Hezbollah finds itself quickly overwhelmed by Israeli ground forces and feels compelled to strike Israeli cities to deter further Israeli progress, pushing the conflict into a wider war that could draw in Iran and the United States.
• Additionally, sustained escalation in the north could incentivize Israel to quickly reach a cease-fire with Hamas, as Netanyahu's government faces greater pressure to end the war in Gaza and shift its focus to the more acute threat posed by Hezbollah to Israel's north.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
From the archives this day in 2012
Thanks to Tom
Rare North Vietnamese Air Combat Details For Their ' FIGHT ' TIL I D-I-E '.
. Fighter Pilot ACES
Sixteen [ 16 ] Vietnamese pilots earned that honor.
Nguyen Van Coc is also the Top Ace of Vietnam War with 9 kills : 7 planes and 2 UAV (Unmanned Airborne Vehicle) ' Firebees.' Among those seven US planes, six are confirmed by US records, and we should add to this figure a confirmed USAF loss ( the F-102A flown by Wallace Wiggins [ KIA ] on February 3 1968,) originally considered a probable by the VPAF. His 7 confirmed kills qualified Coc as the Top Ace of the war, even after omitting the downed UAVs.
Why so many Vietnamese Aces ? And why did so many VPAF pilots score higher than their American adversaries ?
Mainly because of their numbers [ and tactics. ]
In 1965, the VPAF had only 36 MiG-17s and a similar number of qualified pilots, which increased to 180 MiGs and 72 pilots by 1968. Those brave six dozen pilots confronted about 200 F-4s of the 8th, 35th and 366th TFW, about 140 Thunderchiefs of the 355th and 388th TFW, and about 100 USN aircraft (F-8s, A-4s and F-4s) which operated from the carriers on "Yankee Station" in the Gulf of Tonkin, plus scores of other support aircraft ( EB-6Bs jamming, HH-53s rescuing downed pilots, Skyraiders covering them,
etc.)
Considering such odds, it is clear why some Vietnamese pilots scored more than the Americans; the VPAF pilots simply were busier than their US counterparts. And they " flew till they died." They had no rotation home after 100 combat sorties because they were already home. American pilots generally finished a tour of duty and rotated home for training, command, or flight test assignments. Some requested for a second combat tour, but they were the exceptions.
What about the tactics of both sides ?
Because the USAF did not attack the main radar installations and command centers ( it worried about killing Russian or Chinese advisers,) the Vietnamese flew their interceptors with superb guidance from ground controllers, who positioned the MiGs in perfect ambush battle stations.
The MIGs made fast and devastating attacks against US formations from several directions (usually the MiG-17s performed head-on attacks and the MiG-21s attacked from the rear). After shooting down a few American planes and forcing some of the F-105s to drop their bombs prematurely, the MiGs did not wait for retaliation, but disengaged rapidly. This " guerrilla warfare in the air " proved very successful.
Such tactics were sometimes helped by weird American practices. For example, in late 1966 the F-105 formations used to fly every day at the same time in the same flight paths and used the same callsigns over and over again. The North Vietnamese realized that and took the chance: in December 1966 the MiG-21 pilots of the 921st FR intercepted the "Thuds"
before they met the escorting F-4s, downing 14 F-105s without any losses.
That ended on January 2 1967 when Col. Robin Olds executed Operation "Bolo."
What about training? In mid-1960's the American pilots were focused on the use of air-to-air missiles (like the radar homing AIM-7 Sparrow and IR
AIM-9) to win the air battles. However, they had forgotten that a skillful pilot in the cockpit was as important as the weapons he uses.
The VPAF knew that, and trained its pilots to exploit the superb agility of the MiG-17, MiG-19 and MiG-21 - getting into close combat, where the heavy Phantoms and " Thuds " were at a disadvantage.
Only in 1972, when the "Top Gun" program improved the skills in aerial combat of USN Phantom pilots and the F-4E appeared with a 20 MM built-in Vulcan cannon, could the Americans neutralize that Vietnamese edge.
Finally, the overwhelming US numerical superiority meant that, from the point of view of the Vietnamese pilots, the aerial battlefield was a "
target rich environment." For the American airmen Vietnam was a " target poor environment." The Americans could not find enough enemy aircraft to pile up large scores simply because there weren't that many MiGs around; the VPAF never had more than 200 combat aircraft.
All these factors created more Vietnamese aces than American, and created opportunities for a few Vietnamese aces to pile up bigger scores than their American counterparts. Officially, there were 16 VPAF Aces during Vietnam War (13 were MiG-21 pilots, and three were MiG-17 drivers, there were no MiG-19 aces). The number in parentheses indicates the kills confirmed by US sources; they could be increased in the future.
Here are some accounts of deeds performed by those valiant pilots who faced the most powerful air force in the world in defense of their homeland, and who earned the respect of their enemies, the American airmen.
What about Colonel Toon ?
Readers familiar with American military aviation may have heard of the legendary Vietnamese ace, Col. Toon (or Col. Tomb). Why is he not listed here?
Because, he was precisely that . . "legendary."
No Colonel Toon ever flew for the VPAF; he was a figment of the American fighter pilots' imagination and ready room chatter.
( " Col. Toon " may have been shorthand for any good Vietnamese pilot, like any solo nighttime nuisance bomber in WW2 was called " Washing Machine
Charlie.")
Nguyen Van Bay
When the 923rd Fighter Regiment was created on September 7 1965, Nguyen Van Bay was one of the students chosen to fly the MiG-17F Frescos. His training ended in January 1966, and soon the young Lt. Bay saw action against American aircraft.
On June 211966, four MiG-17s of the 923rd FR engaged an RF-8A recce plane and its escorting F-8 Crusaders of VF-211. Even as the escorting Crusaders destroyed two MiGs, Nguyen Van Bay opened his score when he shot down the F-8E of Cole Black, who ejected to became a POW. Even more important, the Vietnamese People's Air Force pilots achieved their main goal ; as Bay and his buddies distracted the escort, Phan Thanh Trung in the lead MiG shot down the RF-8A. The pilot, Leonard Eastman, was also taken prisoner.
A week later - June 29- Bay and three more MiG-17 pilots engaged American F-105Ds heading for the fuel depots in Hanoi, North Vietnam and ( together with Phan Van Tuc ) Nguyen Van Bay surprised and shot down a "Thud." His victim, the leader of the US formation, turned out to be Major James H. Kasler, a Sabre Ace during the Korean War with 6 MiG kills.
However, his greatest feat happened on April 24 1967. Now a flight leader, Bay scrambled from Kien An airfield and led his flight of MiG-17Fs against a USN raid on the Haiphong docks. Bay closed on an unaware F-8C of
VF-24 and fired a burst of deathly 37 mm shells which broke it into pieces.
The F-8C -BuNo 146915, piloted by Lt. Cdr. E.J.Tucker- caught fire and crashed. Tucker ejected and was captured (unfortunately he died in
captivity.) The escorting F-4Bs of VF-114 entered the battle and fired several Sidewinders against Bay, but Bay's wing-man - Nguyen The Hon- warned him, and Bay sharply broke off, evading all the missiles. Then, Bay headed his MiG-17 Fresco towards one of the Phantoms and shot it down with cannon fire. [ After ejecting ] the crew, Lt. Cdr. C.E. Southwick and Ens.
J.W. Land, was rescued.
They thought they had been downed by AAA.
The next day, April 25, his flight of MiG-17s scored again, shooting down two A-4s with no losses themselves. Both kills are confirmed by the US
Navy: the first victim was the A-4C BuNo 147799 piloted by Lt. C.D.
Stackhouse (POW), who fell under the guns of Bay's MiG-17, and the second was the A-4C BuNo 151102, piloted by Lt (jg) A.R. Crebo, who was rescued.
Bay was awarded the Hero's Medal of the Vietnamese People's Army for his outstanding skill and bravery in combat and for his superb flight leadership.
In early 1972 this Vietnamese MiG ace and his buddy Le Xuan Di were trained by a Cuban advisor in anti-ship warfare, and they certainly were good students, because on April 19 1972 they attacked the destroyers USS Oklahoma City and Highbee,which were shelling targets in Vinh city. While Bay caused only slight damage to the first one, Le Xuan Di hit one of the Highbee's stern turrets with a 500 pound bomb. It was the first air strike suffered by the USN 7th Fleet since the end of WW2.
Nguyen Doc Soat
One of the merits of the Vietnamese People's Air Force was that the more successful pilots could transfer their combat exper-ience to the novice students. That was the case of Nguyen Doc Soat. Originally this young MiG-21 student was assigned to the 921st FR, and his instructors were the hottest VPAF pilots of the outfit : Pham Thanh Ngan ( 8 kills ) and the top Vietnamese ace, Nguyen Van Coc ( 9 victories.) Soat couldn't ask for better teachers. While he did not score kills at that time, he gained valuable experience.
Re-assigned to the recently created 927th Fighter Regiment, when Operation "Linebacker I" began in May 1972, Soat was ready to show his abilities. On the 23rd he scored his first victory, downing a USN A-7B Corsair II with 30 mm fire. His victim was Charles Barnett (KIA).
On June 24 1972 two MiG-21s flown by Nguyen Duc Nhu and Ha Vinh Thanh took off from Noi Bai at 15:12 to intercept some Phantoms attacking a factory in Thai Nguyen, North Vietnam. The American escort reacted rapidly and headed towards them.
But those MiGs were actually only bait ; suddenly two MiG-21PFMs of the 927th FR appeared, piloted by Nguyen Doc Soat (leader) and Ngo Duy Thu (wingman), who took the escorting F-4Es by surprise. Firing a heat-seeking missile R-3S Atoll, Soat downed the F-4E of David Grant and William Beekman. Both crewmen became POWs, as Thu [ caused ejection of ] a second Phantom crew.
Three days later Soat and Thu scrambled from Noi Bai at 11:53 and headed towards four F-4s, but knowing that eight more Phantoms were incoming, they did not risk being "sandwiched" by the arriving US fighters.
They turned back, climbed to 5,000 mts ( 15,000 feet ) and waited.
Their patience was rewarded, and surprised the trailing pair of F-4s.
Both Soat and Thu bagged one Phantom each with
R-3 missiles. Soat's victim was one F-4E. And its crew ( Miller/McDow ) was captured.
On August 26 1972, Nguyen Doc Soat had the distinction of shooting down the only USMC Phantom downed in air combat during the Vietnam War. The RIO of the downed F-4J was rescued, but the unfortunate pilot -Sam Cordova- died. The Vietnamese MiG Ace scored his last victory on October 12, when he destroyed the F-4E of Myron Young and Cecil Brunson ( both POW. )
Along with Nguyen Van Coc and other VPAF vets, Soat is a living legend in the country for which he bravely and skillfully fought 30 years ago.
Source : S. Sherman and Diego Fernando Zampini [ abridged ]
Other Sources :
Air War over North Vietnam, Dr. Itsvan Toperczer, Squadron/Signal Publications Inc. 1998.
MiG-21 Units of the Vietnam War, Istvan Toperczer, 2001, Osprey Military
MiG-17/19 Units of the Vietnam War, Istvan Toperczer, 2001, Osprey Military © 1999- 2012, by Acepilots.com
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This Day in U S Military History…….July 30
1916 – German saboteurs blew up a munitions pier on Black Tom Island, Jersey City, NJ. 7 people were killed. Damages totaled about $20-25 million. Now a section of Liberty State Park (along Morris Pesin road including the park office and Flag Plaza), Black Tom was originally a small island in New York Harbor not far from Liberty Island. Between 1860 and 1880, Black Tom was connected to the mainland by a causeway and rail lines terminating at a freight facility with docks. The area between the island and the mainland was filled in sometime between 1905 and 1916 by the Lehigh Valley Railroad as part of its Jersey City facility. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Black Tom was serving as a major munitions depot. Before the United States entered the First World War, American businessmen would sell their supplies to any buyer. However, by 1915, the British Navy had established a blockade effectively keeping the Germans from being able to buy from the American merchants. The German government, on July 30, 1916, orchestrated the sabotage of freight cars at Black Tom, which were loaded with munitions for the Allies in Europe. According to a recent study, the resulting explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter Scale. Windows within a 25-mile radius were broken, the outside wall of Jersey City's City Hall was cracked and pieces of metal damaged the skirt of the Statue of Liberty (it is because of this explosion that the Lady's torch has been closed off to visitors). Most of the immigrants on Ellis Island were temporarily evacuated. Losses were estimate at $20 million and seven people were killed. After the war, a commission appointed to resolve American claims against Germany was established. It took years before a decision was made, finally in June of 1939, the commission ruled that the German Government had authorized the sabotage. However, World War II interrupted any chances of arranging for restitution. In 1953 the two governments finally settled on terms that the German government would pay a total of $95 million for a number of claims including Black Tom. The final payment was received in 1979.
1942 – The US passenger-freighter Robert E. Lee with 268 passengers was sunk by the German U-166 submarine. 15 crew members and 10 passengers died. In 2001 wreckage of the U-166 was found in the Gulf of Mexico and it appeared that it was sunk by Coast Guard PC-566 right after the attack. U-166 had 52 crew members.
1945 – Japanese warships sink the American cruiser Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen in the worst loss in the history of the U.S. navy. As a prelude to a proposed invasion of the Japanese mainland, scheduled for November 1, U.S. forces bombed the Japanese home islands from sea and air, as well as blowing Japanese warships out of the water. The end was near for Imperial Japan, but it was determined to go down fighting. Just before midnight of the 29th, the Indianapolis, an American cruiser that was the flagship of the Fifth Fleet, was on its way, unescorted, to Guam, then Okinawa. It never made it. It was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Interestingly, the sub was commanded by a lieutenant who had also participated in the Pearl Harbor invasion. There were 1,196 crewmen onboard the Indianapolis; over 350 died upon impact of the torpedo or went down with the ship. More than 800 fell into the Pacific. Of those, approximately 50 died that first night in the water from injuries suffered in the torpedo explosion; the remaining seamen were left to flounder in the Pacific, fend off sharks, drink sea water (which drove some insane), and wait to be rescued. Because there was no time for a distress signal before the Indianapolis went down, it was 84 hours before help arrived. This was despite the fact that American naval headquarters had intercepted a message on July 30 from the Japanese sub commander responsible for sinking the Indianapolis, describing the type of ship sunk and its location. (The Americans assumed it was an exaggerated boast and didn't bother to follow up.) Only 318 survived; the rest were eaten by sharks or drowned. The Indianapolis's commander, Captain Charles McVay, was the only officer ever to be court-martialed for the loss of a ship during wartime in the history of the U.S. Navy. Had the attack happened only three days earlier, the Indianapolis would have been sunk carrying special cargo-the atom bomb, which it delivered to Tinian Island, northeast of Guam, for scientists to assemble.
1956 – US motto "In God We Trust" was authorized.
1971 – US Apollo 15 with astronauts Scott and Irwin landed at Mare Imbrium on the Moon.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
HOMAN, CONRAD
Rank and organization: Color Sergeant, Company A, 29th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: Near Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at:——. Birth: Roxbury, Mass. Date of issue: 3 June 1869. Citation: Fought his way through the enemy's lines with the regimental colors, the rest of the color guard being killed or captured.
HOUGHTON, CHARLES H.
Rank and organization: Captain, Company L, 14th New York Artillery. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864; 25 March 1865. Entered service at: Ogdensburg, N.Y. Born: 30 April 1842, Macomb, St. Lawrence County, N.Y. Date of issue: 5 April 1898. Citation: In the Union assault at the Crater (30 July 1864), and in the Confederate assault repelled at Fort Haskell, displayed most conspicuous gallantry and repeatedly exposed himself voluntarily to great danger, was 3 times wounded, and suffered loss of a leg.
JAMIESON, WALTER
Rank and organization: 1st Sergeant, Company B, 139th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864; At Fort Harrison, Va., 29 September 1864. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: France. Date of issue: 5 April 1898. Citation: Voluntarily went between the lines under a heavy fire at Petersburg, Va., to the assistance of a wounded and helpless officer, whom he carried within the Union lines. At Fort Harrison, Va., seized the regimental color, the color bearer and guard having been shot down, and, rushing forward, planted it upon the fort in full view of the entire brigade.
KNIGHT, CHARLES H.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company I, 9th New Hampshire Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at Keene, N.H. Birth: Keene, N.H. Date of issue: 27 July 1896. Citation. In company with a sergeant, was the first to enter the exploded mine; was wounded but took several prisoners to the Federal lines.
MATHEWS, WILLIAM H.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company E, 2d Maryland Veteran Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at: Baltimore, Md. Birth: England. Date of issue: 10 July 1892. Citation: Finding himself among a squad of Confederates, he fired into them, killing 1, and was himself wounded, but succeeded in bringing in a sergeant and 2 men of the 17th South Carolina Regiment (C.S.A.) as prisoners.
(Enlisted in 1861 at Baltimore, Md., under the name Henry Sivel, and original Medal of Honor issued under that name. A new medal was issued in 1900 under true name, William H Mathew.)
McALWEE, BENJAMIN F.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company D, 3d Maryland Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Washington, D.C. Date of issue: 4 April 1898. Citation: Picked up a shell with burning fuse and threw it over the parapet into the ditch, where it exploded; by this act he probably saved the lives of comrades at the great peril of his own.
SIMONS, CHARLES J.
Rank and organization. Sergeant, Company A, 9th New Hampshire Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at: Exeter, N.H. Birth: India. Date of issue: 27 July 1896. Citation: Was one of the first in the exploded mine, captured a number of prisoners. and was himself captured, but escaped.
SWIFT, HARLAN J.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, Company H, 2d Mew York Militia Regiment. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at: New York. Birth: New Hudson, N.Y. Date of issue: 20 July 1897. Citation: Having advanced with his regiment and captured the enemy's line, saw 4 of the enemy retiring toward their second line of works. He advanced upon them alone, compelled their surrender and regained his regiment with the 4 prisoners.
WILKINS, LEANDER A.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company H, 9th New Hampshire Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Lancaster, N.H. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Recaptured the colors of 21st Massachusetts Infantry in a hand_to_hand encounter.
WRIGHT, ALBERT D.
Rank and organization: Captain, Company G, 43d U.S. Colored Troops. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at:——. Born: 10 December 1844, Elkland, Tioga County, Pa. Date of issue: 1 May 1893. Citation: Advanced beyond the enemy's lines, capturing a stand of colors and its color guard; was severely wounded.
O'NEIL, RICHARD W.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company D, 165th Infantry, 42d Division. Place and date: On the Ourcq River, France, 30 July 1918. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: New York, N.Y. G.O. No.: 30, W.D., 1921. Citation: In advance of an assaulting line, he attacked a detachment of about 25 of the enemy. In the ensuing hand-to-hand encounter he sustained pistol wounds, but heroically continued in the advance, during which he received additional wounds: but, with great physical effort, he remained in active command of his detachment. Being again wounded, he was forced by weakness and loss of blood to be evacuated, but insisted upon being taken first to the battalion commander in order to transmit to him valuable information relative to enemy positions and the disposition of our men.
*OZBOURN, JOSEPH WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 24 October 1919, Herrin, Ill. Accredited to: Illinois. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a Browning Automatic Rifleman serving with the 1st Battalion, 23d Marines, 4th Marine Division, during the battle for enemy Japanese-held Tinian Island, Marianas Islands, 30 July 1944. As a member of a platoon assigned the mission of clearing the remaining Japanese troops from dugouts and pillboxes along a tree line, Pvt. Ozbourn, flanked by 2 men on either side, was moving forward to throw an armed handgrenade into a dugout when a terrific blast from the entrance severely wounded the 4 men and himself. Unable to throw the grenade into the dugout and with no place to hurl it without endangering the other men, Pvt. Ozbourn unhesitatingly grasped it close to his body and fell upon it, sacrificing his own life to absorb the full impact of the explosion, but saving his comrades. His great personal valor and unwavering loyalty reflect the highest credit upon Pvt. Ozbourn and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for July 30, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
30 July
1909: The Wright plane completed its second test with a 10-mile flight from Fort Myer to Alexandria and back at 42.583 MPH. The speed gave the Wrights a $5,000 bonus (10 percent of a $25,000 base price for each MPH over 40) and made the purchase price $30,000. (4) (12)
1935: Lt Frank Akers (USN) flew an OJ-2 from NAS San Diego and made the first blind landing aboard the carrier USS Langley. He later received the DFC. (24)
1939: The US regained the world payload carrying record when Maj Caleb V. Haynes and Capt W. D. Old flew the Boeing XB-15 to 8,200 feet with a payload of 15 1/2 tons at Wright Field. (24)
In the 1930s, Haynes, a rated command pilot, led experimental long-range over-water interception flights that were key to the development of U.S. air defense doctrine. Haynes demonstrated by piloting one of the bombers that intercepted the Italian liner Rex that enemy ships could be located and sunk by American aircraft.
1944: VOGELKOP OPERATION. FEAF aircraft supported an amphibious operation, the landings on the Vogelkop Peninsula on the western end of New Guinea. Troops of the 6th Infantry Division met no opposition and began work immediately on airfields at March and Sansapor. Middleburg and Amsterdam Islands, just offshore, were secured, and an airfield on Middleburg was ready for fighters on 17 August.
1948: North American Aviation delivered the first operational jet bomber, the B-45A Tornado, to the Air Force. (21)
1950: KOREAN WAR. 47 B-29s bombed the Chosen Nitrogen Explosives Factory at Hungnam on North Korea's east coast. (28)
1951: KOREAN WAR/ATTACK ON PYONGYANG. Fighters participated in a coordinated attack on selected targets in Pyongyang. The 91 F-80s performing flak suppression, although hampered by cloud cover over the target, were successful as no UN aircraft were lost to flak at Pyongyang during the day. The 354 USAF and USMC fighter-bombers attacking targets around Pyongyang reported fair results. (17) (28)
1952: KOREAN WAR. Following extended heavy rains, 3d Air Rescue Squadron helicopters carried approximately 650 flood-stranded U.S. military members and Koreans to safety. Flying over 100 sorties, five large H-19s transported some 600 evacuees, while two H-5s carried the rest. In the I Corps sector, two H-5s flew over 30 sorties to rescue 60 flood-stranded Koreans and U.S. soldiers. (28) KOREAN WAR. Through 31 July, in one of the largest medium bomber raids against a single target, 60 B-29s destroyed 90 percent of the Oriental Light Metals Company facility, only four miles from the Yalu River. The B-29s achieved the unusally extensive destruction of the target in spite of encountering the largest nighttime counter-air effort to date by the enemy. The attacking bombers suffered no losses. (28)
1959: The Norair N-156F (later modified into the F-5) twin jet tactical fighter completed its first flight at Edwards AFB. (3)
1965: The 7-year Saturn I program ended with the launch of Pegasus III, the tenth success in as many attempts for this booster.
1969: Mariner 6 flew by Mars.
1971: The last C-133 Cargomaster retired from Travis AFB to aircraft graveyard at Davis-Monthan AFB to end a chapter in military airlift history. It fell victim to the jet age and the jumbo airlift capability of the C-5A Galaxy. This event ushered in the modern all-jet airlift fleet. (5) (18) The last F-100 left Vietnam for the CONUS. Its departure ended a combat employment, which began in 1964 and produced 360,283 combat sorties with 243 aircraft losses. (17)
1981: Through 9 August, MAC supported the Gambia evacuation. When Gambia's president attended the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in London, leftist guerrillas attempted a coup. When loyal Gambian troops and their Senegalese allies were unable to rescue rebel-held hostages and quell rioting in Bangul, MAC sent two C-141s to Dakar, Senegal. On 8 August, the rebel force surrendered and released its hostages. One C-141 evacuated 95 civilians from Bangul to Dakar. (2)
1984: Modified B-1A number four, avionics flight test aircraft, completed its first flight at Edwards AFB. (12)
1985: The USAF Bomarc aerial target drone program ended. (16) (26)
1993: The VISTA NF-16 employed its multi-axis thrust-vectoring system for the first time in a flight over Edwards AFB. That system enabled the aircraft to achieve a 110-degree transient angle-ofattack and a sustained angle-of-attack by September. (20)
1997: Captain Dewey Gay flew a F-16C Fighting Falcon (Tail No. 83-1164) from the 62d Fighter Squadron at Luke AFB to history when he touched down after a 1.3-hour sortie that pushed the F-16 over 4,000 hours. It was the first C-model to reach the 4,000-hour mark. The feat took 14 years. (AFNEWS Article 970991, 13 Aug 97)
1997: The X-38 atmospheric test vehicle made its first captive-carry flight aboard a B-52. The subscale, unmanned X-38 shape was joint NASA Dryden Center and Johnson Space Center project to validate concept for a future International Space Station emergency Crew Return Vehicle. The space "lifeboat" relied on Lifting Body technology. (3)
1998: At Edwards AFB, testing on the C-141A Electric Starlifter came to an end. The joint Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate and Lockheed-Martin/Lucas Aerospace testing program outfitted a large military cargo aircraft with electrically operated Fly-By-Wire, PowerBy-Wire flight controls for the first time in aviation history. The C-141A aircraft, assigned to the 418th Flight Test Squadron, flew over 1,000 hours in the program. It was the last C-141A in operational service. With the completion of the test program, the Air Force retired the aircraft to Davis-Monthan AFB. (AFNEWS Article 981113, 30 Jul 98)
2001: The DoD awarded Boeing a $485 million contract to engineer and manufacture an Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) and a separate $1 billion contract for aircraft modifications, support, and other services to complement the AMP enhancements for 519 C-130s. The program would equip the C-130 cockpits with flat panels, digital displays, multi-functional radar, and a state-of-the-art communications system. (22) AETC's C-141 aircrew training school at Altus AFB officially closed to end more than 25 years of C-141 training there. The closure came with the phased retirement of more than 265 C-141Bs. The Air Force, however, modified 56 C-141Bs with state-of-the-art glass cockpits and redesignated them as C-141Cs. (22) A crew from Minot AFB delivered a B-52H to the AFFTC for transfer to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. It would be converted into an air launch platform to replace Dryden's venerable B-52B Tail No. 52-0008. (3)
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SkipsList" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to skipslist+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/skipslist/CACTjsm3y8kDQJKxSroRUNtMDMFMX_%3DX%2BO%3DVx1uY-CHp1zRp0_g%40mail.gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.