"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
You really never leave
Did you think, as I did, that the TFX/F-111 was Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s only joint-service aircraft project? No, there were two others: the F-4 Phantom II and the A-7 Corsair II, US Navy fighters more or less forced upon, but eventually enthusiastically adopted by, the US Air Force. I volunteer as a walking tour […]
Last night, Rachel Maddow played an audio tape from yesterday’s Supreme Court hearings on the Defense of Marriage Act. On the tape, Chief Justice Roberts and an attorney advocating for marriage equality argued over the reason behind the “sea change” in the American public’s attitude toward same-sex marriage. Roberts thought the increasing social acceptance of same-sex […]
Fascination and fear: that sums up my relationship with helicopters. The thought of being able to take off and land vertically, and to hover at will, is entrancing: if I had the money I’d learn to fly one. And then an inner voice speaks up: “What about all those moving parts? One bolt snaps and […]
You may question the relevance of today’s thumbnail photo. Go ahead, question away. I don’t mind. Are you done? Good. These objects are, in fact, bags o’ relief; specifically, pilot relief bags (or, if you prefer military terminology: bags, relief, pilot). I’ve filled more than a few, particularly on long ocean crossings. Fighters don’t have […]
No, I’m not talking about what I expected to hear Ted Nugent yelling from the gallery during last night’s State of the Union speech. No, I’m talking about Esquire magazine and its recent article titled “The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden … Is Screwed.” The article’s subject is “the Shooter,” an unnamed member of […]
THROTTLES—IDLE RUDDER AND AILERONS—NEUTRAL STICK—ABRUPTLY FULL AFT AND HOLD RUDDER—ABRUPTLY APPLY FULL RUDDER OPPOSITE SPIN DIRECTION (OPPOSITE TURN NEEDLE) AND HOLD STICK—ABRUPTLY FULL FORWARD ONE TURN AFTER APPLYING RUDDER CONTROLS—NEUTRAL AFTER SPINNING STOPS AND RECOVER FROM DIVE That, if you don’t recognize it, is the boldface spin recovery procedure for the T-37. Student pilots could […]
After ranting about the media I need a palate cleanser. The internet equivalent of a breath mint is a LOLcat. But I’m into airplanes, so I’ll give you a LOLbomber instead. As with the B-58 Hustler I described in a previous post, even though I was around during the B-36 bomber’s heyday I never saw one in […]
Looking back at some of my older stuff, I found a gloomy post from September 2007 predicting we’d never leave Iraq, that it’d turn out to be another Korea with American troops on the ground forever and ever. I really believed this at the time. Actually I believed it right up until last week. A […]