Military Affairs & History

Postby **tifosi77** » Tue May 05, 2015 12:39 pm

Dunford tapped for Joint Chiefs chairman, Selva for vice

President Obama announced Tuesday that he has nominated Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sources told Military Times.

Obama also announced that he will nominate Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, currently commander of U.S. Transportation Command, to serve as the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sources said.

If Wikipedia is correct, he will be only the second Marine to serve as Chairman JCS.

Postby **dodint** » Tue May 05, 2015 2:00 pm

Peter Pace was a god among men. Big shoes to fill.

Postby **Shyster** » Tue May 05, 2015 2:09 pm

If anyone has interest, here's the full gallery of pics. (I think I have the permissions set right.)

Tif's pics from the Planes Of Fame 2015 airshow

Sweet, they had a Bell P-63 Kingcobra. I think those are pretty rare (even for WWII aircraft) because most of them went to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease.

My paternal grandfather worked as a machinist for Bell aircraft before and during WWII and worked on the P-39 and P-63. He worked his way up to foreman status and eventually was in charge of the final checkout before each plane was turned over to a test pilot for its first flight. I remember him saying that he'd shake the hand of each pilot before the test flight, because every once in a while something would go wrong and that guy wouldn't come back.

Postby **tifosi77** » Tue May 05, 2015 2:18 pm

That is indeed a P-63, but I honestly don't know how to tell the difference between that and a P-39. (I actually labeled it as a '39 in the gallery, but you correctly IDd it as a '63)

Postby **Shyster** » Tue May 05, 2015 2:24 pm

That is indeed a P-63, but I honestly don't know how to tell the difference between that and a P-39. (I actually labeled it as a '39 in the gallery, but you correctly IDd it as a '63)

I cheated; I looked up the tail number and saw it was a P-63.

Postby **tifosi77** » Tue May 05, 2015 2:35 pm

Fair play.

Wish I had thought of that before I originally mis-labeled it..... derp.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue May 05, 2015 2:37 pm

Dunford tapped for Joint Chiefs chairman, Selva for vice
President Obama announced Tuesday that he has nominated Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sources told Military Times.

Obama also announced that he will nominate Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, currently commander of U.S. Transportation Command, to serve as the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sources said.
If Wikipedia is correct, he will be only the second Marine to serve as Chairman JCS.

I met Gen. Dunford when he was a full-bird Colonel back in 1999. He had a serious Boston accent back then.

Postby **tifosi77** » Wed May 06, 2015 3:00 pm

Watching a documentary on Netflix called "World War I From Above"

simply epic in scale. Highly Recommend.
What shall we do with the fact that you and I were watching this documentary at the exact same time?

Just watched this after reading your comments. Outstanding doc. The bit about the mines and tunneling under the enemy front lines was really eye opening.

Postby **tifosi77** » Wed May 06, 2015 3:04 pm

Following on to Shyster's post about the Spitfire auction....

Court Ordered North American P-51D Mustang And Other Aircraft Online Auction

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:05 pm

Watching a documentary on Netflix called "World War I From Above"

simply epic in scale. Highly Recommend.
What shall we do with the fact that you and I were watching this documentary at the exact same time?
Just watched this after reading your comments. Outstanding doc. The bit about the mines and tunneling under the enemy front lines was really eye opening.

If you cannot afford to travel to France you can see an example of this at the National Park at Petersburg.

I am still baffled at how close the lines were. Gives a good concept of what Trench warfare was like.

Postby **tifosi77** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:17 pm

Just a reminder party people: This event is on Friday.

Arsenal of Democracy Flyover

The airspace directly over Washington DC will be temporarily unrestricted, and a series of World War II aircraft will be in the air on parade.

This is a bit of a morbid thought, but with the recent air incidents in Washington (the gyrocopter dude landing on the Capitol lawn, and the drone that crashed onto the White House lawn) I'm a little surprised they are continuing with this event. With that many aircraft already in the sky, it wouldn't be particularly difficult for another stunt (or worse...) to sort of piggyback on to this.

Postby **Shyster** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:33 pm

Arsenal of Democracy Flyover

I was wondering why the "Battle of Midway" group doesn't include a Douglas TBD Devastator, but Wikipedia tells me that there are no surviving Devastators. I suppose they could say that the Battle of Midway group represents the outcome of that battle.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Thu May 07, 2015 12:10 pm

Here's more info about Udvar-Hazy's Fly In to Victory festivities on Saturday: http://airandspace.si.edu/events/detail.cfm?id=16029

Postby **tifosi77** » Thu May 07, 2015 12:13 pm

No joke, this is a legit once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you're within a few hours' drive and don't go, you'll regret not going.

Shoot, I regret not being able to go, and I live 2500 miles away.

Postby **dodint** » Thu May 07, 2015 12:15 pm

Now that I live in a Fly Over state I do not have these Fly In opportunities.

Although, isn't there some big fly-in of another sort in Oshkosh every year?

Postby **tifosi77** » Thu May 07, 2015 12:22 pm

It's called AirVenture, and it's put on by the Experimental Aircraft Association. It's a huge show; they routinely get over 10,000 aircraft to fly in, and will have half a million visitors through the gate. It's got a strong commercial element to it, so it's a slightly different vibe than most shows..... it's kind of like a mash up of Paris/Farnborough/Dubai with a fly-in where dentists take their Beechcraft to some regional airport for lunch.

Postby **dodint** » Thu May 07, 2015 12:35 pm

Neat. If I decide not to pursue any more formal education I'm going to look into starting on my PPL. Would be neat to go look at some small GA aircraft in person.

Postby **tifosi77** » Fri May 08, 2015 2:11 pm

Here's a video livestream of today's air parade in Washington.

http://www.defense.gov/live2/

Postby **tifosi77** » Fri May 08, 2015 2:15 pm

And I'm an idiot.

It ended an hour and 15 minutes ago; I stupidly didn't realize the posted time was EST, despite it clearly saying so on the website.

Postby **dodint** » Fri May 08, 2015 6:15 pm

#EastCoastBias

Postby **shafnutz05** » Fri May 08, 2015 8:48 pm

Thought about going down to DC but decided not to because of logistics, etc. Wish I would have went

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Sat May 09, 2015 3:16 pm

Postby **dodint** » Sat May 09, 2015 3:21 pm

40 years if you're Lt. Onoda.

Postby **Pavement** » Sat May 09, 2015 3:44 pm

You would hope that they realise it's the end of the war in Europe that they are referring to.

Postby **tifosi77** » Sun May 10, 2015 5:21 pm

On this date in 1972, Randy "Duke" Cunningham shot down three North Vietnamese MiG-17s in a single flight. Combined with his earlier two kills - another MiG-17 and a MiG-21 - this flight gave him five kills for the war, making him the first American ace from the Vietnam War, and the first all-missile ace in the history of air combat.

The final engagement on 5/10/72 was for a long time believed to have been against a shadowy figure called "Colonel Toon". It was a protracted dogfight that went on for several minutes, with Duke getting away with several mistakes, before he finally managed to get into firing position and launch a missile. While heading back to the USS Constellation, Duke and his RIO Willie Driscoll were shot down by an SA-2 surface-to-air missile. They ejected safely and were recovered and returned to their carrier that afternoon.

Thankfully, this allowed Duke to pursue a career as a corrupt Congressman.

#childhoodheroes