Military Affairs & History

Postby **Shyster** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 3:28 pm

If anyone has an extra $4 or $5 million burning a hole in your pocket, a fully restored Mk. I Supermarine Spitfire is being auctioned off for charity:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/aviatio ... arity.html

Postby **tifosi77** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 5:56 pm

Would buy.

Postby **Guinness** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 6:25 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?

Afterwards I watched The Paradise.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 7:59 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?

Afterwards I watched The Paradise.

I watched the doc on Showrunners after that.

I don't think most folks realize the insanity of WWI.

Postby **Guinness** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 8:42 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?

Afterwards I watched The Paradise.
I watched the doc on Showrunners after that.

I don't think most folks realize the insanity of WAR.

FIFY

ETA: Check out Generation War on Netflix. Tremendous stuff - German language, and a really interesting perspective on WWII.
Just started watching Our World War tonight... so far so good.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 9:28 pm

I will be working at my desk and I will randomly start humming and/or singing a cadence from a double-time march.

Most notably "Hey Hey Josephine" and "C-130 coming down the strip"

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 9:30 pm

"A little bird. With a yellow bill. Was sitting on. My window sill"

Postby **dodint** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 9:59 pm

Back in 1775...

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 4:51 pm

Sad to think how little we have gone forward technologically in the 50 years since compared to 50 years prior...

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 4:51 pm

Sad to think how little we have gone forward technologically in the 50 years since compared to 50 years prior...

Postby **tifosi77** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:45 pm

It's relative. In the realm of flight, it took less than one human lifetime to go from a knowledge baseline of zero to putting men on the moon. We rapidly hit a point of diminishing returns, such that by the 1960s we had developed machines that were, for all intents and purposes, as fast as atmospheric aircraft are ever going to be, absent some huge advances in metallurgy and materials. The X-15 remains the fastest powered aircraft ever, not because we haven't advanced technologically, but because air is still there and causes friction.

Some of it is also the general 'meh' surrounding technology. That first moon landing was (imo) the crowning achievement in human endeavor. By the time of Apollo XIII, just nine months later, there wasn't even enough interest in the program to warrant carrying the mission on television. And that was 45 years ago; my cell phone has more processing power than all of NASA had available to it at the time.

The advances are there, they just aren't as flashy as the A-12/SR-71. More's the pity.

Postby **dodint** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:48 pm

I was going to make an iPhone joke but let it slide.

Postby **tifosi77** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:56 pm

Favorite rant ever.

"It would be a whole different group of people by the time you got there."

Postby **Guinness** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:58 pm

I was going to make an iPhone joke but let it slide.

Favorite Louis CK clip.

Postby **dodint** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:59 pm

I love that bit, but it's a hair too close to the Ron White satellite dish bit for me to really enjoy it purely. The phone portion, anyway.

Postby **BigMck** » Fri May 01, 2015 11:10 pm

http://planesoffame.org/index.php

We were at a local farmers market in the IE this past weekend, and buzzing overhead were some vintage planes. Posted near the cash register was the sign for Planes Of Fame, and their upcoming airshow, May 1 & 2.

I figured that I had to register over here to alert the resident military plane fanatic.

Tif, you may see us out there if you make that short hike. There are fresh egg farms, strawberry patches and places to purchase some locally grown vittles.
I've already got my tickets.

It's a fantastic event; they will routinely put 30-40 WWII-era aircraft in the sky. The last few years (before and after sequestration) the show has also had at least one active duty military demo, as well. Last year it was the F-22, this year they have the Raptor and the Canadian CF-18 demo team.

Stoked for the CF-18 team; they fly a slightly more aggressive demo than the Navy does. And every year, they paint their demo jets in a special livery, and this year it is a vintage WWII scheme to commemorate the Battle Of Britain.

Headed home from ONT, stopped by the farmers market on Grove just south of Riverside to grab some fresh strawberries.

What should have been a 3 minute stop turned into just getting home now. The sight line from where I parked to see practice was perfect.

He'll of a show.

Postby **tifosi77** » Sat May 02, 2015 1:42 pm

BigMcK, hope you come out to the show.

The Canadian CF-18 guys are awesome; bought a t-shirt and complimented them on the special livery of their demo bird, and a crew guy said, "We really tried capture the spirit of the thing." I thanked them for making the trip, and told him that, yes, we show 'Speed Racer' here, but we don't serve any of that stinkin' root beer. Another crew guy overheard and said, "Oh no, never never; against da rules".

Worth the drive just for that exchange.

Postby **dodint** » Sun May 03, 2015 12:45 pm

http://i.imgur.com/DibujTx.png

Postby **tifosi77** » Sun May 03, 2015 5:05 pm

The only two things on my bucket list: 1) free swim with a great white, 2) visit the Mach Loop.

Also.....

Postby **dodint** » Sun May 03, 2015 7:47 pm

I was going to make a Cavalese joke but that's not an EA-6B.

Postby **tifosi77** » Sun May 03, 2015 8:41 pm

There were 11 P-51s on the ramp and in the sky this weekend; that's the most I've ever seen in one place.

P-51D in the colors of the 332nd Fighter Group --- The Tuskegee Airmen.

Canadian CF-18 demo jet in Battle of Britain livery

Heritage Flight, with P-38, P-51, F-86 and F-22

F-22 doing fast things

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Mon May 04, 2015 10:34 am

Is the Air Force happy with the F-22? Compared to the boondoggle that is the F-35, that is.

Postby **tifosi77** » Mon May 04, 2015 10:58 am

Depends on what you mean by 'happy'. The Raptor is - on paper - the most lethal air-air combat aircraft ever built...... but remember that it was designed in the 1980s. Every F-22 ever built (and all 187 of them have been delivered) had to sit on the flightline for a week after the Air Force took possession while the software was updated to current spec. If the paint gets chipped (which happens a lot) the jet is completely grounded while the thumbnail sized hole is patched. (Wouldn't be a problem in combat, but journalists like to harp on that sort of thing.) It has a wonky environmental control system that causes pilots to lose consciousness, which is bad. Now that it's been around for ten years, pilots in other air forces flying jets like the Eurofighter and the Rafale and the Flanker have figured out ways to score 'kills' against the F-22 in training.

That said, the strategy for killing the Raptor? Hope the pilot you're up against is a rookie who over-uses the jet's post-stall capability. No joke; your best bet is that your adversary in the F-22 is the Mark Sanchez of fighter pilots.

It has its faults, but it's the 900-pound gorilla of the moment. It's conventional aerodynamics make it an incredible air dominance platform. It's horizontal tail stabs have the same surface area as the wings on an F-16, and they are moved by hydraulics with 3,000 psi, which is nearly double any other jet, and they translate through a range of movement that's something like 10 degrees more than any other jet. The thing can honk around the sky like nobody's business, and yet it's performance is compromised by the stealth requirement. Stealth is such a 20th century concept on a jet fighter, and has already been shown to have its faults. The tech is simply too expensive for the small return. I wish they'd take the aero tech in the F-22 and the tech tech in the F-35 and just make a baddass conventional fighter. The thing wouldn't be touchable for 30 years.

Postby **BigMck** » Mon May 04, 2015 2:30 pm

Tif, cool pictures. Those were the ones that were running late Friday. I didn't see the jet, though.

Just in case that one wasn't enough, here is another show with the added benefit of having Hangar 24 brewery across the street.

http://www.hangar24airfest.com/

Make a day of it and head to the casino afterward.

Postby **tifosi77** » Mon May 04, 2015 3:08 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