Random photo montage of enjoyment......

It is. So is shining lasers at aircraft cockpits, and flying drones within certain distances of airports, but people do those things too.

"Jesus, that's an old box! Even the radios we had in the trainers when I was a student almost thirty years ago were more advanced than that! (Although not by much) Love the spot in the upper left where you can pencil in your presets- and the fact that it has presets! Military was the only place I ever used preset 'buttons.' Not sure if it's the same company or not- it might be; Collins has been around a long time." - Marso

some of our ground equipment/birds still use those old radios! We still teach soldiers how to repair/operate them. Granted this is the army, I can't vouch for other branches.
We just got rid of our tube driven/analog radar a few years back. That old school radar worked great in Iraq - I was very proud of my team! Granted we trained constantly so we had it down to a science. Not all of our equipment is old school - we have a mix of old & new but the new far outnumbers the old. I'm hoping they still need my services until I retire because the newer stuff is "pluck & chuck" plus they don't have a big variety of equipment anymore - thus my workload isn't as much as it used to be.

But hey, "I had a good run" as they say, so I can't complain!

yep.....but the FAA doesn't fuck around. When the shit hits the fan and the FAA gets involved the "pucker factor" is cranked up to 11.

Messerschmitt Bf-109D and... crew. Spanish Civil War, 1936-39. I dunno, I may have left the parachute... behind... rather than be caught in that dress.

did the guy lose a bet or what?

Merry Christmas!

I crazy surprise - Czech model company Sword Models had reissued their kit of the P-47N, and the decals included are my Dad's markings! These were no doubt gotten from the crappy profile I did up on my website, or from the model I built and put up on my site 15 years ago. I can tell because of the 8 kill marks, 4 of which are Xs (Dad said they lost the Japanese flag stencil near the end).

So there I was scanning Hobby Link Japan to see what's new out there, and what pops up, but a lovely painting (by some Czech artist) of Dad's plane frolicking in the Pacific sky!


I've tried to contact Sword to say Hey! Cool! But the only contact emails are for their distributors. I'd also like to tell them that I recently found out that Dad only had 2 kills flags on Icky & Me, and they should amend their painting.
(Also that the national emblem the guy painted is stupid inaccurate).

Maybe when I retire I'll try to paint some pics of his planes myself. Just can't get the gumption so far.

Antwerp, Belgium

Posted on FB as "an undisclosed location in Dayton, Ohio."
:O

Yeah, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that's a hanger on Wright-Patterson AFB that's adjacent to the Air Force Museum.

There's stuff there even I can't identify!
Extreme foreground is one of the Spanish-built, Merlin-engined Heinkel 111s using in the 1969 film Battle of Britain.
Next to that is a DC-2, then, I think, a Douglas B-23 Dragon.
The chopper with the rescue marking is a Sikorski Ho3, Korean-war era. Is that the wreck of another one next to it? Parts!
Not sure what the wings are from, but they're in front of a Junkers Ju-52, which has a Huey to the right.
The jet on the left - well, it looks Russian, but I'm stumped. Su-7? There's a Skyraider parked in front of it with its wings folded. Then an F-4 Phantom, one of the Northrop F-23 prototypes, and an F-15.
Is that another Huey in the back corner?
I do not know what the cylindrical fuselage section between the F-23 and F-15 is.

Kind of like that big shelf with all the model kits in your basement, Forbin- that's just the Air Force museum's repository of 'future projects and kitbashes!'

Bigar Cascade Falls in Nera Beusnita Gorges National Park, Romania.

When you need to call an expert:

Today's live shot location was again in the approach path for an Air Force base here.

shooter's jet pics got me to thinking - big assed jets always look like they are going so slow they are about to fall out of the sky!

I bet these tasted like hay, and the tears of the proletariat.

Verified as true after consulting ship's history. The gun shield was damaged and three sailors were wounded.

Average 152mm AP shell weight = ~130lbs.

Full broadside of 16" Mk 14 HC = 17,100lbs.

My favorite classes of British Dreadnoughts, the Bellerophon and St. Vincent classes. I’m service between 1909 and 1922, I’ve always had a soft spot for these ships.




HMS Bellerophon, Superb and Temeraire.




HMS St. Vincent, Collingwood and Vanguard. Only one would be lost during the war, Vanguard. She suffered a catastrophic detonation of her cordite powder stores, totally destroying the ship(she sank nearly instantaneously), leaving 3 survivors out of a complement of 846 while she was anchored at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands. She was one of many warships lost due to a large scale detonation of Cordite, a propellant used in firing naval guns.

The USN made some gorgeous super dreadnoughts, specifically the "Standard Types." But, our dreadnoughts couldn't hold a candle to the RN. I've just never cared for the South Carolina, Delaware, Florida, or Wyoming classes. The New York sisters were okay.

Those wing turrets, the shape of the turrets, themselves, the two tripod masts, they had it all. I always thought the early American dreadnoughts got better looking after the refits some of them went through in the late 20’s, especially the Utah and Florida.

@Elwood

Saw a VC-25 near Boeing's KellyUSA facility here today.

Needs a wash!
The small blisters on the top and sides of the nose are the AN/ALQ-172 antennae, which is an EW jamming system made by the company I work for - originally ITT Avionics, which split up and became Exelis Corp in 2012, which was purchased by Harris Corporation in 2015, which is merging with L3 next month. I've been in the same cubicle for 38 years, and I don't know who the fuck I work for any more.

slow down there Rain Man! Was the ITT split on a Tuesday? Definitely on a Tuesday - it rained 1/2 inch that day.
Anyway Harris is merging with L3? Does this include the Harris military radio line too? L3 makes circuit cards right? I'm sure I've seen L3 on a few cards in our equipment.

L3 is a great big company the buys or merges with other companies, then sits back and rakes in the dough. We're going to be "L3 Harris". yeah, you'll see their logo all over the place.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy is finally decommissioning the last of its Type 051 Luda class destroyers, these 4 being decommissioned on May 17th. That leave 2 left, of a class of 17, entering service in 1971. I love the look of these ships, very 1950’s Soviet Navy.