brickhistory

White House declines to release photos

As an aside, the one way feature will guarentee you extra attention from The Man...

OUT-F*CKING-STANDING!!!

Ok, if it's not the government's responsibility to notify the local leadership (yeah, I know some podunk mayor's aid took the call) about a flight of a large government jet cruising in a non-standard way over one of our top two largest cities and the same one that experienced another period where large jets flew in a non-standard way that caused the really, really big hole in the ground in Manhatten, then who's is it? I agree, however, that people should calm the f*ck down. But the vast majority are sheep and to expect other behavior is just a disappointment in waiting.

Anti '2.' It absolutely is in Big Blue's interest to not step on it's crank like this. Besides the impression of yahoo's with toys out for a joyride it gives, it also could have easily been avoided with just a little common sense. Several years back, a former SAC guy died. The good was that a B-52 was fragged for the fly-by at Arlington. The bad news was that no one thought of the need to tell downtown DC. Can you imagine the emotions of non-DoD folks (and believe it or not, that is the majority of DC) of seeing a big, noisy jet thundering low over the Pentagon? 9/11 redux... Fortunately, the day prior to the event, the clue light came on and local media was alerted and the timing was much publicized. Cars everywhere were stopped along the sides of the roads, bridges, etc, etc, to watch the mighty BUFF thunder by. It was a moment. Same thing could have happened for this - the faux Air Force One with the green lady in the background would have been for NYC. Now, I bet this photo never sees the light of day. 'Tards.

I f'in' love the fact that the District of Columbia neither issues nor honors other states' CHLs. As a Virginia resident, that's a real pisser. Half the time, that's where I feel I most need to be armed.

In a way, yes. Often times, the editor/writer has only so many words, i.e., so much page space, allowed to tell the story. "Virtually every pilot since 1961" is way shorter than trying to explain SUPT, T-1s, etc, etc, and since the vast majority of the intended audience are probably not guys who tracked T-1s, etc, since 1993, but investors or dudes who did train in the T-38 prior to 1993, well, I think it was as good a compromise as you'll find.

Col Doug Masters, F-22 WG/CC, approaches the UPT base for a 'show and tell' display to fire up young student pilots, not knowing that the son of one of his now deceased Middle Eastern foes is going through training.

The senior officer reverting to "like all that and sh1t" at the end...

We could take payment in beer.

CIA's Oxcart History (U) Less than 20 years after WWII, and they are doing Mach 3+.

A 365 TDY, is by every other definition, a short tour PCS. Calling it a TDY is crap. Thus my "felony" connotation.

That's not a TDY, that's a felony-length sentence.

"Bomber crush?!" WTF? As noted on the first page, it was normally referred to as a "50 mission crush," as the USAAF wheel hat had the grommet in it to keep it circular-shaped. That grommet made the headphones then in use not fit right, so the grommet was removed and the headphones worn over the now relaxed, floppy hat. After a combat tour, bomber, fighters, transports - try telling the Hump pilots they weren't in combat/doing some really dangerous sh1t or the C-47s pilots who dropped on D-Day or Market-Garden they weren't in "combat" - the hat was permanently misshapen and was the sign of an experienced veteran. I also think you'll find that most WWII B-17 and B-24 dudes wore something called a 'steel helmet' as flak protection far more than they did a hat during actual missions. Separate but related, the RAF fighter guys unbuttoned the top button of their coat/tie uniform as their version of "sticking it to the man" esprit de corps. Both services would fly missions, not all, but certainly a lot, wearing a damn coat and tie either under a bag or even without a bag. That would blow. Kinda takes the sting out of "blues on Mondays." Besides, any of the WWII combat vets earned to wear whatever the hell they wanted to wear.

I'm not sure which side of the fence you are taking, but let me be very clear. The book doesn't, in my view, take a position on it. edited to add: that I recall. My position is it pointless to talk with Iran. Live up to the agreements you made with the UN and we can chat. Otherwise, they are not ever going to see past the "Great Satan" politically and we can't deal with Armydinnerjacket as the front man for the ayatollah. They will/do see us as weak by sucking up to them. Fine you think otherwise, I'm not interested in a debate. Sorry for the minor thread hi-jack here.

CIA's A-12 (SR-71 predecessor) unclassified history Pretty good read and photos for the single-seat A-12 - CIA version of the program. It is a CIA site, so enter at your own risk for black Suburbans showing up at your house...(Omegas for Steve D.)

"It shall be the policy of the United States Government that a nuclear weapon detonation upon any target in the Middle East shall be considered an attack on the United States' vital national interests. Further any such nuclear weapons use will be considered as originating from Iran and thus will draw retaliation to the full measure of our capability."

Dunno, but I thought it worked...

First entry for the most unused/unusual word in a thread contest. Well done!

I think you are right regarding the Administration. I don't think you'll get any additional money for either more F-22s or new flavors of Eagles.

Rest of the world?! B-52, KC-135, C-130, even the F-15/F-16/A-10. Hardly a novel concept that the US has ignored. The question is, how long do you keep putting lipstick on the old sow(s)? Until a jet breaks up in flight? Ok, milestone achieved already. Can't blame Boeing for trying to sell. Or another country for wanting to buy. We need new build stuff to replace our old and getting older stuff. The object is win big, not have a duel with evenly matched opponents.

CH, ever thought of becoming an ABM? You tossed around the (correct) acronyms pretty good for a fist full o'throttles guy... I keed, I keed...

That's him. As I said, he may/may not know of this as NMUSAF is essentially it's own entity despite being part of the USAF History and Museum program. Tell him Brick said hello. He'll no doubt go deer in headlights as we only briefly chatted a year ago when I was job hunting for a USAF/HO job.

As would be appropriate, Washington, D.C. (and on Anacostia Naval Station). As well as at MAJCOMs, each base, and each deployed location. Being the historian at Nellis could be fun. At Minot, not so much...

The USAF Historian, a civilian SES, is the heritage advisor to the CSAF who would make the final decision. Separate but related, the NMUSAF is part of the Air Force HO organization, but for practical purposes, it's an independent fiefdom.