HuggyU2

I feel for you -E model guys. The AF is completely mis-utilizing that aircraft, and running the fleet into early retirement needlessly. Can I assume y'all are seeing a lot more age-of-the-fleet writeups on your jets?

If you cannot fall to your death, you should not be able to get an Air Medal. Simple as that.

I'm sure you will all be much happier when Sharia law starts to pick up around here...

Worse. I'd call it 1st degree felony.

Yep, not aviation related. So post it in the "Squadron Bar", not here.

M'aidez.,... Mayday... May Day,... 1 May... In a farmer's field near Sverdlovst... A toast to to the guys that flew those missions with no GPS, TACAN, astro trackers, data links, etc... And of course to Frank.

Noonin, BCan and many others know this side of the equation far better than I,... and if they sat down and 'splained it to you for 5 minutes, you'd get it. Unfortunately, I cannot remember many of the nuances of the budget side of it that make the decision invalid. However, I do know that most General-officers (with a few notable exceptions such as Lt Gen Gorenc and Brig Gen Jannitto) know nothing of how or why airshows work, and what they do for the Air Force. I'm willing to bet there are more than a few congressional districts that will be complaining about the lack of AF jet team presence at their show this year. I know of one already. You have to spend money to make money. Although the AF isn't into it to "make $$$", the AF certainly does "make 'money' " at many airshows. And at $55,000/hr, why did the AF decide to keep the F-22 demo team vice the other ones? I'm referring to the demo teams that operate aircraft whose cost per hour is less than half the F-22's (F-15E, F-16, A-10... ).

Let's hear some pros to cutting the demo teams, then. Do you know (past or present) anyone on the Thunderbirds? Everyone I've known on the team has been just fine. Some better than others, but all that I've known are folks I enjoy spending time with.

Somebody woke up grumpy this morning.

I've sent stuff like this to my local high school, recommending they show it at a student rally or whatever. Yeah, yeah,... I know they won't do it. With that said,... every time I go to a football game and see some 15 year old jackasses playing grab ass during the anthem, I embarrass the shit out of them in front of the crowd. Maybe one of these days, the principal will see it and change his mind.

The level of buffoonery at ACC that was involved in this decision is staggering. Granted, they think they are saving some cash. Too bad they didn't ask any of the Demo Teams to weigh in on where the "supposed savings" would be. Had they done that, they certainly would have left them alone.

Concur with Hacker. I spoke with a warbird pilot this weekend who was at Howard's funeral. He says there are other witnesses,... and their impressions may be significantly different.

Thanks to the KBAD crew at the D-M airshow this weekend that gave me a look inside their BUFF. I love "old school"!! And the BUFF is definitely that!

Hacker! There's a Howard in this auction! Now's your time to finally get one!

Yes, Mr Tanerite... I'd like to know what AFI/Dash1/military guidance/reference you are referencing. Not that I doubt it exists, but I've yet to see anyone post it yet. Sputnik, Your rule seems valid. However it was violated by a crew member other than the pilot.

Of course! Rides for all my friends!!

Nice! Oddly enough, I flew a PT-19A (for the first time) in Uvalde, Texas 3 weeks ago. It was the one on the cover of Warbirds magazine late last year. and flew pretty sweet. The owner had a lot of respect for crosswinds in it, and didn't want to chance them. After I made a few turns on departure, he said "I don't do aerobatics in it. You see the wing seam? Everything inside of that, including the fuselage, I restored. Everything outside of that is 1940." Needless to say, I kept it under 1.2G's all day!

Is Capt Crawford a SpecOps Finance Officer?

Milwaukee: looked at the website. That looks like a great show. But don't expect a U-2 there. Oshkosh: probably not this year. They wanted us last year, but it didn't materialize. Fingers crossed for 2013.

Nothing confirmed yet, as it still needs to be approved by the Wing CC. In the past, we've supported California Capital Airshow (Mather) with a static, Wings Over Wine Country with a Saturday flyover, and Reno with a Thurs/Fri flyover. I'm sure there's a good chance those will get requested again this year.

Well, he seemed to cheat disaster for his 77 years. Such a shame to lose another great warbird pilot and owner. I remember being at Oshkosh when Laird Doctor hit him in his Bearcat on takeoff roll. And when he ate up Czech Mate's tail with his prop a Reno a year or two before that. Reno's going to be a lot different this year.

I'm no math major,... but with 187 aircraft purchased, that's a rather optimisitic price tag. By about a third.

Yes,... but I need it to qualify as a "warbird" for business reasons.

No Interstate??? Boooo!!! However, the other 99% of the advice is sincerely appreciated. Yes,... I hate to hear the "no 'fixer uppers'" mantra,... but deep down I know you are right. The L-2 has an 85hp on it... but not all of the glass like the bulk of the L-2's. However, he also has a very original Jeep, with a Rat Patrol .50 cal mounted on it. And it's plumbed with an oxygen/propane (I think) combo so than when you pull the trigger, it sounds like you are firing about 7 rounds per second. My wife actually wants me to buy the Jeep and use it to drive around town. Just what I need for a milk-and-donut run to the grocery store, me thinks.

WheelzUp is wise beyond his years. I have 2.3 hours in the T-38C. 1.2 in the front seat. 1.1 in the RCP. Not impressed. But... take that for what it's worth. I'm still "iffy" on my iPhone technology. Too bad the AF didn't buy the South American F-5 upgrade to the T-38 that Northrop-Grumman offered around '93. In the long run, it would have been cheaper. In any case, the T-38A is kind of like a two-engine, twin-turbine, JP8 slurpin', dual afterburning, supersonic bar hopping machine, modern day version of the venerable J-3 Cub. I love it.