Royal International Air Tattoo, July 2015

50 Years Ago Today….

From my Air Force friend (who did his share of flying in Vietnam)

50 years ago the first counter-air mission against SAM sites – 27 July 1965.

Carroll Lefon Challenge Coins

Dwight Cardwell and I have been discussing them, trying to figure out how many we’d need to order and how to distribute them, etc. We need a count, so if you would, in the comments below please enter the number that you would be ordering. To make it really easy for this simple guy to add up, just the numeral please.

Also, could one of you admin types pin this post so everyone has a chance to see it? We’ll leave it up until August 15. That will give us plenty of time (about three weeks) to get a count.

Assuming that we order 400, the cost for 1 would be $3.80. Buying envelopes and postage would add another $6 to ship one. I think we could distribute a good number during meetups in Nov. in SD and CT and save that postage. I’m not looking to make any money off these. Again, the design is below.

Thanks

.

Polak always welcome in my house

A very good video from the Duxford Flying Legends weekend recently.

Toby & Me

When we look back on our lives, it’s funny to think of the influence they had on us, and what we remember as highlights.

In a moving post by Lex, he remembered taking his dog Lady on a hunting trip, with his dog excited to be going but unable to retrieve anything that she didn’t point to – which was virtually everything.

She drank some putrefied water from an irrigation canal, and on the way home, as Lex said, “blew a gasket” in the car.  The resulting aromatic scene so  disgusted his son as to render him as merely a spectator to seeing his father trying to clean up the mess.

Which eventually so disgusted Lex he had to “chum the fish” to use a nautical term.

To the laughter of SNO.

It’s funny how they intersect with our lives and in their own way enrich our lives.

RAF Fairford last weekend (RIAT)

The Quarterback Who Changed My Football Viewing Habits

Oakland Raider QB Ken Stabler
copyright 1975 Ron Riesterer

I’m probably not a stereotypical American male, in that I don’t live and die by the weekly results of the NFL’s football games. I can certainly appreciate brilliant plays over the years by many teams. And I still watch some games. But not like I did in the late 60s and 70s.

Attack Squadron One Two Two Reunion 2015

Damn, I am getting old………………………………..

Among The Joshua Trees

A gathering at the Fleet Reserve Branch 261, 788 E. D Street, Lemoore, CA and The Naval Air Station Lemoore CA………..

Lemoore was home to Missus ORPO and I from June of 1985 to March of 1989. We still treasire that time in our lives.

It was good to meet a few old shipmates……………..Errecart, Taylor and Edgren…………………………..

Errecart and Taylor and I did the World Cruise together on The Good Ship Kitty Hawk………………………..in 1987. Damn………..I ain’t a kid anymore…………………..

The first picture below………………..yes.

I finally made it……………….yes, tears were shed.

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Flying Legends weekend 2015 – Duxford, England

Flying Legends Weekend 2015, Duxford, England

James Salter Interview on the BBC

I do hope my Lexican pals can access this very good 15 minute programme on the BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b062sgt7