Tanker, Posit?

By lex, on July 2nd, 2010

Oh, just droning along up there:

Back to the future

Posted by Lex, on March 22nd, 2008

Air Force wants to see coal fuel take off  **

The Green Hornet

By lex, on April 2nd, 2010

The USAF is, once again behind the power curve. They’re building B-52s fired by coal power. And coal, comrades, is eeevil. Because of the nasty hydrocarbons that are in it.

Navy, on the other hand, is enlightened. We’re using biofuels:

Hornet AR

Posted by lex, on January 26th, 2012

One of those cases when it really is better to receive, than it is to give.

Trust me, it looks a whole lot more controlled from the other end.

Of course, most of the airplane is behind you, so you don’t really pay much attention to it…

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Flying With Spike

Hard to believe it has been 27 years since Navy Captain  Michael “Spike” Scott Speicher disappeared with his FA-18 over Iraq. In my reposting of Lex’s posts, a few days ago I reposted his news of finding his remains in 2009.

 

I am sure that had Lex come across this post by Kevin Miller, he would have linked it. But alas, it was just written a few days ago. He tells us the kind of man Spike was.

H/T to spill.

A U.S. Navy Rorschach Test?

This was a topic today on our F/B page. Which, to me, being in the national news, kinda amused me.

Seems a bit juvenile to me, like something a kid would draw in the 4th grade.  But should an aviator lose his wings over it? Who could demonstrate some precise flying?

The Rorschach test, as you probably know, is a test with no “right” answer. And it is done with inkblots, not contrails.

Although at the time of its creation by Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist, contrails were not available.

The U.S.Navy, caving to political correctness, has officially decreed this etching to be a penis. And declared it to be unacceptable.

In an admittedly unscientific survey among Lexicans, the consensus ran from Egyptian hieroglyph   to…..an advertisement for Arbys.

Personally with the way Congress has been doling out money to the services, I’m leaning towards the latter.

I think the powers at Whidbey caved from political pressure. After all those Growlers have to be fed. And dollars are getting scarce.

I’ll let you be the judge:

 

 

 

 

Milestones

By lex, on December 27th, 2011

I read this article about Navy Captain Jim “Fish” Webb’s four thousandth flight hour with a little bit of envy:

Pimp My Ride – FA-18 Style

By lex, on July 8th, 2011

VFA-25 in Lemoore, California was my first fleet squadron, back in 1987-1990. The “Fist of the Fleet” had a long and storied history, including the last shootdown of a jet powered fighter by a radial engine attack aircraft. They also had the baddest squadron logo in the fleet, as evidenced in part by its use by the fictional F-14 (ack, spfft!) pilot Tom Iceman Kazansky in the movie Top Gun (which they didn’t even spell it right).

The squadron’s CAG bird is undergoing a repainting job, as pointed out by the ever-helpful Spaz Sinbad.

I like it, although to be fair, good taste is very much in the eye of the beholder. And when I was there, we only had three battle stars – now it’s four.

I guess they jumbled all the recent fights together: 1991, 2001, 2003.

(Question for the cognoscenti: When did West Coast jets start sporting “A” callsigns?)

 

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Echo Range

By lex, on January 15th, 2011

So, there I was reading Dave “Bio” Baranek’s excellent Topgun Days –  a first person narrative of the glory days of Tomcat Aviation at Naval Air Station Miramar – when I got to his chapter on the Electronic Warfare range embedded within the NAS China Lake restricted area. And: I thought it’d be better to share my Echo Range story before reading his chapter. To avoid the potential plagiary that might be in it.

First, let us dispense with the necessary militaria: “Echo Whiskey” is the phonetic for EW, which in turn stands for “electronic warfare.” Thus is the Echo Whiskey range reduced to the Echo Range, and what great good fun it is, for those who hope, some day, that they might get shot at.

Formation Go

By lex, on December 18th, 2010

Military aircraft typically fly from point to point in formation. The two-ship formation offers mutual support for the minimum tactical aviation element while reducing the burden of gaining individual flight clearances. It also permits an efficient use of airspace and provides an opportunity for leadership; a senior aviator often serves as mentor for his more junior partner.