#armed reconnaissance airplane

[nocternalrandomness]

"Spooky II"

[usafphantom2]

The SR 71 Pilot flew the plane, but the guy in the backseat was the RSO reconnaissance systems officer. He took care of the mission.

The mission was to get the information. This entailed taking pictures and getting the radar take. Everything that they needed for reconnaissance: the sounds, the photos, radar, (later they had radar photographs that could cut through the clouds.)

The RSO handled the ECM (electrical countermeasures) and was also completely in charge of defense, monitoring and overriding if necessary any missiles that were coming their way and quickly figuring out how to protect themselves.

The pilot was the commander of the airplane. It was the pilots of duty to instruct the navigator in the backseat to eject. If he felt it was necessary. Only the best pilots and the best navigators in the world were selected to fly the SR 71.

Fortunately, this worked 100% of the time as no SR 71 was ever shot down Over 1000 missiles were launched at an SR 71 especially around the Vietnam War after a few tries the Soviets gave up launching missiles as they knew they couldn’t catch it.

The pilot and the RSO worked as a team. The RSO would run the checklist for the pilot. He had to memorize both his cockpit and the pilot's cockpit. They got to know each other so well, they could sense what the other person was thinking and feeling just by their breathing.

The cockpits were right behind each other in tandem however they could not see each other.

For instance, if a circuit breaker had tripped and this happened, I remember Dave Peters's SR-71 Pilot telling me about how he had to push a switch behind him to override an electrical current. Dave reached his arm behind him and listened to his RSO give him precise instructions on how to do that while flying the airplane without taking his eyes off the sky! They were successful. I sure miss Dave. May he rest in peace.

The photograph that I selected is not an actual photograph. It’s an artist's conception of the RSO Cockpit.

Linda Sheffield a daughter of an RSO.

@Habubrats71 via X

[falseandrealultravival]

The worst general of the Japanese Army, the demon, Renya Mutaguchi (Logistics-8)

There are three important elements for an army that goes to war. Operations, intelligence, and logistics. If we compare this to a weapon called a spear, the tip would be the operation, the handle would be the logistics, and the arm would be the information. Of course, the tip of the spear should be sharp. Also, the handle that controls supply should be long, and the more accurate the information on the arm, the better.

Here, Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi commanded the major operation "Imphal Operation" relying only on the tip of the hat. Imphal is a strategic military center in East India, and by securing it, the line for sending supplies from India to China can be cut. However, Mutaguchi was swayed by the Imperial Headquarters, who believed that it was impossible to achieve victory in this operation, but he obtained permission. He, Renya Mutaguchi, was a person with strong assumptions, and he believed that he had caused trouble for the country as a party to the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge, which was the flashpoint of the Sino-Japanese War, so he bet on the Imphal operation.

What Mutaguchi decided to do was to traverse the rugged terrain of Burma (some mountains were over 3,000 meters high) before the rainy season and capture the British and Indian bases in Imphal. And the battle-hardened soldiers easily captured Imphal. However, the reality was the opposite of Mutaguchi's dream. When the rainy season arrived and they were riding up a steep mountain, Lieutenant General Slim of the British army learned of the Japanese army's intention to attack Imphal from reconnaissance by airplane and adopted tactics to draw the Japanese army deeper into the area. Originally, Japan was a military that procured food locally, and some generals ignored logistics, but there was no typical person like Mutaguchi.

This operation was guaranteed to fail from the beginning. Lieutenant General Slim used the previously mentioned "spear" theory of accurately grasping the information of the Japanese army and forcing them into a difficult situation with logistics and was able to gain superiority in both logistics and information and completely siege the Japanese army. Of the 100,000 participants, the Japanese military lost 30,000 dead in action, 20,000 evacuated due to battle wounds and disease, and more than half of the 50,000 remaining soldiers were sick. ...Most of the soldiers were on the verge of life and death. The route along which the Japanese army fled was littered with corpses, and was nicknamed the ``White Bone Highway''. During that time, Lieutenant General Mutaguchi was resting in the safety of the rear and had no words to say. It is said that among the soldiers, he was nicknamed ``Demon Mutaguchi.''

日本陸軍最低の将軍・鬼畜・牟田口廉也（エッセイ）

　戦争をする軍隊に重要な要素が３つあります。作戦、情報、ロジスティックです。これを「槍：やり」という武器になぞらえると、穂先が作戦、柄が兵站、腕が情報となるでしょう。槍の穂先はもちろん鋭いのを良しとします。また補給を司る柄は長いことが良く、腕にあたる情報は正確であればあるほどよい。

　ここ���、穂先のみにたよって大作戦「インパール作戦」を指揮したのが、牟田口廉也（むたぐち・れんや）中将です。インパールは、東インドにある軍事の要衝で、ここを確保すればインドから中国に物資を送るラインが切断できます。でも、この作戦は勝利を得ることは不可能とした大本営に牟田口は食い下がり、許可を得てしまいます。彼、牟田口廉也は思い込みの激しいひとで、日中戦争の発火点になった盧溝橋事件での事件発生の当事者として、国に迷惑を掛けたと思っていて、このインパール作戦に賭けました。

　そこで牟田口が取ったのは、雨季前を、険しいビルマ（３０００ｍ級の山もあった）の地形を縦走し、インパールの英・インド基地を奪うというものでした。そして百戦錬磨の兵たちがあっさりとインパールを攻略するというものでした。ところが、現実は牟田口の夢想の逆を行くものでした。雨季になり、険しい山を乗り込んできたとき、イギリス軍のスリム中将は飛行機による偵察により日本軍のインパール攻撃意図を知っていて、さらに奥に日本軍を引き込む戦術を取っていました。もともと日本は食糧は現地調達としている軍隊で、兵站を無視する行動を取る将軍はいましたが、牟田口のように典型的なひとはそうはいません。

[thetruearchmagos]

Airplanes VS Aeroships: A Comparison, Part II

Damn, this is actually turning into a bit of a miniseries for me! Thank you kindly once again @pixelazer for your questions, they've given me an opportunity to air some thoughts I've long kept bottled up!

Today, I'll be exploring some of the finer points of how aeroships and aircraft compare in the battlefield.

Tagging @athenswrites @theprissythumbelina @hessdalen-globe @nerdexer @caxycreations @thatndginger for the Worldbuilding. Careful, there's a lot of it!

A Brief History Of Early Aerial Warfare

It's important to note in assessing the prevalence of aeroships in combat roles that for most of such craft's existence they were entirely unchallenged. If I had to put a number on it, I'd say the earliest aeroships to sail the skies of the 12 Worlds would have come shortly after the invention of the steam engine. These early craft truly resembled their waterborne compatriots in structure paralleled many of the developments that would appear on ships at sea. Aeroships of this era would have essentially fought like thinly armoured, lightly armed, but terribly swift steam frigates, blazing away at each other with short ranged cannon. Most minor states would never even be able to afford more than a handful aeroships in this period, leading to relatively few actual actions between such vessels. Often, aeroships would disembark their guns and crews, instead serving as high speed couriers for only the most vital cargo and personnel.

This status quo would persist for almost a century, changing occasionally in response to developments across the 12 Worlds. Ever thicker armour and larger guns would be installed as aerium lift technologies matured and many interested great powers industrialised, while the invention of steam turbines would allow aeroships to keep their speeds despite the added weight.

The Chainbreaker War

Fixed wing aviation, like aeroships, would enter various parts of the 12 Worlds at various points in time in various guises, sometimes without one inventing group being aware of another's efforts. Speaking for the United Commonwealth, while testing and trials involving airplanes would occur sporadically, the lion's share of the UC's focus remained on its modest but modern aeroship fleet. Aircraft would see occasional combat use in the UC Army Air Service as reconnaissance platforms, but would remain more of a novelty than a revolutionary new technology throughout the Commonwealth's first seven decades.

The Chainbreaker War would upend that long held belief. While neither airplanes nor aeroships were present in the Upepwani Theatre at the war's outbreak in the fall of 75 A.S., units of both types would be assigned within the United Commonwealth Army of Upepwani's 15th Combined Air Wing at the personal request of UCAU's commander, Lt. Gen. Al-Saqr. The noted moderniser was among the few in the Army's upper ranks notably supportive of airplane development, and his air forces were put to good work while UCAU gradually gathered strength and licked its wounds.

A convenient arrangement between airplanes and aeroships would be formed. The former, even of the early models employed by 15th CAW, were faster than any aeroships present. These flew regular patrols above and behind Fuhrati lines, and the speed with which they could get on station meant multiple such flights could usually be made per aircraft each day. However, in exchange for added speed and flight range, these aircraft were stripped of what little armament they might have had, which at most would have consisted of a single machine gun mounted in a rear swivel. When targets were identified, heavier aeroships laden with rudimentary bombs converted from artillery shells could be dispatched to persecute a strike.

The main challenge facing these aviators would come in the form of the Empire's own impressive air fleet, based to an even greater degree on its own aeroships. Fighting on the home turf and able to bring its full force to bear, Fuhrati aeroships would enter the field of battle at around the same time as those of the UC, prioritising the striking of ports and harbours where Commonwealth troops were being unloaded. In the absence of air defence artillery, it would fall to 15th CAW to defend Upepwani from these raids.

In these days, combat between aeroships and airplanes was a hopeless cause for the latter. By now even the oldest Fuhrati aeroships carried armour thick enough to stop small arms, and had about as many quick-firing small 'picket' guns to swat slow flying, canvas winged biplanes from the sky. A single squadron, the 21st, consisting of eight Eyrie-class heavy aeroships was the only thing standing in their way for the War's first three months, and the fighting in the air would resemble that at sea, with lines of armoured vessels pounding each other with broadsides of guns. With superior quality in crew, craft, and equipment the 21st would stem the tide by the thinnest of margins, though failures in operational planning and inter-unit cooperation on the Imperial side would play a part in this outcome.

Aeroships would remain the unquestioned kings of the sky throughout the first year of the war, with UCAU's airborne battle line growing ever stronger while the Empire's struggled to modernise and keep pace with attrition at the same time. Changing technologies, tactics, and the broader context of the war would, however, challenge the aeroships' dominance.

Contest

Two developments in UC military aviation would play a key role in the rise of the airplane in the 'counter-air' role, alongside the more general improvements in their speed, weight capacity, and range. The first would be the invention in 76 A.S. of a powerful and reliable air launched rocket, the Mk. 1 "Candelabra". Simply referred to as the Candle by those who used it, it carried a heavy incendiary warhead on top of a large rocket, making for a weapon about as large as a light naval torpedo. Indeed, many were constructed using the bodies and frames from such weapons, and would prove similarly effective against ships of the air. The key to their employment was the technique of 'lobbing', where pilots would turn sharply upwards just before releasing their payloads. This extended their range by a good margin and allowed attacking aircraft to strike from 'below' their targets, where fewer picket guns were usually present. A logical next step from existing, far lighter rockets, both were useless against Fuhrati airplanes but could do a number on lumbering aeroships caught unawares.

The second major development was the formation of the Air War Control Centre, and the various tactics and methods developed by the AWCC. Created in 76 A.S., it was the brainchild of then Brigadier Padraig Dinneen, formerly CO of 15th CAW and appointed by al-Saqr as General Officer Commanding, Air Forces UCAU. The AWCC's primary function was the coordination of the Commonwealth's air power in battle across the theatre. Acting through a network of observers, plotters, and directors, it allowed AF-UCAU's aircraft to respond quickly, effectively, and efficiently to inbound Fuhrati threats, managing the complex task of air interception for hundreds of aircraft across thousands of kilometres.

A Battlefield Reborn

These developments, as well as the proliferation of ground based air defence artillery, would reshape the aerial battlefield for both sides as the war progressed. The sky would become an increasingly unfriendly place for aeroships on the prowl, unless they could fly high or far enough to avoid their own predators. While airplanes with skilled crews could rip apart squadrons of aeroships in the open, breeds of the latter which shed their guns and armour for payloads of bombs could still strike many targets with some safety, and a far larger load than even the heaviest aircraft.

With this danger present and growing, both sides would be pushed to find new uses for their heaviest, cannon armed aeroships. Some would live on as flying air defence batteries positioned over important targets, where their blindspots could be more easily covered by ground fire and gunnery against agile airplanes was an easier task. To make use of their primary guns, many would be employed as mobile artillery batteries in direct support of ground troops. High calibre guns, armour, ease of repositioning, and built-in fire control systems made for a lethal artillery platform, and many aeroships would serve out the rest of the conflict in such roles.

Another change which would aeroships a new lease on life was the increasing preference for 'smaller' craft, with smaller crews and running costs compared to the flying frigates of yore. Small aeroships acting as couriers or ferries of important personnel and cargo had seen limited employment before, but the UC in particular would greatly expand its fleet of these light aeroships with its novel doctrine of 'Aero-Mobile Rifles', which envisioned entire regiments and divisions being carried into battle via aeroship, with equipment. The craft that would eventually be developed to fill this role were smaller than their armoured predecessors, but had grown from the lightest couriers of before to be able to carry an entire platoon of infantry, various wheeled vehicles, or even full sized howitzers with their crews.

As the Chainbreaker War drew to a close in 80 A.S., the aviation forces that the United Commonwealth would leave that conflict with bore very little resemblance to that with which it had entered it, even without me mentioning the revolutions in aviation in the maritime domain*. Beyond these competing methods of flight, the very nature of air power's role in modern war was finally made obvious to all concerned, and would be recognised eventually across the 12 Worlds.

Contemporary Applications Of Military Aeroships

To skip about a century of technological development and competition, I'll take the time to cover some of the modern-ish uses of aeroships in warfare in the 12 Worlds, at least by the United Commonwealth. If you're a military nerd, you might see a familiar pattern emerge...

Tactical Mobility

If you want to move something from one point to another quicker than anything else, courier aeroships are your best bet. Craft in this role come in a wide variety of forms and weight classes, and see most prolific use in the UC Army's Air-Mobile Divisions. The UC Navy employ plenty themselves, facilitating ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore movement and playing a key role in amphibious deployments.

Reconnaissance - Strike

The birds of prey of any army which has them. Moving with terrible speed and agility, craft of the former type can provide invaluable real time intelligence on enemy formations on the battlefield, allowing the latter to hit them from an arm's length with missiles. While fast jets can come and go just as quickly, gunships provide boots on the ground with constant comfort under their rocket pods and autocannon.

Anti-Submarine

Two of the Chainbreaker War's finest innovations face off once again on the open seas. While fixed wing patrol birds can cover vast expanses of water, aeroships and the escort frigates they operate from keep close the Commonwealth's crucial convoys, playing their games of cat and mouse with the wolves under the waves.

Heavy Lift

The courier's larger sibling, Heavy Lift Aeroships can be as large as frigates of old and haul their weight in cargo. The largest airplanes may have an edge at intercontinental scales, but if you're planning on moving hundreds of armoured vehicles from one end of a theatre to another, fleets of HLA's are what you need.

Air Combat Control

As the range at which modern aircraft can reach out and kill each other increased with every new model of missile, the work of those whose job it is to orchestrate this made ballet hasn't gotten any easier. These flying control centres come packed with the most powerful Wave Emission Sensor suites in existence, soaring high and slow on their patrol routes while teams of directors and controllers vector their aircraft across the sky.

Air Defence

The relative imbalance between fast jets and aeroships in head to head combat was somewhat alleviated with the invention of the ground launched missile. While no aeroship can best the kinematics of a fast jet, when the latter stray too low and too near to exact their wrath on the ground pounders, aeroships play a key role in the Army's broader air defence network. While costly and complex, aeroships can be rapidly redeployed to keep up with ever changing frontlines in a way that cumbersome ground launchers can't.

Bonus Stuff #2

Ever since I mentioned those miniaturised aerium crystals in the last one of these articles, I've been having some thoughts on the broader worldbuilding surrounding them, which I'd like to share here. I'll keep it brief, hopefully.

Basically, the long time trend within the broader 'Aerium Industry' has pointed towards increasingly massive and 'complex' lifting crystals, and neglected the smaller one's previously mentioned. This is because the 'energy to lift' efficiency of a single aerium crystal increases exponentially as its mass and 'internal complexity' increases, so that two crystals of a given weight produce significantly less lift for a given amount of energy than a single crystal as heavy as both of them. This property was what allowed for, and even encouraged, those heavy aeroships mentioned above, and as aerium crystal forging techniques developed over time they kept to this general trend of increasing size.

Thus, when the United Commonwealth - ore more accurately, the Defence Consolidated Technical Establishment - began investigating the use of highly miniaturised aerium crystals in high performance aircracft, the industry to produce the needed crystals simply didn't exist. There was one field, however, that had seen significant developments in recent years when it came to producing small, low mass charged crystals; the electronics industry.

While aerium crystals were getting ever larger, the encoded computating crystals employed in electronic equipment and appliances the 12 Worlds over were only getting smaller. While there are obvious differences between aerium crystals and the ones used in this industry, DCTE would tap on this rapidly growing sector to apply its methods to aerium, with some success.

With the history of these mini-crystals production briefly explained, I'd like to return to the question of why smaller crystals were needed in the first place.

One of the key measured properties of aerium crystals is 'residuality', which refers to how easily a charged, lift generating crystal can shed its lifting capacity upon the removal of its source of energy. Smaller crystals shed their residual lift significantly faster than larger crystals, a characteristic once seen as a critical safety concern; while large craft would descend relatively slowly even from a great height in the event of a power failure, smaller aeroships could lose all lift and smash into the ground like a brick in a matter of seconds.

When it comes to designing manoeuvrable military aircraft, this presents a challenge not faced when installing aerium on, say, long range bombers and transports. The residual lift of aerium crystals leads to sluggish handling and difficulties with rapid changes in altitude, two characteristics that couldn't be tolerated in the age of high speed, agile air combat.

The engineers at DCTE believed that, using their miniaturised aerium crystals and high performing flight control systems, these issues could be overcome, and that the inherent inefficiencies of such small crystals would not be a major obstacle. Dozens of crystals, each about the size of a fist, would be installed in points across the aircraft's fuselage and wings. Each crystal's lift generation could be individually calibrated in real time by onboard flight control, meaning that not only would test pilot's not notice any hinderance to their movements, with sufficient practice they could pull off seemingly impossible stunts in the air.

---

*I'd like to touch on this particular point for just a moment, then I'll let you go. In short, pre-Chainbreaker aviation, aeroship or airplane, was seen as a fairly niche capability by both services, but the Navy especially. Even the largest aeroships didn't have the weapons, endurance, or speed of most of the UCN's own vessels, and none could operate in the Warp, so only small numbers of patrol focused aeroships were operated to cover major sea lanes. The UCAAS's aeroship fleet was larger and better designed to fight air battles as they were understood at the time, but when it came to providing their crews most Army aviators would attend Navy installations for their training. This was because the vast majority of the equipment on a 'combat aeroship' - it's guns, fire control, and powerplant, for example - were of Navy design and in use on Navy vessels at sea, and so it was deemed an inefficient waste of resources for the Army to stand up its own effectively parallel training establishments.

[subtile-jagden]

Rudolf Berthold (Part 1)

Disclaimer: This will have 3 parts as it will be longer than I thought it would be. The first part is about Bertholds early life and military career up to the end of 1915 when Bertholds fighter pilot career starts, the second part will be 1916 to 1918 where major events will be outlined as well as a documentation of his many injuries. The third part will concentrate on his activities after the war and his controversial death.

I will write down the books from which I took the information for this post at the end of Part 3.

Rudolf Berthold was born on 24th March 1891 in Ditterswind, Franconia (Bavaria), German Empire. His full name was Oskar Gustav Rudolf Berthold but as was common at the time he was called by his third name Rudolf. His parents were from Saxony but at the time of Rudolfs birth his father was the Oberförster (Chief Forester) of the area around Ditterswind. He had seven siblings; closest to him was his sister Franziska; she worked as a nurse and took care of him during his many wounds (more to that in Part 2). He always had a very strong sense of duty towards his country and was a fervent patriot, so to no surprise, after graduating school at 19 he enrolled in the military. He joined the Saxon Infantry Regiment Graf Tauentzien von Wittenberg (3. Brandenburgisches) Nr. 20. In his spare time he was very involved in several youth movements, teaching young boys survival skills and instilling in them the same love he had for Germany.

In the summer of 1914 Berthold volunteered for flight training at Halberstadt. Here he trained to be an observer with other ambitious comrades, among them Oswald Boelcke. After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, tensions between the European powers reached a boiling point and he was recalled to his infantry regiment. He was able to formally transfer to the Fliegertruppen in July 1914 with the goal to become a pilot. The declaration of war put a stop to his plans as he was called to report as an observer to the Royal Saxon Air Base at Grossenhain.

Rudolf Bertholds war career began with Feldflieger-Abteilung 23 (FFA 23), which was part of General von Bülows 2nd Army. He flew reconnaissance on the Western front. Already in mid-August he almost became a prisoner of war when he and his pilot Leutnant Viehweger had to make an emergency landing 15 km from the front in enemy territory. Berthold and Viehweger hid in the woods and managed to make contact with a German patrol the next day. They were able to bring the airplane back to the German lines. 

One of his notable early feats was that he discovered a gap between the 1st and 2nd Army during the Battle of the Marne which the French used to thrust into the gap to get behind the German lines. Bertholds discovery led to a change of plans and earned Berthold the Iron Cross 2nd Class. This was followed shortly by the Iron Cross 1st class with Berthold being the second soldier of the 2nd Army to receive it only after Bülow.

After the deaths of some pilots of FFA 23 Berthold was sent to Etappen-Flugzeug-Park 2 to be trained as a pilot. Here he met Hans-Joachim Buddecke who will become his closest friend.

In January 1915 Berthold fulfilled his dream by passing all necessary tests. In his diary he noted that being the one who flies the plane is so important to him because he doesn´t want to have to rely on someone else. He was already infame as a demanding observer who didn´t tolerate a pilot who turns around on a mission because of some bad weather. Now he was the one in full control. At this point of the war the majority of German planes where not yet equipped with weapons. According to Berthold himself the observers were only armed with pistols and rifles. That changed in mid-1915 when machine guns where finally installed.

After being attacked by French planes Berthold and his crew crashed badly with one of the observers dying. This was a turning point for Berthold; from then on, he wanted to fly only on his own so that his decisions (and his mistakes) while flying and fighting would only affect himself.

Immelmann and Boelcke started to become successful with their single seater Fokker Eindecker and Bertholds friend Buddecke was also able to bring down enemy aircraft with this plane. This motivated Berthold to get one for himself. Fighter Units were being established in late 1915 and he was assigned as the officer in charge of KEK Vaux. The Fokker Eindecker which proofed to be superior to enemy airplanes became the weapon of choice for the Fighter Units.

End of Part 1.

[casbooks]

Books of 2023 (★★★★)

Book 75 of 2023 (Last book read of the year!)

Title: Soul Patrol Authors: Ed Emanuel ISBN: 9780891418177

Tags AH-1 Cobra, AUS ADF AA Australian Army, AUS ADF AA Special Air Service (ASAS), AUS ADF Australian Defence Force, B-52 Stratofortress, Boeing 727, CUB Cuban Missile Crisis, KOR Korea, KOR ROK Republic of Korea Army, THA Bangkok, THA Bangkok - Chao Phraya River, THA Bangkok - Floating Marketplace, THA Bangkok - Grand Palace, THA Bangkok - Lumhini Park, THA Bangkok - Siam Hotel, THA Bangkok - Soul Sisters Bar, THA Bangkok - Temple of the Emerald Buddha, THA Bangkok - Wat Phra Kaew, THA Thailand, US CA Watts Riots - Los Angeles (1965), US Martin Luther King Jr (Civil Rights Leader), US OH Kent State University, US OH Kent State University Shootings (1970) (Vietnam War), US PAA Pan American World Airlines, US President John F. Kennedy, US President John F. Kennedy Assassination - Dallas TX (1963), US Senator Robert F. Kennedy, US Senator Robert F. Kennedy Assassination - Los Angeles CA (1968), US USA 101st Airborne Division - Screaming Eagles, US USA 173rd Airborne Brigade - Sky Soldiers, US USA 17th Assault Helicopter Company, US USA 17th Assault Helicopter Company - Kingsmen, US USA 17th Assault Helicopter Company - Lancers, US USA 187th Infantry Regiment, US USA 187th Infantry Regiment - 3/187, US USA 199th Light Infantry Brigade - Redcatchers, US USA 1st ID - Big Red One, US USA 23rd ID - Americal, US USA 334th Armed Helicopter Company, US USA 334th Armed Helicopter Company - Playboys, US USA 506th Infantry Regiment, US USA 51st Infantry Regiment, US USA 51st Infantry Regiment - F Co (LRP), US USA 51st Infantry Regiment - F Co (LRP) - Team 1/3, US USA 51st Infantry Regiment - F Co (LRP) - Team 1/4, US USA 51st Infantry Regiment - F Co (LRP) - Team 2/3, US USA 51st Infantry Regiment - F Co (LRP) - Team 2/4, US USA 51st Infantry Regiment - F Co (LRP) - Team 2/4 - Soul Patrol, US USA 51st Infantry Regiment - F Co (LRP) - Team 2/5, US USA 51st Infantry Regiment - F Co (LRP) - Team 2/6, US USA 74th Reconnaissance Airplane Co (RAC), US USA 74th Reconnaissance Airplane Co (RAC) - Aloft, US USA 75th Rangers, US USA 75th Rangers - H Co, US USA 75th Rangers - O Co, US USA 75th Rangers - P Co, US USA 79th Infantry, US USA 79th Infantry Det - P Co (LRP), US USA 82nd Airborne Division - All American, US USA 90th Replacement Bn, US USA ANG Army National Guard, US USA ANG IN 151st Infantry Regiment, US USA ANG IN 151st Infantry Regiment - D Co (LRP), US USA Fort Bragg NC,

US USA Fort Campbell KY, US USA LRRP Team (Vietnam War), US USA United States Army, US USA USSF 5th SFG, US USA USSF Green Berets, US USA USSF Special Forces, US USA USSF Team ODB-52, US USMC 1st MarDiv, US USMC Force Recon, US USMC United States Marine Corps, US USN Naval Station Treasure Island CA, US USN SEALS, US USN United States Navy, VNM 1968 Tet Offensive (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM 1969 Mini-Tet Offensive (1969) (Vietnam War), VNM Battle of Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill) (Operation Apache Snow) (1969) (Vietnam War), VNM Battle of Hamburger Hill (Dong Ap Bia) (Operation Apache Snow) (1969) (Vietnam War), VNM Bearcat Base / Long Thanh North Airfield (Vietnam War), VNM Bien Hoa, VNM Cam Ranh Bay, VNM Camp Lindsey-Lattin (Vietnam War), VNM Central Highlands, VNM Cu Chi, VNM Dong Ap Bia (Hill 937), VNM DRV Ho Chi Minh, VNM DRV NVA General Vo Nguyen Giap, VNM DRV NVA North Vietnamese Army, VNM DRV NVA/VC Counterreconnaisssance Bn., VNM DRV VC Viet Cong, VNM Highway 1, VNM Ho Bo Woods, VNM Hon Tre (Bamboo Island), VNM II Corps (Vietnam War), VNM III Corps - AO Ace (Vietnam War), VNM III Corps - AO Catchers Mitt (Vietnam War), VNM III Corps - AO Miller (Vietnam War), VNM III Corps - AO Scout (Vietnam War), VNM III Corps (Vietnam War), VNM Long Binh Post (Vietnam War), VNM Montagnards, VNM My Lai, VNM My Lai Massacre (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM Nha Trang, VNM Nha Trang - 5th SFG Recondo School (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Apache Snow (1969) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Arc Light (1965-1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Ranch Hand (1962-1971) (Vietnam War), VNM Phu Bai, VNM RVN ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam, VNM RVN ARVN CIDG Civilian Irregular Defense Group, VNM Saigon, VNM Tay Ninh, VNM US Agent Orange (Vietnam War), VNM US Project Delta - Det B-52 (Vietnam War), VNM US USA 6th Convalescent Hospital - Cam Ranh Bay, VNM US USA II Field Force (1966-1971) (Vietnam War), VNM US USA II Field Force V - G-3 (1966-1971) (Vietnam War), VNM US USA II Field Force V (1966-1971) (Vietnam War), VNM US USSF 5th SFOB Special Forces Operation Base - Nha Trang, VNM Vietnam, VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975), VNM Vung Tau, VNM War Zone D

Rating: ★★★★ Subject: Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Specops.LRRPs, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.SpecOps.US.LRRPs

Description: LRRPs had to be the best.Anything less meant certain death.When Ed Emanuel was handpicked for the first African American special operations LRRP team in Vietnam, he knew his six-man team couldn’t have asked for a tougher proving ground than Cu Chi in the summer of 196868. Home to the largest Viet cong tunnel complex in Vietnam, Cu Chi was the deadly heart of the enemy’s stronghold in Tay Ninh Province. Team 2/6 of Company F, 51st Infantry, was quickly dubbed the Soul Patrol, a gimmicky label that belied the true depth of their courage. Stark and compelling, Emanuel’s account provides an unforgettable look at the horror and the heroism that became the daily fare of LRRPs in Vietnam. Every mission was a tightrope walk between life and death as Emanuel’s team penetrated NVA bases, sidestepped lethal booby traps, or found themselves ambushed and forced to fight their way back to the LZ to survive. Emanuel’s gripping memoir is an enduring testament to the valor of all American LRRPs, who courageously risked their lives so that others might be free.From the Paperback edition.

[aviationanddefence1]

Global Defense Avionics Market reports

The terms "avionics" and "electronics" refer to the electrical components of aircraft. Navigation, communications, controlling and displaying numerous systems, and the hundreds of parts installed aboard aircrafts to carry out specific tasks are all included in avionic systems. These can be as basic as the tactical system of an airborne early warning platform. The control apparatus (in turbojets) includes the attitude gyro and many power-indicating gauges, such as the tachometer (in propeller boats), torquemeter (in turboprops), and exhaust pressure ratio indicator.

Performance instruments include the altimeter, Machmeter, turn and slip indicator, and numerous devices that show the angle of attack, vertical velocity, and airspeed. Among the communication devices are two-way radios, which operate across a wide frequency range from high frequency (HF) to very high frequency (VHF) to ultrahigh frequency. They allow for direct voice communication between the aircraft and other aircraft as well as the ground (UHF). Two instances of electronic radio navigation technology are radar and instrument landing systems.

The term "avionics," which combines the words "aviation" and "electronics," describes the electrical equipment on airplanes. The Global Defense Avionics Market reports systems encompass a vast array of technologies installed on aircrafts for specific purposes, including navigation, communications, control and display of multiple systems, and more.

Principal drivers of the expansion of the defense avionics market:

As the number of unmanned platforms increases, so too will the requirement for avionics systems, especially those linked to Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) mission control systems for integration on board manned and unmanned platforms. These systems facilitate data gathering, processing, and communication, which is essential to support the planning and development of intelligence activities (surveillance and reconnaissance). scalable, flexible, and modular.

Trends influencing the defense-avionics market's size include:

An Open-Standard System Architecture (OSSA) is a technique for developing architectures that uses open standards to delay system obsolescence, reduce the risk and expense of owning weaponry, and accelerate the deployment of capabilities. The utilization of widely accepted standards from several manufacturers reduces the cost of weapon systems through the application of an open systems strategy.

Market Forecast and Dynamics for Defense-Avionics:

Growing defence spending will be the driving force behind new procurement activities. Procurement will also be impacted by the present geopolitical environment in Europe and the Asia-Pacific area. Increased purchases of defense avionics systems in Europe and the Asia Pacific area will result from cross-border aggression. There will be a large market for avionics systems because defense avionics is used in a variety of aircraft, including fighters, bombers, transport aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned systems.

Analysis of the Defence Avionics Market for Recent Advancements:

According to the statement, enhancements will be made to the 3,100 EDECUs during the course of the five-year deal. EDECUs are defined as "flight critical computers that improve engine performance, efficiency, and operation with operating and application specific software." More than 2,000 EDECU orders will be completed in compliance with the contract by the end of the year. Triumph has supplied over 7,000 EDECUs for the Apache, Black Hawk, Jayhawk, and Seahawk fleets to the Army, Navy, and Coast Guard since 2013.

The Textron Beechcraft AT-6E Wolverine received Military Type Certification (MCT) from the U.S. Air Force, a certification level that will keep the light attack turboprop in production and enable foreign sales. IN permissible zones, the Air Force is actively testing a two-seat, specially designed, armed reconnaissance derivative of the T-6 Texan II trainer. Textron Aviation Defense (NYSE: TXT), located in Wichita, Kansas, is the company developing this version.

[jcmarchi]

Bizarre Rumours Say that a Vintage Russian Spy Plane Could Return to Service - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/bizarre-rumours-say-that-a-vintage-russian-spy-plane-could-return-to-service-technology-org/

Bizarre Rumours Say that a Vintage Russian Spy Plane Could Return to Service - Technology Org

Russia wants to return the Soviet reconnaissance plane Myasishchev M-55 to service. This plane took off for its maiden flight in 1988 and technically never left service with the Russian air force, but was never used for its original purpose. Now the Russians think that it would be useful against Ukraine. Or so the rumours say.

The M-55 can reach an altitude of 21.5 km. Image credit: Alex Beltyukov – RuSpotters Team via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The M-55 is a kind of Soviet interpretation of the legendary Lockheed U-2 spy plane. The U-2, which, by the way, is even older (its first flight took place in 1955) is also still in use.

The U-2 production ended in 1989. This plane can climb to an altitude of more than 24 km and observes everything in its journey using high-resolution cameras. In the age of satellites, the U-2 is no longer as important as it used to be, but the US Air Force still uses several U-2 planes.

The M-55 is different. It is newer, comes up to an altitude of 21.5 km, and may even be easier to control. But it appeared at the very end of the Cold War and quickly became obsolete as a spy plane. Therefore, the reconnaissance M-55 turned into a scientific one.

M-55 aircraft. Image credit: Leonid Faerberg via Wikimedia, GFDL 1.2 license

It is believed that only 5 M-55 aircraft were ever built and were equipped with various sensors to study the Earth. They are used to photograph Russia itself for cartography, but they are not really needed for that either. The M-55 has the endurance to stay in the air for 6.5 hours.

By the way, an interesting fact – the Soviets planned a combat version of the M-55, the M-55Sh. This interesting but strange ground-attack aircraft was never made. However, the military service of the M-55 can still happen – recently there have been rumours that the M-55 could be used in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Only five such airplanes were ever made. The name Geophysica shows that its purpose is Earth-sciences. Image credit: Aleksandr Markin via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Roman Svitan, a reserve colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, pilot-instructor and a military expert, believes that the Russian invaders want to return the M-55 to full military service to strengthen their reconnaissance capabilities in Ukraine. The M-55 is now somewhat of a civilian aircraft (although it still belongs to the Russian Air Force).

Information has appeared that the M-55 may return to its reconnaissance roots. However, Svitan notes that this would be a bad sign for the Russians. “If the Russians are going to use the M-55 as a reconnaissance plane, then everything is very bad for them with aviation. They don’t have enough power, especially of the A-50 flying radars, so they try to go even higher, up to 15-18 kilometers,” noted Svitan.

The logic would be simple – to rise higher than the Ukrainian missiles can reach. However, the Patriot air defense system would take care of the M-55 without too much trouble, and any intelligence the M-55 could gather is more easily gathered by satellites and drones. Therefore, it is likely that the M-55 will not be used for reconnaissance and it is just some weird rumour.

Written by Povilas M.

Sources: 24tv.ua, Wikipedia

[johnjankovic1]

Ad Astra per Aspera

Man’s relationship with the heavens found its inflection point in 1903 when a jerry-rigged plane defied gravity for a modest twelve seconds above the sandy dunes of North Carolina. Icarus’ dream became a thing in the realm of possibility rather than mere fiction. Despite the brevity powered flight would no longer be circumscribed to literature but rather nursed into an industry by caretakers with ambition. The last frontier of the skies would be quickly colonized with the advent of mechanized aviation thanks to the Wright brothers who were the progenitors of this paradigm shift. A leap for mankind even greater than that of railroads and roadways came to underscore the metaphysical that perhaps civilization’s destiny lay beyond the stars. The watershed thus had a practical as much as a cosmological significance for a people who began to look askance at whether they were meant to be earthbound. Airborne aspirations like these precipitated the momentum that saw humanity extemporizing flight to collecting lunar soil amidst Apollo’s moonshot. From this cradle of aviation did a series of one-upmanship set about the creation of an industry that profoundly reshaped transportation. As technology matured flagship routes like New York to Paris that once took a fortnight by ship now required a few hours. Great change was afoot.

Man’s dominion over the sky was in the main an inheritance from industrial policies that later conduced to the novelty’s commercialization. Indeed government procurement was the primary if not only impetus to the industry’s growth in its experimental years. Widespread application was not a foregone conclusion as operations of manufacturers were scattershot with a handful of handicraft shops patronized by even fewer enthusiasts. Bereft of this monopsony the technology in its infancy would have withered on the vine were it not for the countenance by government contracts. Amongst the first acquisitions would be the Wright Military Flyer in a competition that enumerated a litany of desiderata for endurance and speed that the prototype abided by. The Army Signal Corps’ $1m selection in 1909 meant the aircraft was ipso facto the foremost machine to be the reconnaissance asset that stipulations alluded to. Likened to most major discoveries whether it was unlocking the latent power of the atom or the silent guardian of modern radar in the Battle of Britain it would be no different for the provenance of airplanes. Conflict invariably midwifes innovation. The Great War would thereby incubate the science of flight a few short years after the Army’s initial foray into adopting the technology (Anderson 1976).

America’s aviation industry first found its raison-d’être in the arms race of Europe’s trenches across a spectrum of artillery spotting, dogfighting, and tactical bombing. Prior to hostilities planes were marginalized as little more than a sporting curiosity for civilian use but the furnace of combat compelled the Beltway to bootstrap the industry’s growth in little time. In short order President Woodrow Wilson elected himself to be the patriarch for the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA was the predecessor of NASA) in an attempt to restore parity with Europe’s scientific breakthroughs. No longer a silent investor the government’s new bureaucracy in 1915 vested with a budget of $150k in today’s currency sought to be the industry’s skunkworks. A trove of technical reports on R&D between aerodynamics and applied aviation were generated by this intellectual nerve centre whose findings were imparted to a consortia of stakeholders. Once America shunned neutrality in 1917 upon the German Empire’s provocations of unrestricted submarine warfare and its overtures of alliance with Mexico in the Zimmerman Telegram did Congress exploit the purse. A detached spectator no more another fiscal investment of $640m by the government catapulted the industry from a backbencher into a vanguard as production ratcheted up for a high benchmark of orders. 

It was determined that the mobilization of manufacturers could remedy the asymmetry of capacity compared to Europe which had thrown down the gauntlet for air supremacy. Immortalizing the fledgeling industry was then the endgame anticipated by the Aviation Act that promised production of 22,000 aircraft and 44,000 engines over an eighteen-month period (Hunt 2010; Murphy 2005). The Armistice only a year later pared down output to 11,754 aircrafts from the cessation of hostilities when military contracts petered out. But immortalize it did as neophyte manufacturers like the storied Boeing would partake in the downstream effects of President’s Wilson’s industrial policies. The direct stimulus from the government’s war chest was de facto seed capital for the nascent company since the Navy procured its flagship product of fifty Model-C seaplanes in 1917 (Petrescu et al. 2017). Boeing girded itself for wartime production as a defence contractor even though it belied its size at the time. The company nevertheless scaled production from 23 employees to 337 at the war’s peak to bridge the hardware deficits of America’s fleet (Myers 2007). Despite the industry’s existential crisis when the guns fell silent these procurement programs were a saving grace for Boeing’s solvency with an injection of $1.4m in 1921.

The contest of machines in the skies over Europe was where the emergence of America’s aviation industry really began. Companies that were otherwise saplings hinged on state patronage in virtue of how markets were either amorphous or nonexistent. The Army Signal Corps’ possession of two hundred aircraft and the Navy faring no better with fifty-four bore testimony to the stagnation of an industry that had yet to embrace the future unlike Europe. As it was raring for accolades of leadership in production after inaugurating the age of flight on its own soil America would leverage policy to upset the status quo. The exigencies of war delivered the industrial muscle for scale and growth that manufacturers had been wanting. Redolent of a Keynesian stimulus the Aviation Act meted out contracts to artificially create a market around which companies rallied to industrialize and thus scale operations for profitability. Such rapid buildup erased the strategic vulnerability of underdevelopment and the ignominy of being an idle observer at the outset of the Great War. The $640m of appropriations in nominal value or the equivalent of $19b when adjusted for inflation really did come to epitomize the cardinal pivot for the industry after it originally languished as a laggard. The riveting transformation would presage greater exploits.

[kratijain06]

Types of Aviation to build your great career

If you've come to this page, it indicates your desire to pursue a career in aviation but lack the necessary knowledge about the various aviation courses. You may learn more about aviation courses from this article.

What do you mean by aviation course?

Aviation refers to the operation of aircraft, including airplanes, helicopters, and other vehicles, in the air. It encompasses all activities related to the design, development, production, testing, operation, and maintenance of aircraft. The field of aviation is diverse and includes commercial aviation, military aviation, general aviation. 

What are the types of Aviation?

There are several types of aviation, including:

Commercial Aviation

 This type of aviation involves the operation of aircraft for commercial purposes, such as passenger transportation, cargo transportation, and air freight. Examples of commercial aviation include major airlines, regional airlines, and air cargo carriers. Applicants enrolled at airwing aviation academy  for ground Staff course in Udaipur sure to land high-level jobs in areas such as air traffic control, passenger, in-flight, and cargo handling, among others.

Military Aviation

Military aviation involves the use of aircraft by the armed forces for various purposes, including combat, reconnaissance, transport, and training. Examples of military aviation include fighter jets, helicopters, transport aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). The Flight Steward is the person who welcomes arriving passengers, greets them, and provides them with refreshments. Pursue the Flight Steward course in Udaipur one of the top programs for a career in aviation.

General Aviation

 This type of aviation encompasses all types of aviation that are not commercial or military. It includes private and recreational flying, flight training, aerial photography, and agricultural aviation, among others. The best  cabin crew course in Rajasthan is provided by Airwing Aviation Academy, which also provides free access to a real-world in-flight orientation with a top airline. Students who are interested in getting practical experience abroad can also be transported there for a fee.

Summary

The aviation industry in Rajasthan has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in the nation over the last three years. Airwing aviation academy, the best aviation Institute in Udaipur always trained their students who are keen to work in the complex and busiest schedule of the aviation sector. Hopefully this article was helpful in providing you with knowledge about aviation so you can now choose the best out of this.

[bookloversofbath]

Soviet Naval Aviation 1946-1991 :: Yefim Gordon & Dmitriy Komissarov

Soviet Naval Aviation 1946-1991 :: Yefim Gordon & Dmitriy Komissarov

[radiojamming]

can we hear more about carrie?? i am 👀

YES VERY YES AHHH

Full name is Carrie Ann Dunmore. ADHD champion of the skies!

From Anchorage, Alaska! Her mom and stepdad live in Palmer, and her dad is a bush pilot further up north. Her current home is in Willow, AK.

She has a bachelor's degree in meteorology and environmental science. Her special interest is severe weather and hurricanes.

Carrie combined her love of flying (from her dad) with her special interest and decided to join the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (the Hurricane Hunters) as a pilot. So her fun party trick is flying directly into some of the worst weather imaginable, because yaaaay!

She has two huskies named Saffir and Simpson.

She was named after the movie Carrie.

Loves, loves, loves airplanes of all kinds. It's a hyperfixation kind of love. If you really want to bond with her, let her infodump about them or take her to the Air & Space Museum. (Ask her about planes like the Gimli Glider to earn her trust, love, and loyalty.)

Gets recruited into the 141 because of her piloting skills, lack of fear (or sense of danger tbh), and ability and willingness to fly planes she's not familiar with. If she doesn't know, she'll figure it out!

She has a tattoo of an SR-71 Blackbird on her right arm, the vector symbol for a hurricane behind her left ear, the silhouette of a bearded vulture in flight on her left shoulder, a little cartoony cumulus cloud on her right ankle, and a dot-to-dot constellation-looking pattern on her upper right leg that maps out her first flight into a hurricane.

Her flight helmet also has a bearded vulture on it. They're cute! They eat bones!

Her nickname, 'Carrion', comes from her name (ofc), her tendency to eat anything without really caring what it is, and her habit of going into circular holding patterns in flight like a vulture.

Other nicknames include Cazza, Birdy, and Tinkerbell/Tink. (She's not that tiny, but compared to the rest of the 141, she is.) One of her code names is 'Doolittle' (because she could have Dunmore, geddit).

Her style icon is Stevie Nicks.

If she hadn't gone into the 53rd, she thinks she would have been a bush pilot or a storm chaser.

If she hooks up with Ghost, they encapsulate 'Someone will die... OF FUN' energy.

Has a platonic love with her best friend from the 53rd, Westie. This can get very confusing in plots where she's with someone like Ghost, because Carrie and Westie often come across like they're dating. (Are you really best friends if someone doesn't think that?)

Only ever broke one bone! She broke her right ankle during a very intense game of volleyball.

Ironically terrified at the prospect of ghost hunting. (Carrie 🤝 Rodolfo: SCARED OF GHOSTS)

Cannot taste cilantro. :(

Karaoke enthusiast! If there is karaoke to do, she shall do it.

Has a very fun playlist.

[usafphantom2]

America’s Mach 3+ fighter, Bill Sweetman investigates

Hush KitFebruary 23, 2017

August 2, 2024

HOLY KEDLOCK by Bill Sweetman

If speed and range are your goals for an interceptor, you can’t beat the Lockheed YF-12. It’s hard to beat as a confusing story either. Technology demonstrator? Stalking horse for something quite different? Opportunistic effort to save a program in trouble? Possibly, all of the above.

North American’s F-108 Rapier Mach 3 interceptor was cancelled in September 1959. The F-108 was only eight months past mock-up review, following an on-again, off-again initial development. But the Rapier’s ASG-18 radar and GAR-9 missile combo, developed by Hughes, had started earlier than the F-108 itself and enjoyed more consistent support, and was not canceled along with the aircraft.

A few months later, in January 1960, the CIA awarded Lockheed a contract to build 12 A-12s. They would be purely photo birds, with a single pilot and one camera bay, and the goal was to operate them out of Area 51, thereby evading the British and German anoraks who had rumbled the U-2.

On May 1, 1960, Frank Powers’ U-2 was shot down near Sverdlovsk. No parades or hot hors d’oeuvres for him. Eisenhower approved a cover story that Khrushchev shot to smaller pieces than the airplane. The furious President banned any further overflights.

This left OXCART without a mission, barely six months into an expensive program, without a mission, and competing for money with the politically favored CORONA. Skunk Works boss Kelly Johnson proposed armed versions of the OXCART to the Air Force. It was risky because Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay was mounting a stalwart defense the XB-70 Valkyrie, but the interceptor version did not threaten the bomber. A contract was issued in October 1960 under which three A-12s would be completed as AF-12 interceptors with the F-108’s Hughes radar and missile system.

The AF-12, codenamed KEDLOCK, would feature some important differences from the CIA jets. Heavier and carrying more fuel, it would have a second cockpit replacing the camera bay, the massive ASG-18 radar in the nose, and four large weapon bays built into all-metal chines. (On the A-12, the chines were purely there to reduce the radar cross-section and were partly made of plastic material.) The GAR-9 was a 900-pound chonky boi and could carry either a high-explosive or blast-fragmentation warhead, with a range at launch up to 100 nm.

KEDLOCK benefited from the A-12 OXCART, which ran a year earlier and wrestled with the many basic problems of titanium use and propulsion development, and from the early start on ASG-18 and GAR-9. Wind tunnel tests showed that the huge ogival radome loused up the directional stability, so KEDLOCK acquired strakes under each engine nacelle and a large folding ventral fin.

Launching a weapon from a bay at Mach 3.2 was a challenge. Johnson’s deputy, Ben Rich, later said that the initial GAR-9 ejection system resulted in the missile passing between the front and rear cockpits, which would have been bad.

Flown in August 1963, the interceptor required little further work. Six out of seven missile shots were successful, the final shot from Mach 3.2 and 74,000 feet hitting a low-flying QB-47 drone—the first look-down, shoot-down interception and a trailblazer for the Navy’s AWG-9 and AIM-54 Phoenix programs.

KEDLOCK did a lot of the heavy lifting for the next version of the Blackbird, a reconnaissance-strike aircraft. First called RS-12, the project ran about a year behind KEDLOCK and emerged as the SR-71, with weapon bays converted to accommodate cameras and SIGINT gear.

The AF-12 had one more mission: deception. During 1963, as the pace of testing increased, observers started to notice the fast-moving A-12s and AF-12s, and the usual CIA/USAF tactic of confusing their reports with UFO sightings wore thin. Also, the project was far larger than the U-2 and involved more people and subcontractors, and many people in industry began to connect the dots. Bob Hotz’s staff at Aviation Week went to the Air Force with the news. Hotz would hold the story but not if anyone else got near it.

McNamara decided that the interceptor could be unveiled without compromising the A-12, and his view prevailed over the CIA’s caution. On February 24, 1964, two side-view photos were released of what was falsely described as the Lockheed A-11, and Johnson announced that a number of A-11s were being tested at Edwards Air Force Base. To keep the facts consistent with the President’s statement, two AF-12s were rushed from Area 51 to Edwards and quickly rolled into a hangar, where the heat from their airframes set the sprinklers off.

Had there been anything for it to shoot down, the YF-12 (as it was retrospectively designated, sometime before August 1964) might have been the ultimate interceptor. But the Soviet intercontinental strike force, even into the 1980s, amounted to a small and dwindling number of early Tu-95s, which Air Defense Command’s F-106s could cope with, and the YF-12s lived out their days as NASA test assets.

@Hushkit.net

[greatworldwar2]

• Arthur Chin (CNAF U.S Ace)

Arthur Tien Chin; Cantonese: Chan Sui-Tin; was a pilot from the United States who participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Chin was compelled to defend his father's homeland when Japan invaded China. Chin is recognized as the United States' first flying ace in World War II.

Chin was born in Portland, Oregon on October 23rd, 1913 to Fon Chin, who was from Taishan, China, and Eva Wong, who may have been of Peruvian background. Motivated by the Japanese invasion of China, Chin enrolled in flight school (at the Chinese Flying Club of Portland) in 1932, and along with 13 other Chinese Americans including John "Buffalo" Huang Xinrui and Hazel Ying Lee. He left for China and joined the Canton Provincial Air Force under General Chen Jitang as the first and original group of American volunteer combat aviators, and from there was sent to additional aerial-gunnery training with the Luftwaffe at Lagerlechfeld, Germany; returning to China to see the Guangdong Provincial Air Force integrated into the central government's air force under the KMT.

The Japanese Empire was on the march in Asia, and its annexation of Manchuria in 1932 simply confirmed the suspicions of many about Japan’s designs on China. Determined to save their ancestral homeland and buoyed by the best wishes of their neighbors and friends, Chin and eleven other young Chinese-Americans set forth in 1933 to volunteer to fly for the Chinese Air Force. They ran into a brick wall, figuratively speaking. Unfortunately, the central government was not interested in their services. Although details aren’t available, it seems likely that this was a case of the bureaucracy facing a situation without precedent or instructions and being unwilling to make a decision. Although China was seeking help from abroad it hadn’t solicited this particular assistance from these particular people. Added to this was their status as Overseas Chinese, which, to many, implied suspicious links to foreign powers. Japan was just one of several forces vying for power in China at that time. The 1911 Revolution that signaled the end of the Qing Dynasty had not led to the firm establishment of a successor regime and, despite high hopes for Sun Yat-sen’s Republic, China had fragmented into a patchwork of chiefdoms headed by warlords. By 1930, Sun’s party, the Kuomintang (KMT by then under Chiang Kai-shek) had suppressed most of these warlords and established a central government widely recognized internationally, but many provinces offered only token allegiance and groups such as Mao Tse-tung’s Communists still remained to be dealt with. Oddly, this situation gave Chin and most of his colleagues a “back door” into the air force. By the early ’30s there had been something on the order of sixteen separate air forces in China, ranging in size from one or two airplanes to a nominal strength of several hundred.

Perhaps because of their Cantonese ancestry, most of the Americans who were finally accepted started out flying for the Canton Air Corps of Guangdong. This was the largest and best-equipped of the provincial air arms, serving as “top cover” for Chen Chidang, the de-facto warlord of Guangdong. Art was one of these, being accepted as a Warrant Probationary Pilot on December 1st, 1933. In stark contrast to the pilots of the later American Volunteer Group (that was formed eight years later and existed for less than one year), who were paid $500 a month, their pay was equivalent to $25 US per month. Chin “enlisted” in the national air force during the summer of 1936. In a bid for power, Chen Chidang revolted against Chiang Kai-shek that May. Perhaps motivated by the sense that China needed unity in order to face the threat from Japan, in June and July of 1936 the Canton Air Corps defected as a group to the central (KMT) air force (the role in this of American pilots such as Chin is not clear, but they don’t appear to have been the instigators). This was more than simply a shuffle of allegiances: Cantonese pilots actually flew all of their planes to KMT airfields. At a stroke the national air force was substantially augmented, and, as might be expected, the revolt fizzled. After being sent to Germany for advanced training, Chin flew as a flight leader with the 6th Squadron and then from February until June, 1937, as an instructor. That month he was assigned to the 28th Pursuit Squadron, 5th Pursuit Group, as Vice Squadron Commander under another American, Captain Chan Kee-Wong.

Life in China wasn’t all preparation for war. Handsome and outgoing, Art sported a classically pencil-thin mustache and smoked a pipe. Reputedly one of his few social impediments was speaking Cantonese with a pronounced American accent, but he had enough charm to overcome that. He developed a reputation as something of a ladies’ man, one that would follow him the rest of his life. Nevertheless, about this time he met and married a Sumatra-born ethnic Chinese named Eva Wu (Ng Yue-ying in Cantonese). Meanwhile, friction with Japan’s Kwantung Army escalated into open war on July 7th, 1937. On August 10th the 17th and 28th Pursuit Squadrons were stationed at Chuyung Airfield near Nanking, capital of the central government. The 17th was commanded by still another American, John Wong, and was equipped with the export version of the Boeing P-26 “Peashooter,” the Boeing 281. Although it was an all-metal monoplane, the P-26/Model 281 was a transitional design and retained many old-fashioned features. On August 13th Japanese forces attacked Shanghai and began their drive inland to the capital. Chin made his first kill, a Mitsubishi G3M2 twin-engine bomber, on August 16. It was a difficult combat for him for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that his fighter wasn’t much faster than the bomber. Chin recalled that once he was in firing position he was virtually a stationary target for the bomber’s gunners. This combat highlights the rapid pace of aeronautical development during the 1930s. The 28th PS detached a flight to defend the Shaokwan Aircraft Factory in Canton Province, and Chin was selected to command it. On September 27th, 1937 his flight and one from the 29th (they being mounted on retractable-gear Hawk III’s) intercepted three G3M2s. Chin didn’t claim a kill, but Japanese records show that one bomber was forced to ditch on the way back to its base and evidence suggests that he was responsible for the major part of its damage. The following month China obtained 36 Gladiator Mk. I’s from Britain. The 17th, 28th, and 29th Pursuit Squadrons were re-equipped with this type and worked up on it during January and February, 1938. Chin went on to score most of his kills while flying this type of aircraft, but on the flip side crashed three of them. The only loss that can be chalked up as an accident occurred on February 9th, 1938. While leading a flight to Nanchang he ran into a snowstorm. In June Chin was appointed to command the 28th squadron and promoted to Captain.

On August 3rd, Chin is reported to have engaged three Japanese Mitsubishi A5M fighters by himself. Chin “deliberately rammed the Jap leader as he came in for the kill. Both planes burst into flame but Art hit the silk safely. He was wounded and slightly burned, yet when we found him he was directing the salvage of the precious machine guns from his wrecked plane.” Although exaggerated somewhat, the basic outline of this story appears to be accurate. In October, 1938, the surviving Gladiators were withdrawn for overhaul and the 28th Pursuit re-equipped with still another biplane, the Russian Polikarpov I-15Bis (or I-152). Decimated by accidents and enemy action, the Chinese air force had declined to a fraction of its former strength despite an infusion of Russian aircraft and reinforcement by Russian “volunteers” that had begun as early as the autumn of 1937. On December 20th, 1938, Chin was appointed Deputy Commander of the 3rd Pursuit Group.xxvii It appears that, like the rest of his comrades in the 28th, Chin qualified in the Russian fighters but he didn’t claim any victories while flying them. On November 2nd, 1939, Chin and a wingman attacked a Mitsubishi Ki-15 reconnaissance aircraft because of its speed considered by the Japanese to be virtually immune to interception by Chinese fighters but didn’t down it. Chin combat career ended in a suitably climactic fashion on December 27th, 1939. On this date he led a mixed formation consisting of an I-15Bis and another Gladiator escorting three Russian-flown SB bombers on a raid against the Japanese Army in the vicinity of the Kunlun Pass. After a savage fight during which Chin's flight fell one by one but appear to have shot down two Japanese fighters and damaged a third in return (personal credit for the kills is not certain), Chin’s Gladiator was hit in the fuel tank and caught fire. He nursed his flying inferno back over Chinese lines and bailed out, but was terribly burned. The sacrifice was not in vain; all three bombers got through. After the bloody fight, KMT forces regained Kunlun Pass. While recovering from his burns Chin stayed with his family in a small house on Liuchow Airfield and was nursed by Eva. Unfortunately, only two days after Art’s return, the airfield came under attack by Japanese bombers. Eva took the children to the air-raid shelter first and went back for Chin, who was virtually immobilized by the bandages. Too late to run, Eva threw herself on top of Chin and was killed by shrapnel when the next explosion destroyed the house. During an interview many years later Chin said simply “I held her dead body to mine until help came.”

Hong Kong, then a British colony, was neutral at that time. Chin and his children were evacuated there where, in seven operations over two years, doctors at the Hong Kong Sanitarium in Happy Valley tried to repair the damage to his face and hands. In the chaos following the Japanese attack on December 8th, 1941, (still swathed in bandages) Chin got out of his hospital bed, tracked down his boys whose caregivers had either abandoned them or been killed – and managed to escape back across enemy lines to friendly territory. Finally, friends such as Chennault and Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (Soong Mei-Ling, wife of the Nationalist Chinese Generalissimo) persuaded Chin to return to the States for treatment. As commanding officer of the “1st American Volunteer Group,” Chennault drafted a letter dated June 10th, 1942, requesting US air transportation for Chin. At a hospital in New York, Chin suffered a series of twenty operations over a period of twenty months to rebuild his face and hands, leaving him heavily scarred but reasonably whole. Clearly, Chin had “done his bit” and no one could blame him if he had decided to rest on his laurels, retire to a quieter line of work, and hide his scarred face from the world, but that wasn’t Chin's desire. He spoke at war bond rallies and on radio broadcasts with such celebrities as movie star George Raft. A particularly notable event was the “Gung Ho” War Bond rally in New York, which was sponsored by Chinese-American community and attended by dignitaries including Mayor LaGuardia. Finally in 1945, Chin returned to duty as a transport pilot with the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). He qualified for a Second class medical on March 28th, 1945.

During the final stage of China-Japanese war, he flew supplies over the “Hump” route through the Himalayas from India into China. This was not soft duty. A former commander of USAAF portion of the airlift, Lt. Gen. William Tunner, later wrote that “flying the Hump was considered as hazardous as flying a combat mission over Germany.” At the end of the war Art stayed on in China to fly with CNAC, by then as a fully qualified airline captain. Captain Chin was certified as an Authorized Check Pilot for the airline on October 15th, 1947. In 1949 Art returned to Oregon. He seems to have sought work as a pilot, as suggested by his getting a second-class commercial medical on September 20th, 1950, but was apparently unsuccessful. He did land a job with the postal service, and worked there until retirement. Not long before his death Chin was asked by a newspaper reporter why he had gone. His response was “China called me.” Chin is recognized as America's first ace in World War II. A half-century after the war ended, the U.S. government recognized Chin as an American veteran by awarding him the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. About a month after Chin died, on October 4th, 1997, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Airpower Heritage Museum in Midland, Texas as the first American ace of World War II. Chin died on September 3rd in 1997, he was 83 years old.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.17

1111 – Highest Galician nobility led by Pedro Fróilaz de Traba and the bishop Diego Gelmírez crown Alfonso VII as "King of Galicia". 1176 – The Battle of Myriokephalon is the last attempt by the Byzantine Empire to recover central Anatolia from the Seljuk Turks. 1382 – Louis the Great's daughter, Mary, is crowned "king" of Hungary. 1462 – Thirteen Years' War: A Polish army under Piotr Dunin decisively defeats the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Świecino. 1577 – The Treaty of Bergerac is signed between King Henry III of France and the Huguenots. 1620 – Polish–Ottoman War: The Ottoman Empire defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Battle of Cecora. 1631 – Sweden wins a major victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld against the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War. 1658 – The Battle of Vilanova is fought between Portugal and Spain during the Portuguese Restoration War. 1683 – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek writes a letter to the Royal Society describing "animalcules", later known as protozoa. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Invasion of Canada begins with the Siege of Fort St. Jean. 1776 – The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain. 1778 – The Treaty of Fort Pitt is signed. It is the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe. 1787 – The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia. 1793 – War of the Pyrenees: France defeats a Spanish force at the Battle of Peyrestortes. 1794 – Flanders Campaign: France completes its conquest of the Austrian Netherlands at the Battle of Sprimont. 1809 – Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War; the territory that will become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn. 1849 – American abolitionist Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery. 1859 – Joshua A. Norton declares himself "Norton I, Emperor of the United States." 1861 – Argentine Civil Wars: The State of Buenos Aires defeats the Argentine Confederation at the Battle of Pavón. 1862 – American Civil War: George B. McClellan halts the northward drive of Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army in the single-day Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American military history. 1862 – American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war. 1894 – Battle of the Yalu River, the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War. 1900 – Philippine–American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham Jr. at Mabitac. 1901 – Second Boer War: A Boer column defeats a British force at the Battle of Blood River Poort. 1901 – Second Boer War: Boers capture a squadron of the 17th Lancers at the Battle of Elands River. 1908 – The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes, killing Selfridge, who becomes the first airplane fatality. 1914 – Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time. 1914 – World War I: The Race to the Sea begins. 1916 – World War I: Manfred von Richthofen ("The Red Baron"), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France. 1920 – The National Football League is organized as the American Professional Football Association in Canton, Ohio. 1924 – The Border Protection Corps is established in the Second Polish Republic for the defence of the eastern border against armed Soviet raids and local bandits. 1928 – The Okeechobee hurricane strikes southeastern Florida, killing more than 2,500 people. 1930 – The Kurdish Ararat rebellion is suppressed by the Turks. 1932 – A speech by Laureano Gómez leads to the escalation of the Leticia Incident. 1935 – The Niagara Gorge Railroad ceases operations after a rockslide. 1939 – World War II: The Soviet invasion of Poland begins. 1939 – World War II: German submarine U-29 sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous. 1940 – World War II: Due to setbacks in the Battle of Britain and approaching autumn weather, Hitler postpones Operation Sea Lion. 1941 – World War II: A decree of the Soviet State Committee of Defense restores compulsory military training. 1941 – World War II: Soviet forces enter Tehran during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. 1944 – World War II: Allied airborne troops parachute into the Netherlands as the "Market" half of Operation Market Garden. 1944 – World War II: Soviet troops launch the Tallinn Offensive against Germany and pro-independence Estonian units. 1944 – World War II: German forces are attacked by the Allies in the Battle of San Marino. 1948 – The Lehi (also known as the Stern gang) assassinates Count Folke Bernadotte, who was appointed by the United Nations to mediate between the Arab nations and Israel. 1948 – The Nizam of Hyderabad surrenders his sovereignty over the Hyderabad State and joins the Indian Union. 1949 – The Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbour with the loss of over 118 lives. 1961 – The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 1961 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 crashes during takeoff from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, killing all 37 people on board. 1965 – The Battle of Chawinda is fought between Pakistan and India. 1974 – Bangladesh, Grenada and Guinea-Bissau join the United Nations. 1976 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise is unveiled by NASA. 1978 – The Camp David Accords are signed by Israel and Egypt. 1980 – After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established. 1980 – Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay. 1983 – Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America. 1991 – Estonia, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations. 1991 – The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet. 1992 – An Iranian Kurdish leader and his two joiners are assassinated by political militants in Berlin. 2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression. 2006 – Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts, marking the first eruption for the volcano in at least 10,000 years. 2006 – An audio tape of a private speech by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány is leaked to the public, in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 2006 election, sparking widespread protests across the country. 2011 – Occupy Wall Street movement begins in Zuccotti Park, New York City. 2013 – Grand Theft Auto V earns more than half a billion dollars on its first day of release. 2016 – Two bombs explode in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and Manhattan. Thirty-one people are injured in the Manhattan bombing. 2018 – A Russian reconnaissance aircraft carrying 15 people on board is brought down by a Syrian surface-to-air missile over the Mediterranean Sea.

[collapsedsquid]

Skyborg AI was also supposed to act as the brain for the Air Force’s first combat drones, drones that could fly alongside fighter jets and act as a “loyal wingman” to a crewed fighter. Such a jet could act as the bait in an ambush, carry extra weapons, or perform any number of roles. Skyborgs could also fly high risk combat missions, such as hunting enemy air defense systems and attacking heavily defended ground targets, without risking a human pilot. Other missions might include escorting unarmed aircraft such as tankers, transports, and AWACs planes, and aerial reconnaissance.  Of the two Skyborg concepts, the AI-powered drone seems to have priority right now.

Skyborg is designed to be an “attritable” airplane designed to fly a mere handful of miles compared to fully loaded jets like the F-35A. This keeps costs down, allowing the Air Force to buy large numbers of the plane. Keeping Skyborg cheap also makes the jets expendable under certain circumstances. A Skyborg pilot might fly a mission against ground targets and expend all of the drone’s weapons--only to see a ballistic missile launcher armed with chemical warheads lumber out of a tree line below. Rather than wait for armed reinforcements to arrive on the scene the pilot would have the option of using his drone as a kamikaze weapon to destroy the launcher.

I feel like they owe me royalties because I came up with this idea in an internet discussion once