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skyfire85 · 4 years ago

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-Preflighting a Blohm & Voss - BV 141. | Photo: P.K. Luftwaffe

Flightline: 60 - Blohm and Voss

Hamburger Flugzeugbau (lit. ‘Hamburg aircraft construction’) was a division of the Blohm & Voss shipbuilding company, whose owners wanted to move into building long-range flying boats for the German state airline Hansa. The company’s name was changed to Abteilung Flugzeugbau der Schiffswerft Blohm & Voss (“Aircraft Manufacturing Division of Blohm & Voss Shipbuilder”) in 1937, and the growing Nazi rearming campaign saw the former passenger plan manufacturer branch out into warplanes.

B&V’s most successful design for the Wehrmacht was the BV.138 Seedrache (‘Sea Dragon’), a trimotor seaplane used for maritime patrol and naval reconnaissance.

-A Blohm & Voss BV 138, seen on Siutghiol lake, near Constanta, in 1943. | Photo: Unknown

The BV.222 Wiking (‘Viking’) was a pre-war large flying boat passenger plane, but the 13 examples produced were pressed into service as a cargo transport and troop transport during the War.

-A BV.222 in flight. | Photo: Unknown

B&V is perhaps best well known for a large number of asymmetrical designs produced by chief designer Richard Vogt.

In 1937, the German Air Ministry – the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) – issued a specification for a single-engine reconnaissance aircraft with optimal visual characteristics. The preferred contractor was Arado with the Ar 198, but the prototype proved unsuccessful. The eventual winner was the Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu, even though its twin-boom design using two smaller engines did not match the requirement of a single engined aircraft. Blohm & Voss was not invited to participate, but pursued as a private venture the uniquely asymmetric BV 141.

-BV.141 under construction at the Blohm + Voss plant. | Photo: Scholz

The crew compartment was set to starboard to provide the best view, as well as to counter roll forces from the single piston engine. The tail unit was similarly offset. Power came from a BMW 132N engine, though the prototypes were found to be underpowered. Later 141s were built with BMW 801s, and proved to be superior to the Fw.189, but competition with the Fw.190 for the BMW 801s capped production of the BV.141 at 28. A ground attack and dive-bomber variant, potentially augmented with a Jumo 004 jet engine, was studied as the Bv.237, but was not produced.

-Orthograph of the BV.237 showing the Jumo 004 mounting. | Illustration: Reichdreams #13: Asymmetric Planes

The Blohm & Voss P.111 was a back up design to the BV 138 sea plane. Whereas the fuselage was basically similar to the later-built BV 138, a long boom with a conventional tail unit was placed on the port side of the wing. Three Jumo 208 engines, each developing 1500 horsepower, were all mounted on the wing leading edge. A pontoon was located just outboard of the port engine, beneath the wing.

-Orthograph of the P.111. | Illustration: Wydawnictwo Militaria #64 BV 138

The BV P.178 dive-bomber had one Jumo 004B turbojet located under the wing to the starboard side of the fuselage. The pilot sat in a cockpit in the forward fuselage, with a large fuel tank located to the rear of the cockpit. Beneath the fuel tank there was a deep recession in which a SC 500 bomb could be carried within the fuselage, or a SC 1000 bomb which would protrude slightly out of the fuselage. Two solid-fuel auxiliary rocket engines extended from the rear, and may have possibly been used for take-off or for climbing after a dive-bombing attack. Two MG 151 15mm machine guns were located in the nose

The BV P.179 asymmetric fighter-bomber was developed from the BV P.177/BV.237, though it had a shorter wingspan and a single seat. The P.179 was powered by one BMW 801 14 cylinder radial engine. The cockpit was located in a nacelle to the starboard side of the fuselage, beneath which up to 500 kg (1100 lbs) of bombs could be carried. The main landing gear retracted outwards into the wingtips. Two MG 151/20 20mm cannon were the projected armament, and were located under the pilot’s position.

-Orthograph of the P.179. | Illustration: Luft46.com

BV P.194 was a series of designs for various mixed-propulsion asymmetrical aircraft, which were intended for diverse roles such as fighter, destroyer, dive bomber and reconnaissance. The designs all featured a BMW 801D on the main fuselage, and either a BMW 003 or Jumo 004 jet engine was mounted in the crew gondola, offset to starboard.

-A table of P.194 variants and color illustrations of hypothetical BV P.194 variants in squadron markings. | Illustration: luft46.com/Reichdreams Dossiers #13: Asymmetric Planes

Though not an asymmetrical design, the P.188 jet bomber was unique in that it had wings that were swept back half way along their length, then swept forwards to the tips. This design was expected to give good performance at both low and high speeds. The P.188 had tandem twin main landing gear along with outriggers to support the wings. The plane was to be powered by four Jumo 004C jets, and would have carried 2200lbs of bombs internally, or Hs 293C anti-ship missiles externally.

-Orthograph of the P.188. | Illustration: luft46.com

B+V ceased operations after the end of WW2, though it was reconstituted as Hamburger Flugzeugbau GmBH (HFB) in 1956 when Germany was freed from post-war restrictions. HFB mainly served as a subcontractor on programs like the Nord Noratlas, Transall C-160 and Lockheed F-104G Starfighter. Their only solo project was the HFB 320 Hansa Jet, a ten-seat business jet which featured a forward swept wing. The type was intended to compete with Lear Jet, but the General Electric CJ610 engines prevented it from flying from smaller fields, and the 320 was mainly limited to service with the West German Air Force, were it served as a VIP transport and as a trainer for ECM crews. The type was retired in 1994.

-German Air Force HFB 320 ECM with nose radome and additional aerials. At Air Tattoo International 1992. | Photo: Andrew Thomas

HFB merged with Messerschmitt-Bölkow to form Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), which in turn was taken over by Deutsche Aerospace (DASA) in September 1989, which has since been absorbed into the pan-European Airbus corporation.

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vnderoos · 5 years ago

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risky business ❁ poe dameron

(gif is not mine, credit to the owner) warnings / language, battle scene but nothing graphic, poe and the reader arguing but it's fine, we're fine, everything's fine word count / 3.9k

masterlist in bio ↴

"SO, WE STILL DON'T have a solid plan right now?" Y/N asked incredulously as she and Poe Dameron, the co-captain of their recently merged squadrons, made their way towards the hangar. Since her hands were covered in leather gloves, she typed her code in instead of using the palm-scanner and the metal door shot open.

She looked over at Poe as they both entered the large room, their men already prepping their ships for battle. He turned and shrugged his shoulders at her. "Looks like it," he answered, entirely too nonchalantly, and he started towards his X-Wing. Was he serious? She reached out and grabbed his sleeve, tugging him back by the bright orange material, and he rolled his eyes dramatically. "What, Y/L/N?" He sighed and his arm hung limply in her grip.

He made no move to pull it back.

She shot him a look before she dropped his arm, watching it smack against his side. "What do you mean 'what'? You're not seriously just gonna fly out there, are you?" She questioned, her eyebrows furrowing as she did. She didn't want to believe that he could possibly be this stupid, but the shrug he offered her in response was kind of forcing her hand. "You're gonna put everyone—me, our pilots, and yourself—at risk. I was thinking we could each take our original squadrons, flank the dreadnought, take out the threats on each side, and clear the way for Tallie's bombers," she suggested. "Blue will be their protection and we can just offer support," she finished, spelling out a simple plan of action since he clearly had nothing better.

But of course, he was going to be difficult about it. She should've expected nothing less. "I say we just go right in," he countered and she couldn't help but widen her eyes at him. She laid out an entire plan for him and he just shot it down without even considering it. Unbelievable. "They're gonna come at us with all they've got either way, so why not just fight back all together," he explained.

She pressed the heel of her hand between her eyebrows. "If we're huddled together, we've got one big target on our backs, Dameron," she argued, wishing just this once that he'd think before diving headfirst into a literal warzone.

"Or, if we're all shooting at the same time, we hit them back with more firepower," he countered. "We can take out the surface cannons while we're at it," he added coolly. She knew that he wanted to take out the dreadnought, they all did, so why was he being so hardheaded about it?

Was he just refusing to cooperate because it was her?

Sure, Poe had every right to be angry with her. He could hate her all he wanted and she wouldn't stop him. She was having just as much trouble adjusting to the co-captain situation as he was, so she understood why it was so easy for him to get upset with her. They weren't just Black and White anymore—they were the Grey Squadron—and it was tough not being able to call the shots alone anymore. It sucked, having to run all their ideas past each other before doing anything, but his feelings about her didn't excuse him from shutting out rational ideas.

So, why was he?

Y/N clenched her fists at her sides and her gloves squeaked quietly as she did. "Firepower and taking down the surface cannons isn't gonna matter if we all die in the first five minutes, flyboy," she pointed out and he scoffed.

He threw his hands out in front of him lightly in an undermining gesture. "Alright, say you flank, then," he said, painting her a picture of just one way this fight could turn out. "What happens when there's too many fighters for your squad to cover and mine can't back you up?" He asked, making sure to degrade the former White Squadron as he did.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "My guys can handle a couple of pansy TIE-Fighters," she snapped, rising to the defense of her men. He could say what he wanted about her but borderline insulting her team was another story. They worked their asses off for the Resistance, fought for the same thing as everyone else did, and they didn't deserve an ounce of disrespect from anyone. Especially not him. "You wanna worry about someone? Worry about your own damn squad," she growled. Of course, she had nothing against his guys but she had a few bones to pick with him.

Poe let out a bitter laugh. "Why do you think Leia combined our squadrons in the first place, Captain?" He hissed, slowly backing her up against the metal wall of the hangar. "Because you. needed. help," he said, moving to touch his fingertip to the center of her chest, but she shoved him backwards lightly before he could.

"Leia combined our squadrons because you don't plan for shit," she spat. She was tired of this shit, tired of him acting like he was everything she was and more. Clearly, he wasn't that much more or he wouldn't be co-captain. "You run straight into everything and you don't even think about the aftermath. You just hope that everything works out in your favor, but this," she paused, gesturing between herself and him, "this is what happens when it doesn't. I'm your goddamn babysitter," she finished.

"Babysitter, my ass. You're the one who's not thinking about consequences here, not me. You're gonna get yourself killed with the flank," Poe snarled and he took a few steps towards her.

Instead of letting him herd her towards the wall, she stood her ground this time. "Oh, and flying into their line of fire is somehow better?" She asked, staring into his eyes as she took a step towards him. "At least with flanking we cover twice the area and it cuts our targets in half," she explained. "If you cooperated, we could take them out in half the time, too," she said, dangerously close to him at that point, but she refused to back down.

Poe's jaw visibly clenched as he looked down at her, his brown eyes burning into her own. "I'll cooperate when the ice on Hoth melts, sweetheart," he told her and she clenched her fists again.

This was outrageous.

There was a chance his plan would work but it would destroy the squads in a matter of minutes. A bigger group meant a bigger target. "You're not an idiot, Dameron," she muttered. "Stop acting like it," she said, leaning closer to him for emphasis.

Their faces were only centimeters apart at this point. She could see every one of his eyelashes and every small, angry wrinkle that had settled into his face as a result of their conversation. She could see the stubble on the lower half of his face, the fire in his eyes, and the furrow of his brow but she didn't pull away.

And neither did he.

Instead, they stayed like that—in a silent pissing match—for a few seconds, until Poe finally broke away. "I'm done with this, Y/L/N. Like it or not, we're doing this my way," he instructed as he turned away from her, starting towards his X-Wing.

"You're gonna get our men killed," she yelled after him but all he did was pull his helmet on over his head. She watched as he hopped into his ship and closed himself inside. "Asshole," she whispered to herself before she pulled her own helmet on, flipping the orange-tinted visor over her eyes and making her way to her starfighter. She secured herself inside the cockpit, flipped a few switches to turn her comms on, and hoped that Poe didn't fuck anything up before she got herself situated.

Y/N pressed a button and the engines of her X-Wing whirled to life. "Captains, what do you want us to do?" A voice, Bitty from the White Squadron, she recognized, crackled into her ears. All of their pilots were still in the hangar, ships fired up and ready to move out, but they needed their game plan. She opened her mouth to respond but she didn't get the chance to.

"When we get out there, everyone follow my lead," Poe answered first. Of course he did.

"Y/N?" She let out an amused huff of air and a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth when she realized that Bitty didn't entirely trust Poe. She was fairly certain that the majority of the ex-White Squadron didn't trust him all that much, either.

And for good reason.

She looked down at her control panel and slid one of the buttons up, listening to the jets in her engines get a little bit louder. She could've pitched her plan right then and there and she was sure her squad would've listened but Poe's men's loyalty lied with him. Whatever Poe said, they would do, and she was pretty damn sure that whether she mentioned her plan or not, he'd still run this his how he wanted to. There was no use flanking if the other half of their team wasn't going to cooperate. "Follow our lead," she said, correcting his mistake, but she was ultimately agreeing with him. Y/N placed her hand on a lever and shifted it upwards, lifting the wheels of her X-Wing, as the rest of their squad did the same. When all of their fighters were hovering in the air, she shook the tension out of her shoulders. "Alright, people," she started, taking a deep breath, "it's go time."

After that, a flurry of X-Wings shot out of the hangar, with Poe's and Y/N's leading the way. It never seemed to be enough for Poe that they both held equal authority over their squad, flew side by side, and offered them equal guidance, as he always made it a point to speed up a little, just enough to where the nose of his fighter passed her own. Y/N hated when he did that, as it always felt like a challenge, so she leveled their ships out each time.

As their fighters neared the dreadnought, large blasters began to pop up out of the First Order ship. "See those guns?" Poe asked, his voice mingling with static as his words played through the receiver. "Those are surface cannons. Stay close and take them out," he commanded as one of the cannons shot out at them. Their fighters moved to the side, dodging the attack, and Poe and Y/N retaliated. Their crafts sprayed the cannon down, resulting in a fiery explosion as they landed their target. "Nice job, but we've still got more to go," he stated.

He might've been a close-minded asshole when it came to Y/N and quick to jump into danger when it came to anything else but she had to admit that he was a damn good captain. He kept everyone on task, made everyone feel important, and he was very vocal about what needed to be done next. Normally, she'd be doing something similar, but since they were following through with his idea, she let him take the reigns for now.

She hoped that she wouldn't regret it.

After a little while longer of dodging the cannon fire, taking out the surface guns, and following orders from Poe, there was movement on either side of the dreadnought. "Here come the TIE-Fighters. We stay crowded like this and they'll spray us down, no problem. Break off, bait a couple at a time, and take those fliers out," she ordered and she turned a couple of knobs on her control panel, putting more power into her jets. Hordes of First Order fighters were pouring into the scene at this point.

She looked over at Poe's X-Wing, expecting him to fight her on it, but instead, she saw him nod. Her heart fluttered in her chest. "You heard her," he yelled into the comms and then both of their starfighters raced forwards, splitting off from each other and towards the TIE-Fighters.

She felt pride surge through her body as she rounded up a group of fighters, making a sharp turn to lure them away from their team. "Did you just agree with me, Captain?" She asked, jerking the wheel of her X-Wing upwards so she could flip over the enemy pilots.

"Don't get used to it, Y/L/N," he answered and she laughed, firing her blasters and sending the fighters spiraling into the dreadnought. They exploded upon impact.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she hummed. The squadron kept on like that for a while, blasting the shit out of the TIE-Fighters and taking down surface cannons when the opportunities presented themselves, and eventually, the fighters were destroyed and a single cannon was all that was left. "Alright, there's one left. No fighters right now, but the second we go for it, more are gonna flood out. Cover me and I'll go for it," she barked into the comms and she headed towards the surface cannon at full speed. Poe fired his blasters at her, forcing her to swerve up and out of the way. "What the hell, Dameron? You're gonna—"

"Fall back, Y/L/N," he warned. "When the fighters come out, they're gonna go straight for you. Don't put yourself at risk. Let me do it. I've got more experience as a pilot, so I've got a better shot," he explained, maneuvering his starship closer to her own in an attempt to overtake her.

She shook her head to herself. No. No way. "Poe, are you serious? I'm trying to do something useful and this is the one time you want to play the hero for me?" She asked. "I'm not gonna let you risk your life so you can prove that you're better than me," she shouted.

"Better than you? I'm trying to save your ass," he argued but she wouldn't budge. She was barreling towards the cannon, ready to blow it off of the dreadnought but he couldn't let her do it. Sure, they weren't on the best terms and they had their differences, but that didn't mean he was gonna sit there and watch her risk getting blown to bits for the sake of the Resistance. That was his job. "You'll thank me for this later," he said, before he dropped back, firing his blasters so he could take out her guns.

Red and yellow warning lights flashed over her control panel, a siren wailing in her ears, and she flipped a few controls and tried to get her weapon systems back on board, but nothing was happening. She was screwed. With no defenses, she was forced to turn around and regroup with the rest of her team, watching as Poe headed straight for the cannon. "If you fuck this up, I'm gonna wring—"

Poe laughed. "Relax. I'm not gonna fuck it up," he promised.

The Grey Squadron rushed forward as TIE-Fighters spilled into the airfield, all headed towards Poe's ship. Y/N would've taken a few of them out but her weapons were down, so she had to resort to baiting them, leading them to the squad so they could shoot them down.

As Poe started to rain fire on the surface cannon, two TIE-Fighters flew after him, sending blasts towards him. "Poe, you've got shadows," she warned.

"Yeah, I—shit," he hissed as they shot out one of his engines, his ship swaying in the air as it tried to adjust to its loss of support and a wave of fear shot through her body. "They got me, but as soon as I—" He cut off. His comms went radio silent as the surface cannon exploded, Poe's X-Wind and the two TIE-Fighters disappearing into clouds of fire.

Her heart lurched in her chest at the sight and she couldn't stop herself from rushing towards the wreckage. "Dameron?" She called as she flew towards the fire but she got nothing. Her stomach plummeted to her feet at that point and she felt like she might be sick. He didn't just blow himself up, did he? "Poe?" Y/N called feebly, her nervousness evident in her voice.

Just when she was about to turn away, label him as dead and call for the Torchers, his X-Wing shot through the air like a blaster bullet. Poe's comms came back on again and his triumphant whoop sounded through her ears. "All clear!" He shouted and relief flooded her body. "Bring the bombs!"

—

After Poe took out the last surface cannon and Tallie lead the bombardiers towards the dreadnought, they lost a lot of good fighters. Members of the Blue Squadron were lost in the battle and many of their bombers didn't make it back but the job was finished. The dreadnought was reduced to nothing once those bombs went off. Everyone was back on the Raddus, now, and the Grey Squadron had returned loss-free but just barely.

Y/N still couldn't believe that Poe had done what he had, how he'd kept after that cannon with one of his jets out and two TIE-Fighters on his tail. It was idiotic, it was reckless, and she was still pissed about it. "You," she said, pointing her finger at him as she made her way towards him from her X-Wing. She tossed her helmet to the side so she could use her hand to smack him in the chest. Poe's eyes were a bit wide as he stumbled back once but a soft laugh bubbled through his lips. "You have some nerve taking out my weapon systems and putting yourself in danger like that," she started as he grabbed either side of his helmet, pulling it off of his head and tossing it into the cockpit of his ship. "You could've fucked up this entire thing, Dameron. You could've gotten yourself—"

A smirk made its way onto his face and he tilted his head at her, crossing his arms over his chest. "Were you worried about me, sweetheart?" He asked quietly, stopping her little spiel in its tracks.

Maybe she was worried, but she shouldn't have been. Poe was cocky. He was cocky, and he was arrogant, and he was a downright asshole but she was worried about him. "If you'd died out there, it would've been on me," she told him, completely avoiding his question. "What would I have told Leia, huh? 'Oh, I'm sorry. I let Poe shoot out my weapon systems so he could kill himself'. Sound about right to you?" She asked.

Poe couldn't help but laugh again. "Forget about Leia, Y/N. You were worried about me," he hummed and it wasn't a question this time. Something about the way she was acting made him sure of it but, instead of admitting it, she narrowed her eyes at him.

She stared at him for a good ten seconds before she sighed. "No. No, you know what? You don't get to tell me that I was anything, you hear me?" She asked, running her hands over her face and pushing her hair back angrily. "I'm the one who's supposed to be telling you that you're stuff right now and you're an idiot!" She shouted, throwing her hands out to the side. "You're a big, stupid, careless idiot and you could've died. You could've died, Poe!" She continued, full-on yelling at him at this point, because she still couldn't believe it.

He took a risk, but he always took risks. How was this any different? Why was this affecting her so much? "But I didn't," he argued, raising his voice slightly in return. "Why are you getting so worked up about this?" He barked at her.

"Because you're my co-captain, Poe!" She exclaimed. "You're my partner and, as much as we argue, and as much as I want to hate you, I can't, okay?" She continued, her voice still loud but it was getting softer. "I know that you hate me but we're supposed to look out for each other. So, if you died and I couldn't have done anything to stop it, I—" She started but he stopped her.

"Hey, I don't hate you," he held up one of his gloved fingers and he cut her off, watching as she sighed and ran a hand over her face again. "I don't hate you, Y/L/N, I mean, I was trying to protect you. I put myself at risk out there for you," he told her softly, taking a few slow steps towards her. He reached out to her, almost like he was afraid to scare her off, but once he realized that she wasn't going anywhere, he wrapped his arms around her gently. She welcomed the warmth that he offered her and let him pull her into his chest. "We fight a lot but like you said, we're supposed to look out for each other," he whispered.

"Well, don't do shit like that for me ever again," she told him quietly. "Don't take out my only way to back you up and fly into a cannon again because that was stupid. That was so stupid. You're so stupid," she berated, placing both of her hands on his chest and pushing him away slightly so she could look up at him.

Even though she was still somewhat angry at him, she couldn't help but think that he was kind of pretty in that moment. His dark curls were plastered to his forehead with sweat, in a cute way, and his lips were pulled into a crooked smile. She was also close enough to where she could see the crinkles in the corners of his eyes and that little crease on the tip of his nose.

He scoffed. "Yeah?" He asked.

She nodded her head. "Yeah," she affirmed. "It's insane how stupid you can be sometimes, honestly. I can't believe you'd do something so wild, so dumb, when we both know I can handle myself. You always take risks like that and I—"

"Maybe I do," Poe said, cutting her off, and all traces of a smile were gone because he was entirely serious, now. "Maybe you're right but I couldn't risk losing you," he confessed and her heart stopped.

When he said that, he took all her hope of breathing correctly or formulating proper sentences away and all she could do was look at him. Her jaw fell open slightly and her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to process the meaning of what he'd just said. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but she had no idea what to say, so she took a chance of her own.

Y/N placed one of her hands over Poe's cheek, brushing her thumb over his cheekbone, and she leaned in to kiss him softly. His eyelids fluttered shut the moment that he felt her lips meet his and he kissed her back sweetly, cupping her jawline so he could tilt her face to kiss her better.

His stubble rubbed against her chin as he kissed her but she didn't mind. Nothing she'd done before had ever felt so right and, then, something occurred to her:

Maybe some things were worth the risk.

↴

authors note / hi, clearly the battle is not canonically correct but i hope it was a good read anyways taglist / @pvintbreak @umchrisevans

#poe dameron #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron imagines #poe dameron x reader #oscar isaac #oscar isaac imagine #oscar isaac imagines #oscar isaac x reader #star wars #star wars imagine #star wars imagines #star wars x reader

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pulpwriterx · 4 years ago

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A SHEEP AS BLACK AS MIDNIGHT IN SPACE

It is a dark time for the Galaxy. General Enric Pryde and Supreme Leader Snoke have unleashed a reign of terror, dealing the New Republic a terrible blow with the Hosnian Cataclysm. But all is not lost. General Organa has discovered a New Hope from the desert of Jakku, who will become the Last Jedi. After Rey, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Poe Dameron and Finn, the former FN2187 undertook a daring raid that led to the destruction of Starkiller Base, Rey has gone to Ahch-To, to study under the reclusive Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. And he will tell her a secret. There is another.

I: THERE IS ANOTHER.

Luke Skywalker sighed, heavily.

“Master Luke, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I destroyed my own family, Rey. And the Galaxy is paying the price. Did you ever wonder why Han and Leia don’t live together? Why I’m in exile, here? There is another. Or at least, there was. My nephew. My paduan. The best and worst student at the Jedi Temple. Ben Solo.”

“Ben Solo! Didn’t he die at the Jedi Temple?”

“In a way, he did. He doesn’t use that name, anymore.”

“Then he’s alive? Do you know what happened to him?”

“A great many things. First? There were his mother's expectations. She had his whole life planned out. His Royal Highness, Prince Benjamin Skywalker Organa-Solo. He was going to be the perfect Jedi, the perfect young leader, the perfect fair-haired son of the New Republic. He wasn’t supposed to be a giant behemoth of a man, who was too much like his father and his grandfather to fit in any mold. Han and I pretty much figured that Big Ben was going his own way by the time he was six. His hair was down to his waist, and he’d scream and break the scissors with the Force if you came near him to cut his hair. He wouldn’t wear clothes. Just a pair of underwear, if you took him out. He wanted to be a Wookiee. He wouldn’t speak Basic. Just Shriiyywook. We worked it out. But Ben never really changed.”

Luke sighed.

“As he grew to manhood, I started seeing my nephew as a monster. His obsession with his own duality, and that of his grandfather. His heretical leanings toward the Grey Path. And his vows? Forget vows. Not my nephew, the king of taboo. Jedi are supposed to take vows of chastity, and honesty. To have control over their emotions. Ben sold cigarillos, wine, and rubbers from his father’s smuggling operation out of my father’s TIE Fighter, his personal vehicle. He lost his virginity when he was 14 to his best friend, Talia who was 13. As usual? Han was the best worst father, ever. He took her to get an implant, and kept Ben supplied with rubbers. Which he needed, because any of my female students who were curious about their resident Rebel Angel? Let’s just say, Ben never failed to satisfy their curiosity. He didn’t listen to me when I tried to stop him. He really thought he meant something to these girls. After all, they meant something to him. It took Talia telling him she was going to rent him by the hour out of her Wookiee foster father’s garage in Mos Eisley, because he laid more pipe to more satisfied customers than any spaceport gigolo. I mean, how do you teach a six and a half foot tall Force of nature who has been using the Force since he was a toddler in a crib to open the cupboard and get the cookies?”

“He likes cookies?”

“Ben? He eats like a Wookiee. Literally. Chewie taught him to cook.”

“But he likes cookies?”

“Eats them by the box."

Master Luke laughed.

“Now I see that all of it was so very minor. I used to get so angry with him about the TIE Fighter, and the smuggling, and Talia, and the other girls. He didn’t trust me to tell me how the Dark Side, how Snoke was stalking him. It had been a terrible day, for Ben. I disciplined his little group of girls, and all four of them blamed everything on him. Not Talia, though. She spoke up for Ben. But the other three girls? They didn’t take his side. They gave him up. He sat in his hut and cried, all day. He really cared. He did. The poor kid cried himself to sleep. I went to check on him, that night and I felt the Dark Side all around him. While he was sleeping. I thought he had given himself over to it. I attacked. I almost cut off his head, but Ben defended himself. He blocked my lightsaber with his and punched me in the face as hard as he could. If I wasn’t a Jedi Master who can anticipate my opponent's movements. It would have broken my neck. But he didn't mean to kill me. Ben was just scared. As it was, I was unconscious until the morning. By then? It was all over."

Rey couldn’t believe the enormity of the act that he had just admitted to.

Trying to murder his own paduan, his own nephew!

“What happened to your nephew after he brought the building down on you? Did he join the Dark Side.”

“No. He packed up his gear and walked ten miles to the spaceport, and made it there by morning. He left Yavin 4 on a Mandalorian freighter with a business associate of his father’s, Din Saxon, under an assumed name that he had identity papers for. Now he’s partners with Rotta the Hutt, Jabba’s son, Din Saxon, the Mandalorian, and Han Solo. They revived the old Galactic Black Market, and now there’s a war on, not only are they making a fortune? They’re the only game in town for a lot of little things that people find it hard to live without. They do sell arms and coaxium to both sides, but they only sell the low-grade junk to the First Order and at three times the price they sell to the Resistance. I hear that Ben’s doing well. He hasn’t realized his ambition to meet the girl the Force has bound him to, but he still has his friend, Talia. I trained her as a Jedi Healer, and she's since gone to the Republic Medical School. She's Ben's personal doctor. As reckless as he is? He needs to travel with a farkling doctor. Pardon my language. The point is, my nephew renounced the Jedi and the Sith, the Dark and the Light, that day. He wants no part of it. He follows the Grey Path. As it was laid out by Master Qui-Gon Jinn. He also wants no part of this war. His name is Ben Solo, but the name he does business under, the name you’ll have heard of is his alias. Kylo Skywalker. The Arkanian.”

“Ben Solo is Kylo Skywalker, the Arkanian?”

“Yes. And he and Han are looking to add a good scavenger to their operation, because Kylo just bought the salvage rights to the site of the Battle of Yavin-4. And he’s the new owner of the ruins of the Second Death Star. You were the best scavenger at Niima Outpost. I’m sure you're the woman for the job.”

***

Kylo Skywalker was truly a man larger than life.

He wore a black oilskin duster, caped and hooded, festooned with grommets, pockets, and epaulets over a black pair of pilot’s coveralls, tucked into tall black jackboots.

He also wore a huge pair of brown leather and Beskar chrome goggles, with shatterproof mirrored lenses.

And he was the tallest, burliest man that Rey had ever seen.

He sat down across from her at the table she had picked out at the Niima Cantina.

The man had a quiet air of undeniable menace about him.

It put Rey on edge.

“You should try to hide that you have that much strength in the Force. The Sith are real, and the First Order take who they want.”

“Not if I work for you, Jedi Temple dropout, right?"

“I picked a good time to leave. I hear you're the best scavenger at Niima Outpost.”

“I am. Can you take those goggles off? I feel like I’m talking to a man with no eyes.”

He lowered his hood, and took off the goggles.

Time stopped.

And it wasn’t just because Kylo Skywalker the man had grown up to be a black swan with dark, saturnine good looks out of the ugly duckling of a boy that Master Luke had described to her.

It was because Rey was fairly sure it was him.

The man with whom she had shared a bond in the Force, for as long as she could remember.

She never knew his face, or his name, but now that she saw him, she somehow recognized him.

“It’s OK. I feel it, too. The Force brings people together for all kinds of reasons. Look at it this way? Now you’re sure to get the job. You’re hired, Rey…”

Rey shrugged.

“Just Rey. My parents left me when I was a little girl. I never got a last name. I don’t have identity papers, either.”

“That’s OK. I can get you some, if you need them.”

The doors opened.

Rey was excited to see Han and Chewie, again.

Kylo laughed.

He had a beautiful smile.

“My father. And my godfather. But you knew that, because my Uncle sent you here to recruit me. But I get the feeling you might decide to stick with me and the Old Man, instead. Keep that quiet, though.”

Han and Chewbacca sat down.

“She really is a scavenger. A friend of Poe’s. He got her into this mess. I got her out of it. So, you hired her, right, junior?”

“I hired her.”

“How you been, princess? You don’t look so good.” Han asked.

“You can tell us. I used to be you, after all. The Galaxy’s only hope.” Kylo joked.

“It was awful, mostly. Really awful. Master Luke was nothing like I thought he would be. Sometimes, he was very kind. But sad. As if he forgot that he was supposed to be terrible. But some of the things he taught me just confused me. Or scared me. I’m afraid of myself, now. What I might do.” Rey admitted.

“Forget it. Forget everything he taught you. It’s meaningless. The Force has no Dark Side, and no light. That dualistic nerfshit thinking? People made that up. As an excuse to control each other. And make war. You shouldn’t be afraid of what you’ll do, like it’s not up to you. You make your own destiny, Rey. Look at me. I made mine. I’m no Jedi. And I’m no Sith. There is another way. The Grey Path. I can teach it to you, if you want. Think it over. But as for all that poison Uncle Luke poured into your ears? Look what it did to him. Forget it.” Kylo advised her.

“Sounds like Luke is in bad shape, junior.” Han mentioned.

Casually.

“When Rey reports back to him? We’ll send him some supplies.” Kylo said.

“Rey, do you really want to be a Jedi?” Han asked her.

Nobody had asked her that, yet.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, try working with us for awhile. If you don’t want to go back? I won’t send you. I learned my lesson on that. With junior, here. Even after that Snoke bastard burned the Temple, Luke tried to get me to send my kid back to him, one more time. I said no. Since then, I get to visit my wife, but we don’t live together. And the kid and her aren’t on good terms. But Ben’s alive, and doing good, and the Sith and the First Order didn’t get him. It’s worth it. Don’t go back if you don’t want to. Let ‘em have their farkling war, without you. Fuck ‘m.” Han told her.

Kylo raised his pitcher.

“Dark side? Light side? Fuck it. My side.” He said.

He motioned to the Rodian barman.

“Rey works for me and Solo, now. If there’s trouble with her? You’ve got trouble with all of us.”

“I never had trouble with Rey. You made a good choice, Rey. These guys are the real deal. Order what you want, kiddo. The Arkanian has deep pockets. The deepest in the Galaxy.”

Rey was very hungry.

She ordered a lot of food, and a cheap half bottle of red wine.

“Don’t bring her the cheap stuff.” Kylo told the Rodian.

“Why are you so rich, Kylo?” Rey asked.

“He gets dressed up like another Darth Vader. Red lightsaber and all. And we raid First Order ships with full cargo holds. Or Crimson Dawn freighters. Sometimes First Order warehouses and depots. All he has to do is show up and…say it, Vader junior. Say your thing.” Han suggested.

“I am Kylo Skywalker, Lord Vader. All of this belongs to me. Surrender to me all that I ask for. Or you will die. Quickly! I find your lack of haste disturbing.”

Rey shivered.

But, much to her shame, not entirely in fear.

“That’s why I call him junior. Because I ain’t calling him Kylo. I didn’t name him Kylo. You should see these assholes give up. They usually just kneel and grovel. Sometimes, we have to get tough? But most of the time? It’s all money, it’s all for the taking, and it’s all ours.” Han explained.

“I also liberate Stormtroopers. Snoke takes them from their families, when they are children. And he brainwashed, humiliates, tortures, and enslaves them. The First Order takes their faces and their names, and makes them kill. For Snoke. It’s what he did to me. It’s what he meant for me. I didn’t deserve to live that way. No one does.” Kylo added.

“What happens to them?”

“If they have a home to go to? I help them return to it. Or find a job. Some of them work for me. They are my people, I am their Chieftain. No one else cares about them. Not my mother. Not the Resistance. Not the New Republic. I care.” Kylo told her.

Rey nodded.

The idea that Darth Vader’s grandson, the Galaxy’s only Grey Jedi Master, a ruthless pirate with unlimited money, was the self-styled Arkanian-style Clan Chieftain of a small army of loyalists with military training was a little unsettling.

And that’s why the General wants him. She wants not just her son, but his people, and the influence he has over not just them, but potentially the First Order.

When Rey thought that, Kylo turned to her.

“The Old Man and I are dangerous, ruthless men. But compared to my mother? We’re baby Ewoks.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Han agreed.

And just like that, Rey was working for the Outer Rim Cartel.

Her food and wine showed up.

“So, junior, I talked to the guy? The guy about identity papers for Rey. You object to her being a Solo?”

Kylo smiled at Rey in a way that let her know she wasn’t the only one thinking what she was thinking.

“As long as she isn’t supposed to be my sister? It’s fine by me.” Kylo replied.

"Nah. It says I'm her legal guardian until she's 21. So, that way, nobody can steal you, from me, Rey. I also put you down as Junior's common law wife. Then, after you're 21? Nobody can steal you from him. Considering the way you two keep looking at each other? I figure you don't mind."

"So, this is my wedding night?" Kylo asked

"Watch it, kid. They're just papers. It's not like I bought her from Unkar Plutt and I'm giving her to you."

"Yes, Kylo. This is our wedding night." Rey told him.

Chewbacca made a comment.

"It was not fast, Chewie. Rey is her. The girl of Ben's dreams. It's the Thunderbolt. Didn't you know, when you first met Mala, that she was the one for you?"

Chewie said something about how he wasn't talking about that kind of knowing.

"Yeah, well, it's none of our business. They're probably just kidding around. Come on, old pal. Let's not be the extra dicks at the wedding."

Han got up.

Chewie said something, sternly, to Ben that Rey didn't understand, and Ben replied earnestly.

Rey decided she was going to have to learn better Shriyyywook.

After Han and Chewie left, Ben opened the bottle of wine.

"Since we've suddenly found ourselves married? I should make you some kind of vow. Think about the loneliness you felt on this desert, Rey. The longing for someone, something to come for you. Think about it, and let it go. Because you'll never be that alone, again." He told her.

"You have nothing to worry about, Ben. You're every bit as strong as Darth Vader. And just as much a man as Han Solo. You may think you're the ugly duckling. But you've transformed into a beautiful black swan. What happens, now?"

"We'll eat our dinner, and drink this bottle of vintage Corellian red. And then? We'll start doing whatever the fuck we want. And we'll keep doing whatever the fuck we want, until death comes for us. And the son of a bitch is going to have to sneak up on me."

Kylo poured two glasses of wine.

Rey began to think this might really be where she was meant to be, after all.

Happy fanfiction day!

#reylo #ben solo lives #ben solo smuggler #reylo au #reylo romance #tros fix it #han solo lives #rey x kylo ren #reylo fanfic

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msclaritea · 4 years ago

Text

A very important history lesson and why we have to fight back this time.

A lot of people saw the White Tears Death March at Michigan's capitol & said: "If black people did that..."

"Some mentioned Reagan's gun control law after '67 Panthers protest But there are many historical examples of white people freaking out when blacks protested.

(A thread)

After the Not-So-Civil War, this happened ALL THE TIME.

Remember, the states that got their asses kicked were not automatically allowed back into the Union. Southern white supremacists were so scared when blacks exercised their new right to vote that they started a race war.

In 1866, La. reconvened its Constitutional Convention because Democrats were trying to stop blacks from voting. (This was before conservative Southern "states rights" advocates switched became Republican. We'll get to that)

Of course, black people marched (but not like that).

When the black people showed up, a group of white supremacists (Y'all call them "Confederates now — same thing) was waiting on them and opened fire.

To be fair, the black ppl weren't actually protesting, per se when the racists opened fire. They were doing something much worse:

They were dancing and playing music.

Y'all, those racist bastards opened fire on a MARCHING BAND.

Then this happened:

Partly because of the New Orleans Massacre, Congress passed the First Reconstruction Act. Black Louisianans were guaranteed the right to vote but the act did something else that would make the racists even madder.

It took away the right to vote for any ex-Confederate.

If you think this was bad, Georgia was even worse.

Ga. holds the distinction of being the only state that was so racist that we had to kick the ENTIRE STATE out of America.

Seriously, that happened. And it was partly because of the Camilla Massacre.

First, you gotta remember that blacks damn near outnumbered whites in Georgia. So, after they got the right to vote, 33 black ppl were elected to the state legislature.

Wypipo wasn't having that shit.

So the white legislators called their homeboys up (Y'all call them the KKK)

The KKK ran the DULY ELECTED "Original 33" out of office.

Then the Ga. Supreme Court ruled that black people were technically citizens, but the Ga. laws were only meant for white people, so... Black ppl, y'all need to go somewhere with that "equality" shit.*

*I'm paraphrasing

A week after they ousted the Original 33, one of the (did I mentioned DULY ELECTED) legislators organized 200-300 blacks & marched from Albany to Camilla to hold a rally in the town square

When they got to Mitchell County, whites waiting in storefronts and on roofs, opened fire

The Camilla Massacre got Georgia kicked BACK OUT of the Union and the state had to be readmitted for a second time in 1870 after it seated SOME of the Original 33.

Why not all?

Well, 1/4 of the Original 33 were murdered or attacked.

On October 25, 1870, 2,000 black people gathered at a rally in Eutaw, Ala. right before the Nov. election. The crowd wanted to prove they weren't of white racists.

Why would they be scared?

Well, in March, 30 masked white men had lynched James Martin, a black Republican.

It happened again in July, but they didn't just kill Gillford Coleman, they cut his body up into pieces. The racists were afraid Eutaw Co. blacks would help elect a Republican Gov. liked they helped Grant win the county by 2000 votes the 1868 election,

Klansman rode into town and opened fire on adults and children and promised to do it again if Black people voted.

The tactic worked.

Instead of Republicans winning, the county by 2000 votes, the Democrat Governor won by 43 votes.

That was lame compared to the Battle of Liberty Place.

Remember when this whole "Confederate Statue" thing first started a couple of years ago? It was partly about a monument to the Battle of Liberty Place, when a whole white supremacist army overthrew the Louisiana gvt.

In 18 months a white supremacist ARMY called the "white league" (racists are notoriously bad for coming up with nicknames) killed hundreds of Black voters in Colfax, New Orleans, Coushatta & Opelousas

This is what led to the passage of the 2nd Ku Klux Klan Act

(Side note: The Colfax Massacre also resulted in a Supreme Court Case, which was the first time the Supreme Court said the Second Amendment guaranteed individual citizens the right to own guns)

A lot of Black folks weren't having this shit. So they formed their own armies.

In SC, the KKK and other Dollar Tree brand racist groups were killing Blacks in the lead up to the 1876 election. In Ellenton, over 100 black voters were murdered.

But it wasn't just about politics. White people HATED when blacks told them what to do.

You gotta remember, most southern whites were Confederates, so during Reconstruction military occupation, a lot of the soldiers were black.

On July 4, 1876, in Hamburg, the town next to Ellenton, SC, a group of black national guardsmen were drilling while black people watched

A group of these Dollar Tree white soldiers called the "Red Shirts" came through trying to flex and the Black Guardsmen told them to wait to pass until they finished.

Yall know those former whip crackers weren't having that.

A white judge told the Red Shirts that they could take the black NATIONAL GUARDSMEN's guns, they found the black militia and began opening fire.

94 white men were indicted.

0 were convicted

The leader of the Hamburg Massacre?

He went on to serve 24 years in the US Senate

Again, it wasn't just about stopping black people from voting.

In 1887, 10,000 black workers went on strike and started forming a union on La sugar plantations.

So the plantation owners hired the KKK to come in and kill the organizers. Then, it became any black person.

No one knows how many were killed but the official number is "enough"

Louisiana sugar plantations wouldn't organize again for another 50 years.

On July 3, 1919, a group of black Buffalo Soldiers went to Bisbee, Ari. Now, this may have been before cookouts were invented, because the soldiers had planned to march in the parade the next day.

Bisbee's white sheriff told the black soldiers that they couldn't walk around with their guns. When the police officers tried to disarm the Buffalo Soldiers, the refused. So they deputized all the white men in town to disarm the negroes

The soldiers were like: "Fuck y'all lil' parade, then," and were preparing to leave when one of the deputies was like: "You can't talk to a white man like that."

He opened fire.

The other deputies did, too.

An investigation would later reveal that it was planned.

The Sherriff and others "had planned deliberately to aggravate the negro troopers so that they would furnish an excuse for police and deputy sheriffs to shoot them down."

No word on the cookout.

Later that same year, black cotton sharecroppers met at a church in Elaine, Ark. They were trying to organize to get better prices but white farmers showed up. After an exchange of gunfire, a white man ended up dead.

The rumor spread that there was a black coup in Elaine

Whites from all across the South came to Elaine to literally hunt Black ppl. No one still knows how many were killed. Estimates range up to 250. You know how they finally ended it?

Federal troops arrived...

And arrested all the black people who were left alive.

In 1945, 19 black Air Force fighter pilots were arrested for trying to integrate an all-white officers club at an Indiana Airbase. 17 more showed up. They were arrested. 25 more showed up the next night, and were arrested.

Segregation was technically against military rule

So the Air Force gathered all 101 black airmen in a room & offered a deal: All they had to do is sign a paper saying they agree to the segregation or,

Face arrest for violating a direct order, which was technically punishable by death.

All 101 refused.

They were all arrested

Historically, the white "patriots" who love the flag and the troops treated black soldiers like they all took a knee before an NFL game.

In August 1947, Chicago residents grew angry when they realized the gov't was giving homes to Black veterans in the white Fernwood Park area

The day after the families moved in, on August13, the whites attacked

For 3 days, as many as 5,000 white rioters pulled Black people out of cars and beat them. They threw rocks at the homes and smashed windows. Then they started setting fires.

The police did nothing.

In 1949, black Chicago union stewards assembled went to a meeting. There were white people at the meeting, too. The meeting was even in the home of a white couple, but a rumor had already been circulating that black people were planning to buy a house in the white neighborhood.

By the end of the meeting, hundreds of whites were outside.

This one lasted 5 days.

An estimated 10,000 white rioters took part in the Englewood riot.

Police did nothing to stop it.

Remember when MLK wrote about "white moderates" in the Letter from a Birmingham Jail?" Well, those protests were partially successful.

On May 11, 1963 black protesters were celebrating. The city had decided to desegregate water fountains, lunch counters, retail stores...

On May 11, 1963, the KKK was also planning a march in Bham because...you know.

Just before 11 am, a uniformed Bham police officer got out of his car and put a package on the porch of a small house.

It was dynamite.

It exploded.

A few minutes later, another bigger bomb at the AG Gaston motel.

Everyone knows about the 16th St. church bombing in Birmingham, but few people know that there were more than FIFTY bombings in "Bombingham" during the Civil rights era

One section of town was bombed so often it's still called "Dynamite Hill."

Of course, the KKK marched anyway.

Oh, and that bombed house belonged to A.D. King, Martin Luther King's brother.

King had left town a few hours earlier...

After checking out of the AG Gaston Hotel

(Fun fact: Angela Davis and Condoleeza Rice grew up around the corner from each other in Dynamite Hill)

On February 5, 1968, black students from SC State tried to integrate a bowling alley. They were kicked out, but this time, the police were waiting to beat protesters.

But students kept showing up. So the governor called the state troopers and the National Guard.

On Feb. 8, while attempting to put out a bonfire, the Troopers opened fire on 200 protesters, shooting dozens of black students and protesters.

1 high school student was killed and 2 SCSU students. Police said they thought the students were shooting,

They weren't

One person was arrested, convicted and served time, Cleveland Sellers...

A student.

You might know his son @Bakari_Sellers

In March, 1970, in Lamar SC, a mob of angry white people attacked black protesters. Well... these protesters were kinda young and they were protesting in a weird way:

They were going to school.

A judge had ordered the school district to integrate

There are so many more examples

Check out "Ax Handle Saturday" in Jacksonville, Fla.

Read about when Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democrats showed up at the '64 convention

The Freedom Riders

Bloody Sunday in Selma

Art Bacon in Talladega

So when white people show up to protests angry and outspoken, and nothing happens, you don't have to wonder what would happen if black people did that,

Just remember what happened when black people just SHOWED UP

Not if...

WHEN."

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somethingjustsouthofbrilliance · 6 years ago

Text

I Got You (Tony/Rhodey secret service AU)(chapter 6)

Some of you asked if there will be a chapter from Tony’s POV. Well, here it is. It’s longer than my previous ones, but there was a lot to pack into it. Hope you, guys, don’t mind. Got a few more Easter eggs in this chapter also - see if you can pick those out ;-)

Links to chapter 1, chapter 5

Tagging @jamesrhodey @supernaturalyloki @chanderefk @aimeeroot21 @markedplaces @mostly-marvel-stuffs @matre-dee @le-ephemere @lo-anlurui @savedbyholmes @kimmycup @typicalcampbell @natty-ts70 @damnhiatus @pubzie @giulisetta @starkravinghazelnuts

Chapter 6

The group at the nearby table abandon their pretense of looking through the menus the moment Rhodes walks away, and Tony has been waiting for it, waiting for them to make a move, and the moment they do, the moment the first of them rises from the table, so does he.

He slams his elbow hard into the nose of the closest goon, causing the man to stumble backwards, eyes watering and hands clamping over the now bloodied face. Delivers a vicious follow-up blow to the man’s temple, dropping him to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

One, he thinks grimly and twists around to drive the heel of his boot into the side of another’s knee.

Two, he adds, allowing himself the tiniest of smirks at the dull sound of bone breaking even as the second assailant hollers and drops, clutching the knee in obvious pain.

He puts the guy out of his misery with a well-aimed kick to the head and turns just in time to duck out of the way of a chair swinging toward him. He intercepts the object by its legs, twists it sharply to the side, forcing the other guy to let go. Then lunges forward, smashing the back of the chair into the guy’s neck with everything he’s got.

Three.

He sees movement out of the corner of his eye and he spins around just in time to see one of the group slink away in the direction that Rhodes had disappeared to.

Shit.

He doesn’t bother with the mental tally anymore. He needs to finish this as quickly as possible. Goon number four reaches behind his coat for the gun tucked into his waistband, having apparently reached a similar conclusion. And Tony doesn’t have time for this – not in a crowded restaurant, not when the fifth man is probably already gunning for Rhodes.

He’s still holding the chair, so he swings it at the guy’s head hard enough to crack and splinter the wood. The man slumps wordlessly, an awkward heap at Tony’s feet, and Tony waits half a heartbeat to make sure the guy doesn’t so much as twitch before running full-speed after number five.

He bursts into the kitchen, nearly knocking over one of the workers. A cursory glance at the man’s terror-wide eyes that keep darting toward the back of the room tells him he was right not to bother checking the restroom first – he’s on the right track.

He pulls out his gun, hurries through the busy crammed space, nearly slipping on a spilled mess of pasta and broken glass left in the middle of the tiled floor.

Yes, definitely on the right track.

There’s a shout up ahead, a harsh demanding tone, and he rushes toward it, worried that he is already too late when his ears pick up a dull twang of a blow followed by the thud of a body hitting the ground. And skids to a stunned halt at the sight of the fifth goon sprawled in an awkward senseless heap by the back door and Rhodes standing over him with a cast iron skillet in his hand.

He blinks, shakes his head in amusement. “A skillet tenderized goon chop,” he remarks approvingly, squatting down next to the likely comatose would-be assassin to retrieve the man’s fallen weapon. “Nicely done, Chef Rhodey.”

“I’ve done ten years in the military,” comes a slightly clipped, slightly breathless response. “I’m not entirely helpless. And the name’s Rhodes.”

Tony dutifully ignores the correction. “Former military, huh,” he squints assessingly up at his charge. “Marines?”

Rhodes tosses the skillet, raises his hand to fix the glasses that got tilted a bit during his altercation. “Air Force,” he corrects, “fighter pilot.”

“A flyboy,” Tony hums, straightening back out, the assailant’s weapon held loosely in his hand. Dismisses with a casual shrug, “Impressive, but not a particularly useful skill in our current situation. You know how to shoot?”

“Yeah, I know how to shoot.” Rhodes sounds almost offended now, and Tony grins appreciatively.

“Here you go then, Platypus,” he holds the extra weapon out to him by the barrel, his grin growing wider when Rhodes takes it without hesitation, the weapon fitting into his hand with expert ease. He steps to the door, opens it the tiniest of cracks. “Stay close,” he says, making sure to catch the other man’s eyes. “Keep low. Cover fire only – don’t poke your head up for any reason. Understood?”

Rhodes looks like he wants to argue, brows knitted into a stubborn frown, and Tony can’t have that – can’t afford to have a goddamn politician (even one who may have seen combat) going all Dirty Harry on him. He grips the man’s shoulder, squeezes hard. “Look,” he says, drawing on what little patience he has and trying for placating, “your military training aside, you are an extremely high value target, and those guys out there – their goal is to take you out. My job is to keep you alive. Let me do it. Please.”

Rhodes regards him silently for a moment, then nods. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

And they’re off.

***

Just as he had predicted, there are more goons waiting outside. The good news is there are only four of them, milling about next to two black vans with tinted windows. The bad news – they spot them all too soon for Tony’s liking – about halfway to the relative safety of the car, and these guys, being outside, are not shy about using their weapons.

He throws out his hand behind him, blindly grabs a fistful of the pale blue fabric and yanks down, forcing Rhodes to duck behind the closest vehicle. He follows suit, wincing in mute apology to the car’s hapless owner, whoever they may be, as bullets pepper its other side. A momentary lull in gunfire has him up on his feet again, firing over the hood of the car and hissing at Rhodes to move while their assailants in turn duck behind one of the vans for cover. Rhodes obeys without hesitation this time, taking off at a low crouch, and Tony fires off a couple more shots, blowing out the vans’ tires, and runs off after him, making sure to keep himself between Rhodes and the shooters.

He unlocks the car on the run, yells at Rhodes to “Get in and get down”. Gets in himself, flinching as the driver’s side window shatters from the impact of a bullet, showering him with glass. He doesn’t wait for them to get in another shot. Slams the key into ignition, floors the pedal and peels out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.

***

“How did they manage to track us down?” Rhodes straightens out slowly in the passenger seat, looks back over his shoulder at the restaurant parking lot they had long since left behind.

Tony shrugs, wincing as the movement pulls unpleasantly at his left shoulder. Spares Rhodes a sideways glance. “I’ve been trying to figure that out myself,” he admits, barely able to hide his frustration. Because he missed something, he knows he did. He got rid of their phones, they’ve got a brand new credit card, a new car, made sure their movements couldn’t be traced. Hell, he even got Rhodes to get rid of his old clothes, so he would–

Shit.

He glances Rhodes’ way again, eyes narrowed in thought. “You wouldn’t happen to have something on your person that was a gift, would ya? Fairly recent? This year sometime?”

Rhodes frowns at the question, seemingly confused as to its relevance, but he obliges nevertheless, lifts up his left hand to show off an exquisite-looking Bulgari encircling his wrist. “Got this little beast about two months ago,” he says, and his eyes widen in sudden horrified realization as he stumbles breathlessly over the name of the giver, “from Obie…”

Shit, shit, shit

“Take it off,” Tony commands, squeezing the steering wheel harder as he berates himself for being stupid, stupid, stupid not to have thought of this sooner.

A sudden wave of sharp, stabbing pain that tears through his shoulder at the angry motion nearly makes him gasp out loud. He grits his teeth, loosens his grip on the steering wheel a bit, taking a couple of long steadying breaths through the nose. Spares a quick glance at the front of his shirt, unsurprised to see a steadily growing patch of wetness that spreads out from a small hole just below his collarbone. Of-fucking-course.

“Smash it,” he forces out hoarsely, because they need to take care of this first, this is important, his goddamn shoulder can wait. “On the dash… use your gun.”

Rhodes does as he’s told, drives the butt of the gun into the delicate clockwork until the beautiful timepiece is nothing but a mess of twisted metal and broken glass.

“Toss it,” Tony instructs, and what’s left of the watch is sent flying out the open window.

It’s not ideal. Stane or whoever else that’s pulling the strings already has part of their itinerary, they can figure out the rest soon enough even without the tracker. But it should at least buy them some time. Which, judging by the way his shoulder is now a constant painful throb in odd concert with the beat of his heart, they desperately, desperately need.

He thinks back to his original plan. His old house in Malibu. Another 20+ hours away. There’s no way he can get them there now. Not in this shape. They need a stopover, a safe place to rest and get patched up before he gets them back on their way. Luckily for them, they are about an hour away from one – a small safety harbor he himself helped create many years ago for those he swore he would give his life to protect. And he hates the idea of being the one to now bring danger to their doorstep. Would never even think about doing so if he were on his own. But he’s got Rhodes to think about – the man who is now also his to protect. He cannot, will not fail him now.

He flicks another troubled gaze at his bloodied shirt, looks up at the road sign for the rapidly approaching junction with US-54 and turns the car toward the exit ramp, sending a quick mental apology to those, whose lives he’s about to make a whole lot more complicated.

***

“I knew Stane as a kid. Did he ever tell you?” He doesn’t know why he’s volunteering this information now. Blames it on the blood loss. On the fact that the road flickers in and out of focus for him with ever-increasing frequency and they still have about 10 minutes left to go and he desperately, desperately needs to find a way to stay alert. Talking helps. Talking about anything really. He’s just not so sure that starting a conversation about his messed-up childhood with a guy he met only a couple weeks ago, a guy who probably only tolerates his presence out of necessity, is a good way to go. But his mouth no longer seems to listen to his brain’s admonitions, and he doesn’t think he has the wherewithal to fight that particular battle now.

“I… no…” Rhodes sounds equal parts confused and surprised. “I didn’t.”

“Used to come see my… Howard about his projects.”

A wave of dizziness assaults him out of nowhere and he grips the wheel harder to stay in his lane. The wound in his shoulder echoes dutifully, the surge of pain momentarily whitening out the road before him. But it helps, jolts him into greater awareness, buys him a few minutes more. Hopefully enough to reach the house. He blinks rapidly to clear his vision, his chest heaving with breaths that seem too shallow, too inadequate somehow.

“I used to … like it when he came. …Kept Howard’s attention away,” he admits, the words pouring out of him like liquor out of a bottle. And, god, he needs a drink – he would kill for one just about now. Drinking helps. Howard taught him that. He didn’t want to learn. He was too young, he thinks. But Howard said he needed to, so he obeyed. He wanted to be good, wanted his father to like him… or at least… at least not hit him so much. He left him alone when Obie was there, so that was nice… that was nice.

“Wh…what?”

He clamps his mouth shut at his passenger’s appalled gasp, flicks a pathetically hopeful glance to the side, wincing at the expression of stunned horror on the other man’s face. Shit. He didn’t mean to say any of that out loud, he really didn’t. Damn this blood loss.

“Stark, I–”

“S’fine,” he interrupts, turning his attention back to the road, hunching in on himself under the watchful, concerned stare he can feel burning a hole in the side of his face. “Whiskey under the bridge.” A hysterical giggle bubbles forth, and, boy, is he not helping himself here. He doesn’t even dare look Rhodes’ way anymore. Can’t bear the judgment, the pity he knows he’s gonna see in the man’s eyes.

The road winks out for a moment. Comes back veiled in a rapidly thickening gray haze. His left arm slips off the wheel, hanging a dead weight at his side. The fingers of his right one are growing colder by the minute and he can barely feel the leather in their white-knuckled grip. His time has run out.

“See that driveway up ahead?” He nods toward a simple gravel road framed by trees and thick overgrowth on both sides. “There’s a house… at the end of it. Friend of mine… Pep…Pepper.” He’s slurring, he can feel it, his tongue growing too heavy in his mouth. But he still needs to, he needs to…

“Stark?”

He can hear the worry in Rhodes’ voice, can feel the man’s hand gripping his shoulder – a strong solid anchor in an ocean of cold and darkness that’s slowly pulling him under. It’s nice that anchor, but it won’t be enough to keep him from floating away.

“Take the… take the wheel,” he manages on a soft, breezy exhale, as darkness rises higher to engulf him completely.

Rhodes’ anxious call of his name is the last thing he hears.

#ironhusbands au #secret service au #tony/rhodey #special agent tony stark #president james rhodes #hurt/comfort #angst #intrigue #pepper potts #yes i'm introducing her now #and there are more characters to be introduced later #somethingjustsouthofbrilliance writes

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trendyourway45-blog · 6 years ago

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20 Inventions of all time.

Introduction

Since the time primordial man first picked up a rock and thwacked a scurrying rodent on its head to fix his dinner, mankind has always been inventing things. Improvising, innovating, crafting tools out of almost nothing to overcome the many difficulties of day-to-day life. Whether it was the rudimentary spear crafted by sharpening the end of a stick or much later a simple chair, inventions have shaped our very evolution.

Before you get worried we’ll assure you we’ve not gone that far back in time.

The inventions we’ve covered span core-science aeronautics, biology, physics, medicine, automobiles, electronics and of course technology. We’ve avoided things like “fire” or “the wheel” because quite frankly no one really knows how the former was discovered (not invented) and who invented the latter.

1.3D Printers

The 3D Printer is one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century allowing you to turn your ideas into real objects.

The latest Bond movie, Skyfall used a 3D printer from a German company called Voxeljet to produce three 1:3 scaled models of 007’s Aston Martin just to blow up during the movie!

What sounds like a really cool toy to have is actually used for some very serious operations. Let’s first understand how it works.

3D printing is achieved using an additive process in which successive layers of materials are laid out in different shapes. Cutting and drilling (also known as subtractive processes) are not involved at all making the process easy, efficient and highly suitable for prototyping.

The biggest consumer of the 3D Printer is the medical industry. So far it has produced prosthetics and bones and the ability to generate human

organs from these machines is currently being tried out. If this is managed, it could revolutionize medicine and completely obliterate the need for organ donation. Using a 3D printer in conjunction with CAT scans, surgeons can print out tumours so that they know exactly what they’re dealing with.

We’re sure you’re familiar with Pirate Bay, the file sharing company. It has launched a new content category called ‘Physibles’ i.e. data objects that can be made into physical products. 3D blueprints are uploaded and shared with those who want to print out the actual objects.

2. Airplane

The Wright brothers are given credit for the invention of the Airplane in 1903. The first flight lasted a little over 12 seconds at Kill Devil Hill, Northern Carolina. Since then, much progress has been made in the world of aviation. The sky wasn’t the limit here. War and sci-fi stories inspired great minds like Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Werner von Braun to achieve flight beyond the atmosphere, making space travel a possibility.

The invention of the airplane sped up services in every single field starting with the postal service in 1920. World War II in 1939 kick-started developments in the aviation sector. Countries competed with each other to one-up the others’ sophisticated developments, with the British developing the airplanedetecting radar followed by the Germans developing radio wave navigation techniques. Fighter jets, advanced landing systems and high altitude aircrafts followed.

In 1947, US Air Force Pilot Captain Charles Yeager broke the sound barrier in the first supersonic flight becoming the fastest man alive.

Commercial flights started not long after and now, well, an airplane makes a landing somewhere around the world every three seconds!

Air travel is considered to be the safest form of travel in the world. A funny but true fact reveals that donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes. Inspite of these phenomenal odds, 80% of the population of the world has Aerophobia, viz fear of flying. In some (5%) this fear is so intense that they abandon flights and opt for other modes of transport.

We’ve come a long way since 1903. In fact the wingspan of a Boeing 747 is longer than the Wright brothers’ first flight! The world today would be crippled without the discovery of flight. Businesses would crash, economies would slow down, worse still, holidays would be cancelled!

3.Artificial Intelligence

AI could be on either end of two extremes – man’s best invention or worst. In its best light, Artificial Intelligence would showcase robots, drones, machines serving us making daily life easier and more efficient or, as seen in movies, taking over the human race and entirely replacing the work force leading to unemployment, depression and general laziness.

The study of Artificial Intelligence formally began in Dartmouth College in 1956, as an effort by a group of research scientists to evaluate and mechanically replicate human intelligence. That is, they wanted to program machines to think and respond like humans. Their research was based on the assumption that a machine can be made to simulate learning, reasoning, logic and intelligence demonstrated by humans when given proper description and direction.

Every future invention by man will have its base in AI. Every invention will require an intelligently thinking bot to perform tasks faster and more efficiently than their human counterparts.

Essay grading software, weapons that have minds of their own, Siri by Apple, Kinect the 3D gaming interface, Watson by IBM – formerly a trivia expert machine now used to make decisions on lung cancer treatment and smart CCTVs that can identify crime as it happens: these are the varied and most advanced productions of AI.

4.Biometric Scanners

Biometrics – turning yourself into an identity card. No need for passwords, ids, pin numbers, etc. All you need is you. It’s a move from traditional access control systems to feature-based authentication that provides access based on physical presence rather than token (such as passport or drivers license) and knowledge based (password or PIN) methods.

With advancements in e-commerce and e-transactions, individuals have to retain a large number of passwords, PINs and identity cards. This number will only grow in size with passing time. Passwords and PINs are easy to crack by the right hacker, thus compromising your security. Biometrics couldn’t have come at a better time offering the ideal kind of security since no two fingerprints are alike.

The use of Biometric Scanners could unleash an era of super secure gadgets. It is already being used in cars programmed to operate only when a known driver is in the driver’s seat, weapons which fire only on detecting the owner’s fingerprints and smart household security systems that keep intruders out, among other applications. Not only fingerprints, facial scanning biometric devices are also not rare. Take the Samsung Galaxy S III for example. It has a Face Unlock feature which makes sure that only its owner can unlock the phone.

Fingerprint scanners are the cheapest and hence most commonly used biometric devices. Face and voice recognition follow, as iris and retinal scanning are concepts that most people find intrusive and are not too comfortable using.

The invention of Biometric Scanners was a big step into the future. They’ve led to the creation of the ultimate unique identifiers – those that cannot be forgotten, changed or lost.

5.Bluetooth

A wireless technology used to exchange data over short distances using short-wavelength radio transmission, Bluetooth was created by Ericsson in 1994 as an alternative to data cables. The term “Bluetooth” is an anglicized version of Blatand, the epithet of 10th century Danish king Harald who united separated Danish tribes into a single kingdom. The technology was named after him as Bluetooth does what Blatand did but with communications protocols – unites them into one universal standard.

Since its introduction, Bluetooth has increased in popularity over the years – while in 2008, only 5% of mobile devices were Bluetooth-enabled, in 2013, roughly 95% of mobile devices support it. Also, while traditional Bluetooth devices only worked within a range of 10 feet of each other the newest versions now enable transfers to a distance of up to 100 feet. However, what makes Bluetooth stand out as a form of wireless data transfer is that it uses very little power, can be incorporated into a wide variety of devices and can have up to eight devices communicating with each other at once and automatically without a user’s prompt.

Coming soon (15 more)

#inventions #digital #India #real estate #Bluetooth #digital marketing #internet

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aiaalalv · 3 years ago

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The Tuskegee Airmen, Juneteenth, & African American Aerospace Professionals

(June 19, 2021) The Tuskegee Airmen, Juneteenth Celebration, and African American Aerospace Professionals Event RSVP and Information: https://conta.cc/3flsa5h (For posting only, not for ticket sale on this webpage. Please check RSVP and information link/button for RSVP/registration/tickets. Thank you very much !) AIAA LA-LV Juneteenth Celebration Event Saturday, June 19, 2021, 10 AM PDT (Part I) The Tuskegee Airmen by Mr. Harvey Hawks Historian for the Sam Bruce Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Docent (tour guide and educator) at The Museum of Flight, Seattle Boeing commercial airplane weight & balance analysis on SST, B747 and B767 programs – Retired formerly: U. S. Army Missile Project Office General Dynamics, Pomona Aircraft Structural Design on DC-8 and DC-10 at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach (Part II) Juneteenth Celebration and African American Aerospace Professionals Panel Discussion with Mr. Harvey Hawks (Sam Bruce Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.) Mr. Shelby Jacobs (Former Apollo Engineer) Mr. Michael (Mike) Wallace (Raytheon) Dr. Christianna Taylor (Founder and CEO, Intelligence Space) (More TBA) The Tuskegee Airmen Learn the story behind the creation, training, and operational history of the 332nd Fighter Group and 477th Bomber Group during World War II, made up of African-American pilots who were otherwise excluded from flying for their country. Docent Harvey Hawks, also a member of the Sam Bruce Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to sharing the stories of the original Airmen and inspiring the next generation of African-American aerospace professionals, gives a comprehensive overview of the origins of the program, and the individual stories of people involved in the Tuskegee Airmen. Mr. Harvey Hawks (will also join panel discussion) Mr. Harvey Hawks lives in Bellevue Washington and is currently a docent (tour guide and educator) at The Museum of Flight, Seattle. He is also the Historian for the Sam Bruce Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Harvey earned a B. S. in Aerospace Engineering from Tri-State University, Angola, Indiana and Professional Engineering license from Washington state. He worked in the U. S. Army Missile Project Office, General Dynamics, Pomona; Aircraft Structural Design on DC-8 and DC-10 at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach. He moved to Boeing commercial airplane weight & balance analysis on SST, B747 and B767 programs. He spent 15 years, until retirement in 1995, as a Customer Engineer coordinating foreign airline accounts including British Airways, South China, Air Zimbabwe and Air 2000. Harvey has a strong interest in all aspects of aviation. His other hobbies include bowling, golf, sports cars (Corvette owner), airplanes (private pilot), travel and grandparenting. He is active in the Community of Christ church as a lay minister and teacher. Along with his wife, Ada, he raised three children and has eleven grandchildren. Juneteenth Celebration and African American Aerospace Professionals Panel Discussion (More Panelists TBD) (Mr. Harvey Hawks will join the panel) ---------------------------- Mr. Shelby Jacobs https://youtu.be/rYVSBE2EX_M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYVSBE2EX_M&feature=youtu.be A Hidden Figure - YouTube This is the story of Shelby Jacobs, a hidden figure from within our community. His powerful message centers around perseverance, equity, and determination. Shelby is responsible for adapting the ... www.youtube.com https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2019/3/7/house-section/article/h2510-2?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Shelby+Jacobs%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=1 Congressional Record House Articles The Congressional Record is the official daily record of the debates and proceedings of the U.S. Congress. www.congress.gov https://www.kusi.com/shelby-jacobs-is-a-legendary-apollo-11-nasa-engineer-who-was-critical-in-the-mission/ ------------------------------- Mr. Michael (Mike) Wallace Michael (Mike) Wallace has more than 35 years in the aerospace industry in various technical positions from project engineering, to project management and systems engineering. He currently works as a Senior Systems Engineering Manager at Raytheon Corporation where he is the SEIT IPT Lead managing a multi-million dollar Foreign Military Sales (FMS) FA/18 Radar Program. Prior to his current position, Mike work for Northrop Grumman where he had roles of increasing responsibility ranging from, but not limited to, the Avionics Systems Engineering Department Manager, Deputy Systems Engineering Integration & Test (SEIT) IPT Manager on a Special Program, and the B-2 Technical Integration IPT manager. He also served as the acting Director of Systems Engineering, where he helped organize and manage a systems engineering functional organization of over 500 people.Prior to Northrop Grumman, Mike worked for Teledyne Electronics Safety Products (ESP) as a project manager, where he led a team of engineers from various engineering disciplines in successfully developing sequencing products for the United States (U.S.) Navy and U.S. Air Force. Mike also served 4 years in the United States Air Force on active duty, plus 11 years with the United States Civil Service at Edwards AFB, CA.Mike has been involved in many extra curricula activities. He was a mentor at Northrop Grumman “Pay it Forward” mentoring program. He served as a mentor in the Leadership Development Program (LDP) for two years and he has mentored in the System Engineering Associate (SEA) Program. Mike was a Systems Engineering and Integration instructor at California State University of Long Beach for 5 years and he also taught Algebra, Statistics and Calculus at Antelope Valley College for 13 years. Mike has been involved in the systems engineering community since 2004 and he was the President of the International Council on Systems Engineering Los Angeles (INCOSE-LA) Chapter in 2014 and the Vice President of the International Council on Systems Engineering LA-Chapter in 2013. He was also a committee member on the Antelope Valley Mathematics Science Engineering and Technology (MSET) for 5 years. His level of involvement was to support the local high schools in planning curriculum for STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) related programs.In 2018, Mr. Wallace was the Key Note Speaker for the California State University of Long Beach Antelope Valley Engineering program. Mr. Wallace received an award from the San Fernando Valley Council of Engineers for his effort and support in helping the B-2 Enterprise obtain a level 5 rating for CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) in 2007. In 2008, he received an award from the San Fernando Valley Council of Engineers for providing system engineering support on the B-2 Radar Modernization Program.Mike Wallace, 2019 Bio Page 2Mike has a BS in Electrical Engineering, a MS in Engineering Management from California State University of Northridge (CSUN) and an Engineer’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC). He has completed a Graduate Certificate in System Architecture and Engineering from USC, a Certificate in Systems Engineering from California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) and a Certificate in Lean Six-Sigma Black Belt from the University of Villanova. He is also a Raytheon Sig Sigma Specialist and he has completed his Raytheon Program Manager Certification – IPT Lead (PM Level 6 and PM Level 5) Dr. Ken Lui, Events/Program Chair, LA Read the full article

#Aerospace #AerospaceProfessionals #AfricanAmerican #AIAA #Juneteenth #LasVegas #LosAngeles #Space #TuskegeeAirmen

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usafphantom2 · 2 years ago

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Accident with Vietnam's Su-22 is recorded on video

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 02/01/2023 - 22:22 in Aeronautical Accidents, Military

A Sukhoi Su-22 combat jet of the 921st Vietnam People's Air Force Regiment crashed in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai on Tuesday (31/01).

Captain Tran Ngoc Duy, 31, who was piloting the aircraft, died in the accident while holding a training session near noon, according to the state military media. A video recorded the moment the plane arrived to land when it turned and ended up colliding on the ground.

The aircraft was landing at an air base in Yen Bai when it crashed, the agency said, adding that the pilot was ordered to eject, but tried to save the plane and died later.

The Ministry of Defense instructed Air Defense - Air Force Service and relevant agencies to start an investigation into the cause of the accident and support the bereaved.

Although Vietnam's civil aviation sector has a strong safety history, accidents involving military aircraft are more common.

The Su-22 jet fighter developed by the Soviets has been in service since the 1970s, with Vietnam acquiring a limited number of Su-22/UM aircraft from 1979.

Vietnam relies heavily on Russia for its military acquisitions, such as Su-30, Su-27 and Su-22 fighters, although it is seeking to diversify its equipment and weapons suppliers.

Tags: Aeronautical AccidentsMilitary AviationSu-22 FitterVPAF - Vietnam Peoples' Air Force / Vietnam Peoples Air Force

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.