Kira

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/long-ago-a-pilot-landed-on-an-uptown-street-thats-where-the-bar-was/?_r=1

DCS FW-190 D-9 Pre-alpha interview with Erich Brunotte. Not much imagery on the real airplane, but loads of information from someone who flew it. http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/news/revisiting_dora_part_1/

In honor of Leatherneck's F-14A/A+/B announcement, here's some no kidding, non-musicfied F-14 cockpit footage with radio, crew chatter and all. A really, really nice change from the usual BS. Another:

Hmmm, well, I'm not the in depth fan I once was, knowing every nut and bolt, and when it was put on/taken off, etc., so I'll take your word for it. Of course, VF-41, when they were doing all their groundbreaking bombing in Kosovo, were doing it in the oldest A models in the fleet, if I understand correctly. Seems kinda strange that one of the last, most capable, units in the fleet would be flying the oldest jets, though I understand that the Ds had some serious added capabilities.

Loverly. Absolutely, positively, over the top, superb, and worth every second of waiting. And yet... Okay, I've a question. Yay for our proprietary flight modeling system, which allows us to: "The F-14 will built upon our proprietary component based flight modeling system...This will allow us to simulate the forces acting upon the aircraft at any given flight regime or aircraft configuration... we can easily introduce advanced features such as variable geometry wings or glove vanes and have them yield realistic results." But... "Both -A and -B model Tomcats will be included in the DCS: F-14. We are aiming for a mid 80’s model -A Tomcat, and mid-90s’ -B. This, for example, means that the Glove Vanes will be disabled on both models, while other improvements (Engine, Control Systems & More) will differ." Wait, what? Why even develop them (the glove vanes) if they aren't going to be used, and in fact purposely disabled, on either (both) model(s)? Perhaps for a later "upgrade/update" to the ultimate F-14D? And what's with the "It is possible that we will expand the available ordinance or equipment after release to encompass more of the F-14’s later capability."? Maybe I'm just picking nits, as I'd take an 80's A model any day, but some of this reads kinda funny. If it's an 80's A, or a mid 90's B, and they didn't have glove vanes, then they didn't have them, not "they've been disabled". Meh. Pick, pick, wonder, wonder. D model? It'll be interesting to find out what terminal wing rock is all about. Either way, definitely worth the wait.

Some interesting Youtube videos regarding "when to get out", as well as factors involved.

Ah, so it's a female thing? I remember Mom doing this to us regularly as children in the grocery store. "Go get X" We go get X, come back, no Mom. Wander around the store for the next hour trucking X around from one end of the place to the other, looking like complete fools, while she isn't where she said she'd be, and isn't anywhere else, either. It's highly annoying.

Note the comment about "He was always making jokes, we thought he was joking". I knew of a kid in high school like this. Guy was an ass, but that's not the point. Point is he was swimming (in a place with clearly marked with "NO SWIMMING!" signs, but then, rules are for other people, right?), got a cramp, and started screaming that he was drowning. But no one believed him because he "cried wolf" constantly. By the time they figured out that this wasn't a joke, he'd drowned. I find it very difficult to feel sympathy for these types.

http://vietnamvetradio.com/ 1960's-1970's songs that the Vietnam veteran would recognize. Not political/religious, strictly speaking, but it's for the veterans of the war. They don't play any anti-war songs, as they are a bit biased. As they should be, given their audience. More about helping the guys remember their young manhood, and the biggest event thereof (and friends and comrades, alive and dead), and for some, their lives.

That's great Painless! Always best to find something you love doing for work, thus not having to work another day in your life. All the more so to do it early.

The Tomcat that never was, because the Navy super-sized the wrong fighter. http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/top-gun-day-special-the-super-tomcat-that-was-never-bu-1575814142 By the way, as I hear it, as with the Canadian Avro Arrow program, the F-14 can no longer be put back into use should the need arise in the future as critical components have been deliberately destroyed so that they do not end up in Iranian hands on the few (less than 20?) remaining flying IRIAF F-14s. (In the case of the Arrow, that entailed deliberate destruction of the tooling, due to a feared Soviet mole in the program. As I recall, the presence of the mole was later confirmed.)

That one never gets old!

"Real life Warthog pilots are trained for weeks before they earn their wings" Damn! Weeks? Not months? Years? It must take being Albert Einstein to fly the A-10 then!

But, but, but... doing so would impede progress, sir! You know, improvements, like clear cutting all the trees and then paving over what's left, so we can make it better than it was!

... and no Track IR, either!

Very good points Mr. P. By the way, if you look at U.S. casualty figures, the Navy, in particular, lost horrendous numbers in 1944 and 1945. The majority of deaths in WWII occurred during the last years. Of course, that was when the invasions were taking place, too, so... One of the things that those who are so vocal against the use of atomic weaponry seem to conveniently forget. Why not use every weapon available if it ends the bloodshed early? Can you imagine what Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet (collectively Operation Downfall) would have looked like? We probably wouldn't be here as our fathers/grandfathers would have been killed during that invasion. The specifics escape me, but I remember reading the plans that included one particular unit, a large one, like a division. The plans did not include that unit beyond day six. It was just accepted that the unit would have been wiped out by then.

Amen!

Great!

Very well done, except for one particular part: "A significant portion of Japanese civilian deaths were caused by American fire bombing and the two nuclear attacks. Contrary to official U.S. statements, these airstrikes were directed at civilian populations, not military targets" WRONG! The U.S. went out of its way putting it's aircrews in danger to drop leaflets telling civilians to evacuate over cities to be bombed, doing everything in their power to reduce Japanese civilian deaths. It was the Japanese military (and government) that didn't allow evacuations of the cities, cities in which military targets were located (intentionally?) in civil urban areas, in the hopes that exactly the quoted statement would be made. They succeeded. The blame was shifted to the Americans for waging a war that, at least militarily, they didn't start. (Economically is an entirely different matter.) Even today, Japan fails to accept blame for the atrocities it committed during the war, something Germany did long ago. Of course, the same could be said about the U.S.

Naked? Airplanes? AIRPLANE PORN! "Look, mummy! It's got no paint on!"

Maury Rosenberg (Worth clicking, I think Mr. Rosenberg's interview is the best one) Frank Murray Richard Graham Brian Shul