Conehead and I

Sorry, I'm following Sarge's model. This is a rerun from a few years ago.  Been under the weather the past few days and not real coherent. Anyhow, this is one of my favorite flying stories. Enjoy!

 So...There I was...A brand new 1st Lt, fully checked out in the F-4D in my first Operational Fighter Squadron, the 80th TFS, AKA The Juvats.  I am crewed with a WSO who's got about a thousand hours in the F-4 and will, upon PCS'ing from Kunsan  be attending Fighter Weapons School.  For reasons that will become clear in a bit his tactical call sign (the Fighter community's equivalent of a "nickname") is "Conehead".

Now, the provocation for this post's subject was this picture posted by Sarge a  few years ago.

Source

As the Fighter cognoscenti around here know, that is a picture of an F-4D.  The WP on the tail is the identifier for the 8th Tac Fighter Wing (TFW) also known as "The Wolfpack".  Sarge and I are alumni.  If you will notice at the top of the tail is a yellow stripe.  That indicated the jet was assigned to the 80th Tactical Fighter Squadron.  AKA The Juvats.  

There's a reasonable probability that I have actually flown THAT aircraft, especially as I get deeper into this story.

So, anyhow, my check ride is passed, I'm now a Mission Ready Fighter Pilot.  Which is all well and good, but I don't have an awful lot of experience.  So, the good news is I get on the schedule quite a bit.  Technique only, but it would be nice to actually hit what I'm aiming at with a bomb, before I have to do it for real.

But, since there isn't much for a WSO to do on a conventional range ride other than count off altitudes during a bombing dive, Conehead would be playing around with the equipment.  Which brings us to that picture.

If you notice on the spine of the airplane is what looks like a towel rack.  That is actually a LORAN antenna (LORAN stands for LOng RAnge Navigation).  Essentially it's a highly (at the time) accurate radio signal that can position you over, say, a target.

Now, while we're transiting to and from the bombing range, Conehead is playing around with the LORAN.  After a few rides and spending a lot of time in the books, he's basically figured out how to work it.  

 

Koon-ni Range is just to the left of the S in South and just North of the Bay that's unofficially known as "The Running Man".  Excellent Radar return in case you get mis-located*.  The circle to the NW is a small rock that's used for practicing bombing with "Sunrise" emulation weapons.

Conehead goes and briefs our Squadron Commander, callsign "Batman" who eventually approves the test. 

Because we have no real way of knowing how accurate the system will be, we elect to drop on Koon-ni Rock.  A few miles of water to absorb a miss might be a good idea.

So the day rolls around, we launch as a single ship,  Lead has aborted with no spare's.  (Thank you Jimmuh Cahtah.) It's just me and Conehead.   We go through with a dry run first just to step through the procedures and make sure things are working as desired.  No problems.

So we head back down south and arm up for a live drop of a practice bomb.  For those of you in the know, the practice nuke bomb is a MK-106 practice bomb.

  We'd be dropping it from about 20K, then do a 180^o turn and get the heck low and as far away as possible. So, there we are...First attack run, approaching the release point.  Conehead finds the "target" and locks on.  We go through the drop procedures and feel the weapon release.  I start to roll the jet to begin the egress maneuver when I happen to notice something just off the wing.  It's a blue bomb. Blue bombs emulate regular bombs, they are not HIGH Drag!!!

This is a practice conventional bomb, very little drag.

It's flying formation with us.  Well, crap, we need to watch where it lands to make a report.  About this time we go through a very wispy thin cloud deck and as we get through that, I'm clearing our ‘flight path.  Framed almost perfectly in the gun sight is a large oil tanker.

I might have said something along the lines of "Aww, Feces," or maybe "Aww fornicate", and call Conehead's attention to the object off our right wing flying formation with us.  I also advise him about the tanker.  Conehead, being in the back seat can't see out front, so I describe the problem.  

We continue flying formation with it and the tanker is getting bigger.  Finally, I pull out of the dive and watch the bomb hit the water maybe a football field behind the tanker.  We pass overhead and leaning on the rail of the aft deck is a crewman from the tanker.  As we pass overhead, we could clearly see his very wide eyes.

Needless to say, we RTB'd as expeditiously as possible.  Shut down, and scurried off to Batman's office.  Explained what had happened.  The Wing Commander got involved. Conehead and I got to expend a lot of time out in Mobile Control making sure our fellow aircrews remembered to put their landing gear down as encouragement to not ever make that mistake again. But...

SUU-20

 

Came to find out that the SUU-20 bomb dispenser had just come out of maintenance and the release sequence had gotten mistakenly switched around on the chassis.  It had released a slick bomb instead of a high drag.

We were forgiven, although with a stern warning that we would not be practicing LORAN deliveries again.

Conehead was crushed. I was grateful.

I ran into Conehead in the Pentagon just prior to retiring, we related that story to the gang that Friday evening in the Bar in the back of the Fighter Pilot Mafia office.  Got a few "Aww Feces" as well as some chuckles when we retold that story.

Peace out y'all

Nothing to Say

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I think I'm going to go deep and run silent for a bit.

The world has gone insane, everyone wants to howl in my face about politics. I've had enough internet for a bit. See you on the flip side. Going to Maryland to unwind.

I've got nothing to say ...

Nothing to Say

Ian Anderson

Every day there's someone asking

"What is there to do?

Should I love or should I fight?

Is it all the same to you?"

"No," I say, "I have the answer

Proven to be true

But if I were to share it with you

You would stand to gain and I to lose."

Oh, I couldn't bear it, so I've got nothing to say

Nothing to say, nothing to say

Every morning pressure forming all around my eyes

Ceilings crash the walls collapse broken by the lies

That your misfortune brought upon us

And I won't disguise them

So don't ask me will I explain

I won't even begin to tell you why

No, just because I have a name well I've got nothing to say

Nothing to say, nothing to say

Climb a tower of freedom paint your own deceiving sign

It's not my part to criticize or to ask you to be blind

To your own pressing problem and the hate you must unwind

And ask of me no answer there is none that I could give you wouldn't find

I went your way ten years ago and I've got nothing to say

Nothing to say, nothing to say

Nothing, nothing to say

Nothing, nothing to say

Nothing, nothing to say, nothing to say

Nothing, nothing to say, nothing to say

Nothing, nothing to say

We'll see how it goes. Posting everyday has become too much. So ...

Going in Harm's Way ...

Yamato running machinery trials off Bungo Strait (outside Sukumo Bay) on 20 October 1941
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Alas my fair readers, I bring you a rerun from twelve years ago. It's not my fault ...

Well, actually it is, but I did stumble upon this old post and liked the pictures enough to re-share it with you.

Sorry, but you get what you pay for ...

😉

Battle of Jutland

31 May - 1 June 1916

If you've been following the blog for a while, you might have noticed that I tend to be a bit "aircraft centric." (No, really...)

From time to time you'll see an armored fighting vehicle trundle across the screen but I'm mostly about aircraft. Military aircraft. Though there was a post a while back with pictures of non-aircraft carrier type ships, that's been rare. Normally it's things that fly that I'm all about.

Today I break from that tradition. For I do love things that tend to be painted gray nowadays and steam in harm's way. (Whether the shade be battleship-gray or haze-gray, it's all the same to me.) In other words, I also have a thing for warships. And not just the gray ones.

I must confess, whenever I head down to Norfolk, or out to Sandy Eggo, I have the urge, no, the compulsion to head down to the Naval Station and see the warships. I get as excited as a little kid spotting a toy store or an ice cream truck in these instances.

For instance, last month out in Sandy Eggo as The WSO and I were traversing the Coronado Bridge (leaving Coronado), I spotted haze gray warships off to the right...

"Whoa, stop the car WSO, I need to get a picture. WARSHIPS!"

"Dad. I am not stopping the car on the Coronado Bridge."

"But I can see at least two Arleigh-Burke class destroyers and - wow - I think that's a cruiser..."

"Dad. I. Am. Not. Stopping."

"<sigh> Alright."

Warships, I like them.

Now some of you may be wondering what I mean by a warship. (I also have a few readers who may be wondering, "What's a warship?") So let me enlighten you. A warship is capable of meting out death and destruction to the enemy and surviving to bring it's crew home again. The photos which follow are what this Old AF Sarge thinks of when someone says "warship."

USS Constitution
An old warship.

HMS Victory
Another old warship.

USS Wisconsin
A retired warship of WWII through Desert Storm vintage.

USS Nimitz
Nuclear powered aircraft carrier, no guns but definitely a warship.

USS Cowpens
An Aegis¹ cruiser.

USS Donald Cook (foreground) and other warships meting out death and destruction. (USS Donald Cook, DDG-75, is an Aegis equipped Arleigh-Burke class destroyer. As are the two other ships in the near distance. In the  background - on the left - is what appears to be an Aegis cruiser.)

USS Virginia
Not haze gray but a very potent warship.

USS Nitze
Arleigh-Burke class destroyer

USS Curts
Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate
(About as small as I would go and still call it a warship.)

USS New York
San Antonio class Landing Platform Dock (LPD) (Some would not consider her a warship. I'm sure the 360-man crew and her 700 embarked Marines would beg to differ. 700 Marines can mete out a lot of death and destruction!)

Expect to see more in the warship department here in the future. Not to mention famous naval battles. I have neglected this area of warfare long enough!

John Paul Jones
Father of the US Navy
"I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."

Bonhomme Richard and her consorts
Captain John Paul Jones, Commanding

¹ The Aegis Combat System is an integrated naval weapons system developed by the Missile and Surface Radar Division of RCA, and now produced by Lockheed Martin. It uses powerful computer and radar technology to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets. The name comes from Greek mythology: The aegis, as stated in the Iliad, is carried by Athena and Zeus, but its nature is uncertain. It had been interpreted as an animal-skin or a shield, sometimes bearing the head of a Gorgon.

Mondays Ain't So Bad Any More ...

OAFS Photo

Had to dash out to the store on Monday, as I stepped onto the deck, I marveled at what a lovely day it was. Warm with a cool breeze, which reminded me of how late it is in the year, October has scarcely begun yet it felt like fall, really felt like fall.

The angle of the light is different, the colors of nature seem more vibrant, more alive, as if knowing that soon the earth would be frozen and gray, so let's live it up now.

I feel much the same way.

Anyhoo ...

Knee is much, much better. I can go up the stairs with great agility, going down is still something of an adventure. Nothing hurts but my brain keeps reminding me of that day when the damned thing wouldn't bear any weight at all.

So I go down the stairs with a great deal of caution. I have no desire for The Missus Herself to come home to my lifeless carcass lying at the bottom of the stairs because I threw caution to the winds and faceplanted.

Did that once not that long ago going into the basement from the backyard. Going from bright sunlight into a darker space. What's worse is that I had changed to progressive lenses in my spectacles after having been assured, "oh, don't worry, they change much faster than they did back in the day!"

Lying bastards. "Faster" is a relative term, back in the day it would take them a minute or two to "undarken." Nowadays it only takes maybe fifteen seconds. When I need to be able to see "right fire trucking now," that ain't good enough.

Next pair of eyeglasses will NOT have that feature.

Oh yeah, going into the basement to get something as The Missus Herself and I were doing something in the backyard and we needed something from the basement. Bulkhead was open, light was on at the foot of the stairs, but truly I couldn't see squat once I left the sunlight.

As I stepped I realized that I was NOT on the last step but on the penultimate step. As I went into freefall I had one thought, "Well, this sucks."

Fortunately, I learned how to fall when I studied martial arts in Korea. Not that I was a great student, but learning how to properly fall so as not to let gravity kick one's ass, I got pretty good at that one thing. Okay in others, but in falling, I was a freaking ninja.

Anyhoo, I hit the basement floor and rolled, taking the brunt of the landing on my not insubstantial derriere. Yes, I was butt hurt after that fall. But nothing was broken, nothing was bleeding and I wasn't even sore the next day.

Of course, I was in my 60s back then ...

I remember when my Dad hit his 70s, I was kind of amazed at how much he had slowed down. Now?

Right there with ya Dad!

Yes, I'm slower but I'm still formidable! (Using the French there, it sounds cooler. You know how I am with languages.)

But yes, Mondays used to suck (unless it was a holiday). Now?

Well, they ain't too bad at all. I do what I want, when I want.

Been working my whole life towards that. It's nice to be there at last.

Ciao!

OAFS Photo

What a week!

 

 

 Well, Campers, it's been a busy week.  A bit of rain, 2.5" overnight, a couple of nights ago.  Cloud cover since, but nothing more than a sprinkle.  Hopefully that keeps up.  Because...

We've had quite a bit of good news.

 

 

 As you can see, the exterior of my Brother's house is basically finished.

 

Heck, he's even got doors and windows.  And....

 

 Electricity is being installed as well as water.  So, the end to this part of the project isn't at hand, but is a lot closer.

The horses are getting closer to release from "horse jail" and moved to their new home.

 The door frames are installed and just need to have the doors themselves installed as well as a bit more siding and the fencing.  So....again progress.

 And finally, the most exciting part of the project.  Construction has started on our house. 

 

Mrs. J, being far more artistic and imaginative than I, decided on this for the lower outside walls.  The supports will be redwood and the walls themselves an off white.  I was impressed when she laid the fragments in their final color in order.  Looked great.

AND....

On Wednesday last week, I posted this picture.

 

 

Went out there Saturday and this is what we saw! 

Framing is nowhere near complete, but we could walk through and get a good feel for where rooms are and their size and feel.  Much easier to visualize now than on a blueprint.   

So...progress is being made.  No, we're not all that close to moving in, but we're a heckuva lot closer.  

Keep up the good work guys.

Peace out, y'all! 

 

Septober¹

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Up until a couple of weeks ago it was all polo shirts and cargo shorts here at Chez Sarge. The air conditioning was blasting and Your Humble Scribe was comfortable in his lair. Then ...

Septober happened.

Early September in these parts is nearly indistinguishable from August, the days are hot but, unlike August, the nights start to get cool. Not cold mind you, cool, think mid-60s. But then the days start leaning towards coolness. Cool enough that I decided that the air conditioning could be shut down, an open window would suffice to cool the Sarge.

One night I awakened and discovered, "Damn it, it's cold in here."

Threw on a blanket and went back to sleep. That day I realized that we were now in that hybrid month which some call Septober. Days are sometimes cool, nights are sometimes cold, like mid-40s cold. A decision was required ...

So I made it, I decreed that the mini-splits would be switched to heat mode so that I would not lay shivering in my bed at night, no, I decided that warmth was good.

With no one to gainsay my decision, comfort returned.

Until this week. I awakened one morning rather overheated, the instruments here at Chez Sarge indicated that the overnight low was 70, yes, 70 degrees.

What?

Actually that's pretty standard Septober weather. Even though the calendar says October, bits of early September keep creeping back in.

So the heat was turned off and the night became comfortable once more.

For a couple of days it's been cooling off again at night. As I write this (Saturday night), the outside air temperature is 55.

Septober, when a pair of months can't figure out which season they need to be. Summer? Fall? Or perhaps a taste of early winter? (Which is rather mild along the southern coast of New England. One of the reasons we settled here rather than in my homeland of Vermont. Well, that and there were no jobs in Vermont for someone of my level of experience, education, and training. I suppose Burlington would have something suitable, but I refuse to return to Beijing on the lake.)

So, as of right now, the heat is off, the windows are closed, and ...

Yup, supposed to rain on Sunday.

Cold and wet, you're a classic my dear Septober.

¹ Miss you Scott.

Well, I've Got The Time, Haven't I?

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A few years back, an acquaintance of mine, well a friend really, friend on Facebook but some of those become the "real deal" over time if you share common interests. We did, he is a student of the Napoleonic Wars, as am I. He posted some pictures on Facebook of this game he was playing with a friend of his, out Chicago way.

He posted a few times with pictures and commentary as to how much they enjoyed the game. I was intrigued, so I looked into it. It's a game system really, as I discovered when I ordered it. You really only need the very first module to enjoy the game, which is probably what most people do.

I ain't "most people."

The game is Commands & Colors: Napoleonics by GMT Games. It's colorful, it's fun, and it satisfies my need for really great visuals. But, being as how I wanted the entire set, the original and all the expansions ...

I have a lot of work ahead of me. The game uses painted wooden blocks with stickers on them to represent the various units of the Napoleonic Wars ...

OAFS Photo

The gray blocks are units of the Prussian Army waiting for their stickers to be applied ...

OAFS Photo

A closer look at the stickers, which are applied front and back to those wee wooden blocks.

OAFS Photo

I've finished the units in the first module, which are the British, Portuguese, and French armies (each expansion adds more units to the various armies, the Highland regiments of the British Army didn't show up until the final expansion kit, yup, irked me that did). I've also completed the Spanish, Russian, and Austrian expansion kits. I'm working on the Prussian Army now.

Three of the expansion kits add various bells and whistles, they also add the capability of fighting larger battles where you can have multiple human players on either side.

I waited until I had everything before starting to work on putting it all together, I like knowing that I have everything there is. Bit of a quirk of mine, dontcha know.

Doing the wooden blocks and stickers is easier than the alternative ...

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But I've got those too, multiple boxes of small scale (13.5 mm figures) covering the American Civil War, the American Revolution, and (of course) the Napoleonic Wars. I optimistically bought paint sets for the French and British figures, knowing full well that if I paint even twenty figures I'd be lucky. But you never know ...

After all, I've got the time, these hobbies help fill that time.

Hopefully the grandkids will appreciate this stuff someday!