Rather than actually write a post today, I had to run down to the Header Production Department to talk with the foreman. Seems that some knucklehead had given the guy unlimited funds and unlimited time to produce as many different headers as his little heart desired. Someone had to go rein him in, seriously, the man was out of control.
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| Inside the Header Production Department A wholly owned subsidiary of the Alte Feldwebel Grafik-Anliegen outside Geilenkirchen |
Clicky-clicky to embiggen...
To commemorate my Scot's heritage. (Battle of Balaclava)
To commemorate my French heritage. (Battle of Waterloo)
I like artillery and Napoleonic dioramas, what can I say? (British Foot Artillery)
Juvat and I have both written of this raid. (Ploești)
To commemorate brave men in a lost cause. (Pickett's Charge)
Someone mentioned that something was missing? (F-15 from the 18th Wing, Kadena AB, Okinawa)
Thunderbolt and lightning...
Shermans on the road to Bastogne. Those wrecked Germans tanks were very, very frightened, I'm sure. (The bottom half of the painting above.)
The Big Badger Boat. (There ya go Scott.)
Can't forget one of my favorite aircraft, the Spad.
Can't forget the bird I spent seven years working on. (The Phantom, this is an F-4C.)
I'm sure Fuzz, or Quad-D as he's sometimes known, will recognize this beauty. (F-102)
To honor the memory of Beans' Dad, he flew these beauties. (F-84G)
I'm pretty sure Tuna knows what this is. (S-3 Viking, the Mighty War Hoover)
Of course, LUSH will recognize this bird, she spent a number of years in the backseat of this beauty. (F/A-18F Super Hornet, or Rhino) This is actually from her last squadron, VFA-2, the mighty Bounty Hunters, callsign "Bullet."
For me, pictures are easy, writing is hard.
The Header Production Department Foreman assures me that there are a few more of this on the production line, I can't wait to see them?
Any y'all would like to see?
OK, gonna try to be first again...
ReplyDeleteWHAT! No P-2s or P-3s. If Tuna gets an S-3, the rest of ASW should get sumpthin'.
JK, of course, great work on the headers. Give that foreman a raise.
Dang, you're absolutely right, loves me some Neptunes and Orions. (Going to need an E-2 Hawkeye too!)
Delete😁
No Scot's Greys at Waterloo?
ReplyDeleteI'm just kidding. You do a fantastic job!
Hhmm, we do seem to be lacking cavalry. I've got infantry, I've got artillery, where's the horse!
Delete😉
All very good choices there....... how about something for the Coast Guard Sarge?
ReplyDeleteGood idea, I'll tell the foreman!
DeleteEither that Coastie, Signalman First Class Douglas Albert Munro, who died while covering the evac of part of Guadalcanal or their new National Security Cutter, or both.
DeleteEither one is a fitting choice.
Cuppla Coasties are forthcoming, one helo, one cutter.
DeleteNo Intruder??
ReplyDeleteI am depressed....
How could I forget those? Son-in-law Tuttle was an NFO in Prowlers early in his career too.
DeleteOrder is in!
Hey that top picture, below the header, with all the huge lathes and line shafts... Yup, that one. That company is still running. Yeah, that pic was from 1868. Pretty neat if you ask me. I also like pictures of the old Ford plant. Talk about a flat belt jungle. It's crazy to think about working in there.
ReplyDeleteOne of my old professors in college graduated in the 30's. He was tasked with a time study in a cotton mill down in the south. Everyone used snuff, and the place was pretty loud... They wove some material using cotton, and used flat belts and line shafts on the machinery..... Now, static electricity is bad if there is dust in the air, and in that plant there was lots of it. So they artificially kept the humidity high to discourage static discharge. It was pre-air conditioning... As he walked around the plant his shirt was soon soaked through, and rivulets of sweat ran down his face. Cotton fibers stuck everywhere there was dampness.
This professor was the most genteel man I'd ever met. His practical take on engineering was really interesting. He was a good teacher on "engineering bedside manner". A real gentleman-scholar. Part of a time study is to find out what the person is doing so you can record the process accurately and then time them as they do it. [connecting air line to grinder - 11S, testing grinder - 25S, crimping neighbors air hose with clamp and hiding it under a tarp - 55S] In order to hear the workers, he had to lean in close and they had to shout their explanations... As he got close to the flat belts, the static charge would pull on the cotton fibers stuck to his sweaty face... The tickle was almost maddening. When he got home, he found his ears coated with snuff... And he went back again and again until his project was finished.
Thanks for putting up Pickett's charge. Those were MEN, at least those that didn't skedaddle were.
STxAR. My father went to Machinist School here in Philly when he got out of the military at the end of WWII.
DeleteHe told me that a fair amount of the machine tools were still driven by leather belting.
He considered the belting to be very dangerous. And coming from a man who had grown up on in El Paso, and liked shooting and the outdoors sports, that said quite a lot.
STxAR - My Dad worked in timekeeping when I was a lad, very familiar with what they do. I had no idea that plant was still in operation, pretty cool.
DeleteThough I'm a Yank, I have to tip my hat to the boys in butternut and grey, damned good soldiers they were.
John - The belting is dangerous, I've seen photos of some of those old plants, a moments inattention and bang, you're toast.
DeleteThe one good thing about flat belts, is they slip if there is a crash (work jams into the tool, etc). I've got a small Logan 200, and it's a great trainer because of that. I have a LeBlond trainer lathe and that is v-belted and it'll throw the work across the county or blow up a tool and send fragments all over. It's got a few barked up teeth where someone ran the chuck into the cross slide. And it just kept on going... I have to hold it in gear if I'm polishing at high speed. But flat belts to the ceiling?!?! Yeah, I bet those would eat you raw and leave you hurt.
DeleteOh yeah.
DeleteThere is a whole group of people who love buying line-shaft tools and converting them with electric motors. They keep all the line-shaft pulleys, just fab a new mount and pulley to go where the line-shaft input goes. Those tools are built Tonka-Tough (well, back when Tonka was made of metal,) all cast iron and remarkably precise.
DeleteI wouldn't mind a camel-back drill press at all, just would need some place to put it.
Ah Tonka, fond memories there. Back when they were made of metal of course.
DeleteI was the owner/operator of a one man machine shop from 1987 until 2007. My newest machine was a Bridgeport miller built in 1963, which I bought in 1993. It was the only large machine in the shop which hadn't been converted from overhead belt. Collins Axe Co. in Connecticut was using machinery from the 1800's until they closed around 1990. Ancient Gunner's Mate
DeleteThe name of that company rang a bell in a long disused part of my memory. I used to handle small scale pick-ups and deliveries from Bryant Grinder Corp in Springfield down to various companies in Connecticut. Did some checking, didn't get as far south as Bridgeport, but I swear I've been to Canton, where the Collins Axe Company was located. Interesting.
DeleteThe joke about Bridgeport was they built their equipment so well they built themselves out of business.
DeleteThat can be a problem.
DeleteBridgeports are really, really good machines!
DeleteSeems to be the consensus!
DeleteI think you're going to have to come to the inevitable conclusion that no single header is going to work. I'd recommend picking 12 and rotating them monthly. Perhaps you could have a theme matching the illustration with the month or something. :)
ReplyDeleteI do have an idea for a header or two to match particular months. For instance, I could put the Waterloo header up in June. Right now I've got about 30 headers and will probably use them all over time. There's a lot I could do, I just don't want to confuse the audience.
DeleteI don't know how much work it would take to make a boilerplate background header, and then change the photo as you see fit.
ReplyDeleteI suggest a photo of the "Ma Deuce" heavy machine gun on the twenty third of January. The weapon has served the military for almost one hundred years, and is used by every branch of the United States services. (including the Coast Guard)
The date I mentioned is the birthday of John Moses Browning. (I heard a choir of gun angels singing when I typed his name.)
Good post.
Interesting concept, do-able and I do like the Ma Deuce.
DeleteWWJMBD?
DeleteHahaha!
DeleteBeans. Whatever he would do would be awesome and maybe belt fed and water cooled.
DeleteAnd have a large bore!
DeleteYup, neat. You could even swap headers for special occasions. To emphisise a special muse.
ReplyDeleteI like it.
DeleteJeez, thanks, Boss....from the deepest level f the rowing decks, the four of us is honored. That picture more than makes up for the lack of gruel this morning.
ReplyDeleteActually, the picture is quite nice. The Eagle has held up quite nicely over the years!
😁
DeleteWe had to divert funds from the Gruel Production Department over to the Header Production Department. We expect to have that back on line soon.
The Eagle is a beauty, that's for sure.
Uhhhh, Boss? A quick question, You're honoring your French Heritage with a header commemorating Waterloo? I my memory of History AFU? Didn't the French lose that battle?
DeleteYes, yes we did. It's a gracious loser I am. Besides, it's one of my favorite battles.
DeleteVisiting the site today, you'd swear the French won. Seriously.
I went there on my TDY from the Joint Staff. We had an "investigative" visit to NATO HQ and it was the weekend or something. I tend to agree with your assessment. Ypres on the other hand.....
DeleteWeird, innit?
DeleteYou could always celebrate French History with a Charles "The Hammer" Martel page. Celebrate a great hero and tick off CAIR at the same time!
DeleteMy great-great grandmother's maiden name was Martel. Just sayin'.
DeleteLooks like that S-3 was very happy to make it into a header! Or maybe it was just doing some M.A.D. runs.
ReplyDeleteHahaha!
DeleteBig Navy should have selected the super-Hoover as the next-gen COB. Dangit.
DeleteToo much rework and parts manufacturing was out of business. Plus the airframes wouldn't last 30 years like the greyhound did. The Ospreys are still in production so a better overall choice since they wanted a single airframe. It would have been an outstanding 2nd airframe, especially for faster service.
DeleteBeans, see Tuna.
DeleteTuna - Would've liked to see the return of the War Hoover, in some role, any role dammit!
DeleteRight off the bat there are three different things that come to mind about headers.
ReplyDeleteTwo have nothing to do with this post.
There are those that serve in construction over doors and windows.
Then there are those that can result in a concussion.
Sometimes I wonder how the mind works.
It's also something one does in non-American football, aka soccer.
DeleteWhich can also involve a concussion but not due to a fall...
You can also make a bat out of a header, but not a header out of a bat.
DeleteUh, what?
Delete("What am I missing?" asked the old guy.)
I thought ya made bats out of blanks?? Along with a bunch of other wooden toys...no?
DeleteY'all have lost me. I feel like Uncle Leo from Seinfeld!
DeleteSoccer was my thought when I mentioned concussion.
DeleteHappens a lot, not well known outside of soccer circles.
DeleteSpent some time as a crewmember in AEWRON One. (VW-1) Typhoon Trackers out of Guam.(USN) We also flew the racetrack between Hai Phong and Hainan during off-season How about a pic of a Pregnant Connie, WC-121. Damn bird would fly forever!
ReplyDeleteNice idea. I really like the Connie as well.
DeleteWhere in the heck is...
ReplyDeleteNah, I'm not gonna pile on. If I want to see specific header features I can do 'em on my own dime. I'll enjoy whatever you put up.
That F-84 reminds me that there's one parked next to a legacy Herk at the WANG gate over by Warren. Been meaning to stop and get a picture. There's a museum over there I keep intending to visit too but I keep driving right on by by.
Oh, I guess there is one thing, speaking of whirling machinery and static charge. Sorry, I have zero self discipline. So yeah, how 'bout a picture of that gruel foundry?
Hahaha!
DeleteGruel foundry, now there's an idea...
Please do get photo. And if good enough, send to the OAFS to post.
DeleteWhat Beans said...
DeleteWilco, Beans and Sarge. POCIR.....
Delete👍
DeleteThank you for showing two of Republic's finest contributions to US Aviation History. Tossing up a Thud wouldn't hurt, either.
ReplyDeleteSad when good planes get forgotten.
There's also an F-84 on static display in Mobile at the battleship museum there.
And feel free to toss a header celebrating your family during momentous events.
I'm pretty sure I've seen that F-84 at Mobile. Though it was a long, long time ago.
DeleteIt and the Thud there got pretty well banged up in the last Hurricane. The Thud was mostly fixed in August. I don't believe they had started on the Thunderjet yet. They were also repairing a B-25, so the Thud and the Mitchell may have taken over most of their resources. I was a little disappointed that they were redoing the Mitchell. It started life as "One with a Gun", a B-25G, but are repairing it to be a vanilla Mitchell painted up to be a Doolittle Raider. OK, it wasn't one of those, but it DID have a honking big cannon in the nose. And you want to do away with that? Surprisingly, they didn't seem to care for my opinion.
DeleteModifying a G to be an older B-25, not happy with that. Not happy at all.
DeleteWarthogs!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah.
DeleteJust read yesterday's post and saw the A-10. Thanks.
Delete😁
Deleteand thank you for the clarification...I wondered if that was the A-10, but wasn't sure at all.
DeleteWith all that smoke, it would be easy to miss. 😁
DeletePictures are always good even if they are easy. These are all great pics, I will thoroughly enjoy each one when it becomes a header. I love the Big Badger Boat! I've always had this thing about battleships. I know the carriers have proved their worth many times over since WWII but there's just a certain impressive "Wow" factor that battleships have that no other ship has ever been able to duplicate!!
ReplyDeleteBattleships are truly awesome war machines.
Delete"Wow!" said Kirishima as Washington shot her in the face...
DeleteThat's gonna leave a mark.
DeleteThanks for including the "Badger Boat"! Were you aware that about 7 percent of the USS Wisconsin (my home state!) is actually the USS Kemtucky?
ReplyDeleteThe Wisconsin collided with a destroyer named the USS Eaton in 1956, and the heavily damaged bow was replaced with the bow of the incomplete Kentucky. So I guess BB-64 is the USS Wistucky......
I knew about the collision, didn't know where the new bow came from. BB-64+66?
DeleteThat is why some call her, " Wisky ".
DeleteI live, I learn.
DeleteJust as an aside, it's entirely possible you might have worked on THAT F-4. FO was the fin flash for the 497th TFS, 8TFW while assigned to Ubon during Vietnam. The 497th was the 8TFW squadron over at Taegu. I believe most heavy maintenance for them was done at the Kun. According to Joe Baugher's site, she went to the boneyard in '08.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't do radar cal for the birds over at Taegu when I was at the Kun. I would've remembered a tail code other than WP. Of that I'm really sure. Cool though that she was part of the Wolf Pack.
DeleteThe FO was the fin flash in Ubon. When Moody deployed to Taegu in early 83 the 497th had WP on their tails. Who knows.
DeleteI don't remember doing cal for the Taegu birds, but then again it was an awfully long time ago.
Delete(Don McCollor)...Many headers I would like to see, but a [not so] short list: Modern: B52, C130 (gunship especially). For WW2: a PBY, Grasshopper (Piper Cub), an LST, LCI, and LCM (asymmetric and looks odd), CVE (escort carrier), and an old four-stacker destroyer. Notice that no WW1 aircraft are yet shown. Probably guide Header Production based on what stories you contemplate writing. Love the headers you have posted!...
ReplyDeleteI've got a bunch more for tomorrow. I did want to do a D-Day header among others. Yes, I need to put some WWI warbirds up!
DeleteThanks Don!
I second for a C-130.
DeleteFormer Herk pilot.
I think we can do that. Heck, I know we can do that. I've flown on the mighty Herk many times out PACAF way, a good ride!
Delete"Any y'all would like to see?"
ReplyDeleteHeh. Ask, and thou shalt receive.
Nothing from my part of the peanut gallery about what may or may not be missing. Just offering up one of my favorites, about which I'm sure you could make an educated guess in advance.
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/b-17g-a-bit-olace-kevin-walsh.html
Not sure how you could use it here and avoid copyright issues.
Stay tuned, pretty sure I saw a Fort on the shop floor. 😉
Delete(Don McCollor)...And how could I have forgotten the C47 (DC3)...somewhere I have a picture of young British paratroops inside one before D-Day along with them as old men now seated in the same positions - and it was the same airplane! Those old birds can fly forever...
DeleteA great bird!
Delete(Don McCollor)..the highest praise for the DC3 that somehow it could anticipate and correct for a pilot mistakes...
DeleteWow.
DeletePictures good. Words hard.
ReplyDeleteIndeed! You've been there, done that.
DeleteI know you're probably getting a lot of requests for pic's for your rotating headers but I'm going to suggest a couple more, an F4U Corsair and a B-58 Hustler.
ReplyDeleteHow could I forget the Corsair?
DeleteB-58 is a good suggestion, had a model of one of those back in the day.
(Don McCollor)...Yes! I still have the big plastic toy of it yet!!!
DeleteCool!
DeleteThere are those who say that the even, steady pressure exerted by those old steam powered meme pressed produced a better quality, longer lasting meme, with truer colors.
ReplyDeleteYAY BIG BADGER BOAT!
Hahaha!
DeleteThe camo'd Deuce made it bone-chillin' cold and dusty at the same time here in Ormond by the Sea. Thanks, friend.
ReplyDeleteMemories good and bad no doubt.
DeleteI can't think of anything bad that I was smart enough to notice. Maybe ORI's or that pesky "low oil pressure" light that came on between Naha and Clark. That seemed pretty bright at the time.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of water between Naha and Clark. I can see where that might get your attention!
Delete