Picture of the day

Curly1 said:
Flower class corvette?
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USS Eldridge (DE-173)
Namesake: John Eldridge, Jr.
Ordered: 1942
Builder: Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newark, New Jersey
Laid down: 22 February 1943
Launched: 25 July 1943
Commissioned: 27 August 1943
Decommissioned: 17 June 1946
Struck: 26 March 1951
Fate: Sold to Greece, 15 January 1951 as Leon (D54)

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Philadelphia Experiment[edit]
The "Philadelphia Experiment" was an alleged naval military experiment at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sometime around 28 October 1943 in which the Eldridge was to be rendered invisible (i.e. by a cloaking device) to human observers for a brief period. It is also referred to as Project Rainbow.

The story is widely regarded as a hoax.[2][3] The United States Navy maintains that no such experiment occurred and details of the story contradict well-established facts about the Eldridge.[4]
 
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Mar. 27, 2003 - An F/A-18 Hornet assigned to the “Silver Eagles” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron One One Five (VMFA-115) flies a combat mission over Iraq.
 
JP said:
My Father was a personal friend of Buzz and to this day he is convinced his plane was sabotaged so he would not reach Israel.
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That's always been my belief as well. He was an odd fish alright, but the air force system should have been smart enough to handle his disciplinary issues more adroitly so as to make use of his incomparable skills. The reality of course is that such people always inspire as much jealousy and resentment as they do admiration, among their superiors particularly. On the other hand, there are limits to how far you can push military discipline before exceptionalism creates more harm than it does good.

I remember a WWII sergeant pilot telling me 20+ years ago how stuffy the officer's association was and how even 50 years after the war, the commissioned ranks still wanted to keep their distance organizationally, despite their declining numbers. When people have little to really distinguish them from the others they cling to the outward symbols more tenaciously.

Beurling, like some other aces was a keen sports shooter and became an excellent deflection shot thanks to that. He also practiced and studied aerial tactics relentlessly and trained his eyes to maximize his vision.

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Rod B said:
That was a great movie. He still was an ace, even without his legs. I bet he never considered a disability pension.
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Nope they tried to pension him of and he fought tooth and nail to get reinstated.Took a while but managed it in the end. There was no way he was going to let a little thing like no legs stop him flying. You want a hero can't find a much better example than Bader, personal courage, determination, leadership. He pretty much had it all.
 
bearhunter said:
They got a lot of free Mustangs, Spits and Messerschmitt's as well as many other types. I was talking to a fellow at one of the grass airfields they had and he told me there were hundreds of different types parked side by side from several different nations. They were in all shot up to pristine condition, with only a few hours of flight time on them. I understand, Switzerland and Sweden had similar airfields with similar aircraft. It is rumored that many of the fighters picked up by Israel came from these stocks.
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Did you hear about the Irish Kamakazi pilot who flew on 47 missions.
 
RRCo. said:
That's always been my belief as well. He was an odd fish alright, but the air force system should have been smart enough to handle his disciplinary issues more adroitly so as to make use of his incomparable skills. The reality of course is that such people always inspire as much jealousy and resentment as they do admiration, among their superiors particularly. On the other hand, there are limits to how far you can push military discipline before exceptionalism creates more harm than it does good.

I remember a WWII sergeant pilot telling me 20+ years ago how stuffy the officer's association was and how even 50 years after the war, the commissioned ranks still wanted to keep their distance organizationally, despite their declining numbers. When people have little to really distinguish them from the others they cling to the outward symbols more tenaciously.

Beurling, like some other aces was a keen sports shooter and became an excellent deflection shot thanks to that. He also practiced and studied aerial tactics relentlessly and trained his eyes to maximize his vision.

middlemiss_buerling.jpg
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Good points--so the guy would rather practice and study aerial tactics than go to the bar and get drunk/laid with his squadron-mates. Sounds like a pretty hardcore guy to me.
Either that, or I wonder if he had a mild form of Aspergers or something like that, which allowed him to really focus at the expense of social relationships.....hmmmm
 
I'm trying to imagine what Beurling was thinking or about to say to the photographer who took this picture ..... It's a perfect depiction of "The Look". In this pic he reminds me of Peter O'Toole's portrayal of "Lawrence of Arabia", another military misfit who was able to think outside the box and accomplish what conventional soldiers thought impossible.

In WWII he would have likely served in the LRRP with Stirling.


RRCo. said:
Beurling, like some other aces was a keen sports shooter and became an excellent deflection shot thanks to that. He also practiced and studied aerial tactics relentlessly and trained his eyes to maximize his vision.

middlemiss_buerling.jpg
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Sharps '63 said:
I'm trying to imagine what Beurling was thinking or about to say to the photographer who took this picture ..... It's a perfect depiction of "The Look". In this pic he reminds me of Peter O'Toole's portrayal of "Lawrence of Arabia", another military misfit who was able to think outside the box and accomplish what conventional soldiers thought impossible.

In WWII he would have likely served in the LRRP with Stirling.
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hard to know what is "normal" ... I have worked for a couple of corporate psychopaths
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
The purpose of a wingman is to protect the leader. The leader's purpose is to destroy EA. If the wingman starts pursuing EA to rack up kills and neglects the protection of the leader, they're not doing their job.

The "lone wolves" don't get this. They either are better or luckier than everyone else and survive, or they die alone because they get into stuff they didn't expect, but they're of little use to their buddies. It's very much a team sport.

Some aces totally got it:

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Definitely my top choice for a wingman.
 
"Normal" is a setting on a washing machine and not applicable to people, especially during war.
I too have worked with and known a few who fit the mould. Best way to deal with them was "in your face". Sets them back on their heels.

AP said:
hard to know what is "normal" ... I have worked for a couple of corporate psychopaths
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AP said:
hard to know what is "normal" ... I have worked for a couple of corporate psychopaths
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Some corporations actively seek them out for managerial roles. No joke. What such recruiters forget is that everyone is prey to the psychopath unless too difficult or dangerous to prey on, and they have no hesitation in preying upon their employers. Sort of a karmic payback for the employers who were cynical enough to hire them!

"The Psycopaths Among Us", well worth reading.

collector67 said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saburo_Sakai
This Japanese ace shared the same doctrine and pride as E. Hartmann.
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What distinguished Sakai was moral courage if you read his post-war comments. The physical courage is a much more common virtue. To find both? Very, very rare.
 
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