Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
"There are pics of Hitler visiting the Vimy memorial. Apparently he ordered the memorial to be guarded against vandalism."
That's only because he fought in the trenches or at least was in close proximity as a foot slogger and had respect for those he knew and saw there.
That's only because he fought in the trenches or at least was in close proximity as a foot slogger and had respect for those he knew and saw there.
Once the Germans captured France in WWII, they went around and destroyed all the war "memmorials" that celebrated the victory over Germany. The Vimy memorial was for the soldiers who died and did not celebrate a victory. Thus Hitler ordered it be protected, for the reasons you note.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Lithuania has had the significant misfortune to be located between warring powers since just about forever. Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin all ran troops across her borders with little regard for the locals. When she regained her independence after WW1, there was a concerted effort to make that harder for anyone who wanted to drop by uninvited. Mausers and Hi-Powers were purchased from FN, tanks from the English, surplus kit form German stores (at least so it appears) and on and on. 1920 was a hell of a time to be rearming - plenty of stock for garage sale prices.
Regrettably, this wasn't nearly enough. The Soviets came in 1939 and took the country along with eastern Poland as per the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement. In 1941, the Germans popped in, murdered the majority of the Jewish poulation (with the assistance of a great many Lithuanians, much to the country's shame). Then the Russians came back in '44. Then the deportations, which had been initiated in 1939 and interrupted by the Germans, started in ernest. One third of the country was sent into Siberian exile, under conditions designed to reduce their numbers through starvation, hypothermia, disease, and neglect. The unwanted visitors didn't leave until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Lithuania was the first of the SSRs to split.
Russia has never issued an apology for their mistreatment of the Lithuanian people. One need not wonder why Lithuanians are so hostile to an expansionist Russia in 2023. It's estimated that up to 1,500,000 Lithuanians died in efforts to repel one invader or another between 1920 and 1945. Lithuania remembers.
Regrettably, this wasn't nearly enough. The Soviets came in 1939 and took the country along with eastern Poland as per the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement. In 1941, the Germans popped in, murdered the majority of the Jewish poulation (with the assistance of a great many Lithuanians, much to the country's shame). Then the Russians came back in '44. Then the deportations, which had been initiated in 1939 and interrupted by the Germans, started in ernest. One third of the country was sent into Siberian exile, under conditions designed to reduce their numbers through starvation, hypothermia, disease, and neglect. The unwanted visitors didn't leave until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Lithuania was the first of the SSRs to split.
Russia has never issued an apology for their mistreatment of the Lithuanian people. One need not wonder why Lithuanians are so hostile to an expansionist Russia in 2023. It's estimated that up to 1,500,000 Lithuanians died in efforts to repel one invader or another between 1920 and 1945. Lithuania remembers.
More accurate translation would be: "Where sh1t talk started"
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Quite the outside-of-box thinking on this one. Get the cockpit forward and chop the nose for visibility during carrier landings. Big ol' radials for climb performance. Two of 'em so you have one to get home on if the other sh!ts the bed.
Had this been adopted, imagine it with bigger radials yet and a blown/bubble canopy in all-over navy blue. Would have been a pretty-ish thing.
Had this been adopted, imagine it with bigger radials yet and a blown/bubble canopy in all-over navy blue. Would have been a pretty-ish thing.
In trials, it beat the XF4U (Later the F4 Corsair) by a country mile on almost every metric - speed, rate of climb, visibility, counter rotating engines so pilots didn't have to worry about torque drift on short carrier takeoffs. So, of course, the Navy adopted the F4.
But for good reason. There was a war going on, and the F4 was "good enough" - and required 1/2 as many engines, which was the key bottleneck in aircraft production. Just not enough engines to go around. So with the F4, they effectively ended up with twice as many "good enough" aircraft.
The XF5F would go on to be a thing of myth and legend among naval test pilots, an "if only..." alternate history aircraft.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
The F4 Phantom was a lovely thing, if a bit brutal. The Universal Do-It-All fighter/bomber/interceptor. So who the hell thought this was a good idea?
TWICE?
Like a precision demonstration team of city buses. The F4 was replaced by the A4 for the Blue Angels and the T-38 for the Thunderbirds, both lighter, more manouverable aircraft.
Don't get me wrong. I like the F4. But I can't imagine it was an ideal choice for either team.
TWICE?
Like a precision demonstration team of city buses. The F4 was replaced by the A4 for the Blue Angels and the T-38 for the Thunderbirds, both lighter, more manouverable aircraft.
Don't get me wrong. I like the F4. But I can't imagine it was an ideal choice for either team.
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I knew an F4 Phantom pilot that flew them in Viet Nam for three duty tours.
He told me they were the wildest ride he ever had and it was intoxicating as well as addicting.
He also flew F104s but claimed they were just to stressful for his psyche.
He also flew a few different prop types, but the F4 was his true love. He even tried to purchase a surplussed plane, but couldn't come up with the cash. I don't know if the surplus planes were sold to civilians?
That was surprising because he was one of the hardest adrenaline junkies I've ever met. Nice guy though.
Couldn't keep a woman around for more than a year or so, before wearing them out with his constant on the go enthusiasm.
Up at 5am and going constantly until midnight was the norm. He would burn out for a few weeks every two or three years and disappear into an old wilderness cabin he and his father built.
He died from an anuerysm in 2013, while riding his souped up dirt bike. What a way to go. Just like the old adage says " I don't want to die in bed. I want to come sliding into the hole all worn out and ready for the end" after 80+ years
He told me they were the wildest ride he ever had and it was intoxicating as well as addicting.
He also flew F104s but claimed they were just to stressful for his psyche.
He also flew a few different prop types, but the F4 was his true love. He even tried to purchase a surplussed plane, but couldn't come up with the cash. I don't know if the surplus planes were sold to civilians?
That was surprising because he was one of the hardest adrenaline junkies I've ever met. Nice guy though.
Couldn't keep a woman around for more than a year or so, before wearing them out with his constant on the go enthusiasm.
Up at 5am and going constantly until midnight was the norm. He would burn out for a few weeks every two or three years and disappear into an old wilderness cabin he and his father built.
He died from an anuerysm in 2013, while riding his souped up dirt bike. What a way to go. Just like the old adage says " I don't want to die in bed. I want to come sliding into the hole all worn out and ready for the end" after 80+ years
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
The fate of a great many F-4s:
Who's driving? Nobody. She dies alone. The QF-4 aerial target drone program is how most of these old girls went west.
Only so many gate guardians needed, so the USAF and USN spread them out over several square miles of desert, accomplishing what North Vietnamese air defense couldn't quite while entirely negating the effect of every aluminum can I have ever recycled. Something very sad and insanely wasteful about that, like feeding a good old horse to the dogs. Aircraft are soulful things, more than just objects, and it puts a lump in my throat to think of these old ladies being treated like this. Plus the cost. USAF factsheet reports that just the conversion of each aircraft coasts the US taxpayer $2.6 million. Yikes.
But they had no other use, the work had to be done, so Viking Funerals all around. They're working through the inventory of older F-16s now. Brilliant little agile things, wonderful, lively aircraft. Boom. Gone. Fvck you and your long years of service.
Take a moment and read the thirty-three-year service record of 83-1100: https://www.f-16.net/aircraft-database/F-16/airframe-profile/1440/ That's a long time in harness for an old girl in this business, and she was doubtless pretty worn out, but still.
Before the QF-4 was the QF-106...
...and before that, the QF-100D:
...and before that, the QF-86:
The routine waste in the military is astonishing to behold. Not sure how the hell anyone puts up with it. It's so over the top as to be mindboggling.
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fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
And next up will be the A10's...you are right, what a waste
Is it really a waste???? Some of those drones are barely able to fly. Most of the cost of retrofitting them is in the electronics.
There has to be some reliable way to test the capabilities and consistent reliability of the weapons used to shoot such aircraft out of the skies as well as effectively testing the anti missile defence systems, without endangering the human pilot.
I have seen fields of planes being stripped for parts and the rest of plane headed for recycling of the remaining metals. When I was a kid, far to long ago, It was quite common to see a bomber with its wings removed, parked in a farmers back lot, originally bought for the fuel in its tanks, which was worth more than what they paid for the plane and as a source of parts, such as landing gear for farm implements etc.
What do you do with an old worn out car or truck???
Like you, I hate to see these planes and other devices destroyed or cut up for their components, but it's the only realistic thing to do.
I sort of like the idea of an explosive "Vikings Funeral" ending their final, useful, flight as a fitting demise.
