Picture of the day

[diopter]

Caption reads:
Enduring Freedom Patrols Continue Over Arabian Gulf
PULA, CROATIA - OCTOBER 29: An F-14 ''Tomcat'' fighter leads a formation comprised of F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters October 29, 2002 over Pula, Croatia. U.S. Two Croat MiG-21 Fishbed fighter-interceptors flank each side of the formation. U.S. Navy aviation squadrons assigned to Carrier Air Wing Seventeen (CVW-17) sent a detachment to Croatia to participate in Joint Wings 2002, a multinational exercise designed to practice intelligence gathering. (Photo by Dana Potts/U.S. Navy/Getty Images)

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Neat. This month's Flight Journal has a big writeup on the MiG 21 if anyone's interested, or still reads magazines.

The Saab J-21.

One of the more easily jet-convertible aircraft ever built.

Also capable of carrying the World's Draggiest ASM Mount:

That'd be like flying around with a park bench strapped crosswise under the wing.

 

[CV32]

Speaking of Saab, here is the Boeing-Saab T-X, the winner of the USAF's new generation jet trainer competition.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Great looking little bird. Parked here next to a now-ancient ancestor:

 

[bjmurata]

Long in the tooth now but still slick as hell.

 

[Ganderite]

main gear look too close together for a trainer.

 

[diopter]

Looks like a good trainer for the F-18 pilots, carrier type long travel undercarriage and twin vertical rudders
.

 

[CV32]

Great looking little bird. Parked here next to a now-ancient ancestor

In many of its specifications, the T-X is very similar to the T-38.

 

[sidester]

Korea 1952

 

[ipscgraz]

A civilian woman pours a drink of cider for a Bren gunner in action in Lisieux, Normandy, 22 August 1944.

 

[purple]

A civilian woman pours a drink of cider for a Bren gunner in action in Lisieux, Normandy, 22 August 1944.

I remember sitting in a sidewalk cafe in Lisieux 30 years ago drinking cider with my wife and daughter in much happier circumstances.

 

[Bubba Yugga]

main gear look too close together for a trainer.

Actually, that gear looks quite appropriate for the sideslip landings students are prone to do.

 

[shredder]

Looks like a good trainer for the F-18 pilots, carrier type long travel undercarriage and twin vertical rudders
.

In many of its specifications, the T-X is very similar to the T-38.

Since it's a USAF trainer for now, it'll likely be a great long-lasting trainer for the F-35 and F-22. I don't know if it's carrier-capable (or if it can be easily modified to be so) but if it is it'd likely be a great trainer for the USN and USMC as well.

It looks somewhat like the F-35 and I'll bet handles like one too.

 

[CV32]

Since it's a USAF trainer for now, it'll likely be a great long-lasting trainer for the F-35 and F-22. I don't know if it's carrier-capable (or if it can be easily modified to be so) but if it is it'd likely be a great trainer for the USN and USMC as well.

It looks somewhat like the F-35 and I'll bet handles like one too.

The T-45 has some life in it yet. Meanwhile, I don't see any resemblance between the T-X and the F-35.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

The Unic P107 Samur halftrack. By 1940, the French army was operating over 2000 of these.

After 1940, the Germans had most of them, now named the Leichter Zugkraftwagen 37.

A number were uparmoured in the style of German halftracks, dubbed the U304(f), and sent into service:

 

[Sharps '74]

The soldiers in the last pic appear to be Japanese Americans.

 

[diopter]

One of the captions:
Soldiers of 442nd Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army, formed from the ethnic Japanese, pass the broken German armored French-made Zugkraftwagen P107 U304 (f) (Unic-Kégresse P107) in Brewer (Bruyeres). France, October 24, 1944.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

The 442nd Regiment kept busy. This from Wikipedia:

The 442nd Regiment is the most decorated unit in the history of American warfare. The 4,000 men who initially made up the unit in April 1943 had to be replaced nearly two times. In total, about 14,000 men served, earning 9,486 Purple Hearts. The unit was awarded eight Presidential Unit Citations (five earned in one month). Twenty-one of its members were awarded Medals of Honor.

It's almost as if they had something to prove...

 

[Grizzly Adams]

The 442nd Regiment kept busy. This from Wikipedia:

It's almost as if they had something to prove...

Yeah, gotta admire them, since their families were dispossessed and held in interment camps.

Grizz

 

[klaus enuff]

I wonder how many internees got their property and other possessions back, after such service for their country