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  • Yemeni forces fire Scud missile at Saudi Arabia | Reuters

    Yemen’s dominant Houthi group and its army allies fired a Scud missile at Saudi Arabia which the kingdom said it shot down on Saturday, in a major escalation of two months of war.

    In the first reported use of a ballistic missile in the conflict, the Scud was fired on Saturday morning at the city of Khamees Mushait in the kingdom’s southwest and was intercepted by two Patriot missiles, a statement by the Saudi military said.

    The area is home to the largest air force base in southern Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, but there are no oil facilities in the vicinity.

    via Yemeni forces fire Scud missile at Saudi Arabia | Reuters.

    That’s something of an escalation. Not that the SCUD is a particularly significant military weapon, at least when equipped with a conventional warhead.

    Saudi Arabia has been targeting the Yemini stockpiles of SCUDS in an attempt to preclude this, but apparently haven’t managed to get all of them. Of course, that’s exactly why they invested so heavily in the Patriot missile system.

  • D-Day

    00763_2003_001.tif

    The 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division, the 1st Division, the 4th Division, the 29th Division, and the 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions, supported by the 1st, 5th and 6th Engineer Special Brigades (each nearly the size of a division) stormed ashore the rustic Cotentin peninsula.

    For all the fighting and dying and killing the Allies had undertaken from September 1939 to this day in 1944, that was all secondary effort. This, to come to grips with the Wehrmacht, the German army, to drive to the heart of the Nazi regime and gut it, to put down the rabid dog of national socialism.  Eleven more months of fighting were to come. And they would be, for the US, the bloodiest months of the war.

  • Splodey.

  • Gate Check

    Not to turn this into an all airline blog, but Spill liked this article on Facebook, and I read it, and had my own thoughts.

    As airframers, cabin interiors houses and design firms work feverishly to expand overhead luggage compartments, airlines too are addressing the problem of trying to fit an increasing load in too little space. There’s a remarkable amount of design and materials engineering ongoing to eke out that last bit of room in what used to be the hat-rack.

    It’s important work throughout the aircraft, but particularly in first and business class, where road warriors need to be surgically separated from their rollaboards and upmarket leisure travellers expect more space overhead as well as underfoot.

    Airbus and Boeing are each carving out centimetres of space to create bins that will fit large rollaboard bags in and on their sides. As RGN noted last year, Boeing’s 2010 Sky Interior pivot bins on its smaller 737 fuselage came years before RGN broke the news of Airbus’ pivot bin in 2013, and the details about the A320 interior were released at last year’s APEX Expo.

    Indeed, Boeing trumpeted the delivery of its thousandth Sky Interior aircraft before Airbus had even delivered a single upgraded jet, and the US airframer released an updated ‘Space Bin’ product this year.

    Brazilian regional jetmaker Embraer and its design partner Priestmangoode have revolutionised the overhead passenger service units and contoured the cabin ceiling in order to enlarge the overhead bins to take modern carry-on luggage.

    The introduction of check baggage fees of anywhere from $25 to $50 dollars a bag means damn near everyone I know flies solely with carryon luggage, unless the trip is international.

    I’m hardly a frequent flier, but even I know the standard US carryon allowance is one piece of luggage (of an appropriate size) and one “personal item” which as the article later notes is maddeningly vague. What it was intended to permit was women to carry on a piece of luggage, and their purse, or businessmen to carry on one piece, and their briefcase.  As for me, whenever I fly, I have my rollerbag, and then my old Army issue helmet bag, which serves as my combined laptop case, briefcase, lunchbox (yes, I do eat smelly Burger King in flight- hate me if you must) and portable junk drawer for odds and ends.

    Here’s the thing, it would never occur to me to even think of trying to put the helmet bag in the overhead. Overhead bins are clearly designed for taking rollerbags. Jerks who try to put other things up there, or use oversized bags, deserve scorn and contempt.

    As for gatechecking bags, I often find myself flying legs on regional jets that have overheads too small to accommodate the standard roller bag. And that’s fine by me. Just roll out to the jet, hand it off to the luggage guy, and keep my helmet bag with me. That’s where all the important stuff is anyway. Same as if the overhead is too crowded on a 737. I have no problems with the gate tag. Heck, I prefer it. It is easier than trying to maneuver the bag down the aisle, and then stuff it in the overhead without elbowing some innocent in the face.

    The worst overhead bin experience is when troops fly on a chartered commercial airliner. Stuffing your weapons, helmet and load bearing equipment into a bin that wasn’t exactly designed with that in mind is a struggle. And that announcement that contents may have shifted? Rollerbags won’t jump out and smack you in the face, but a Kevlar helmet *always* will.

    What’s the worst thing you’ve seen someone bring aboard a flight?

  • The British Pacific Fleet

    Growing up in a Naval Aviation family, it was a given that I would know the major exploits of the Fast Carrier Task Force that formed the heart of the US Navy’s striking power in the Pacific. Operating alternately as TF 38 when under Halsey’s 3rd Fleet and TF 58 when under Spruance’s 5th Fleet, the FCTF roamed the Central and Western Pacific, at sea for weeks at a time, supporting various invasions, striking territory the Japanese had seized, and even raiding the home islands of Japan.  The FCTF was the powerhouse of the Pacific, making that ocean an American pond for 70 years. Every other part of the United States Navy, from the submarine service, to the stupendous fleet train,  to the Seabees to the amphibious shipping and indeed, the entire US Marine Corps, served simply to better enable the Big Blue to rule the mighty Pacific as a wholly American territory.

    Of course, the US Navy wasn’t alone in those waters. Britain, with its many colonial outposts, maintained a significant fleet presence in the Pacific. Sadly, the opening months of the war saw them more soundly defeated by Japan than even our own fleet. Eventually, the Royal Navy would retreat to Trincomalee, Ceylon.  The bulk of the Royal Navy’s fighting strength would be devoted to operations in the North Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea.

    However, by early 1944, the situation in those waters was sufficiently in hand that Britain felt it could spare ships and planes for the Pacific. The Chief of Naval Operations, Ernie King, was not exactly an Anglophile, and was not enthusiastic about the Royal Navy returning to the Western Pacific. In this, he was overruled by FDR.

    Of course, it was more than mere politics that gave the US Navy pause about a Royal Navy fleet in the Pacific. The RN mostly operated close to its bases in comparatively close waters. Their ships had less endurance, and even less space for food stores. Furthermore, they had little experience in replenishment underway. Worst of all, they had virtually none of the fleet train of ships that the US Navy relied upon to allow the Fast Carrier Task Force to stay at sea for weeks. Any significant RN participation would almost certainly have to receive at least some support from the US Navy.

    The RN did amass a sizeable fleet train to support its operations (though they also received quite a bit of help from the USN) and soon amassed a significant fleet of carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers and other combatants.

    When operating with the US Navy, the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was under  the US command structure, and designated either TF 37 or Task Force 57, depending on whether it was with 3rd or 5th Fleet.

    The most significant operations of the BPF were in support of the US invasion of Okinawa, where the BPF conducted raids on Japanese airfields to suppress kamikaze attacks. Of course, that invited kamikaze attacks upon themselves. Unlike US carriers that had wooden flight decks, British carriers had steel flight decks. Generally, a kamikaze hit on them resulted in far less damage.

    While some British carriers operated British designed planes such as the Seafire and the Barracuda, many operated US built planes, including the Corsair, the Avenger, and the Hellcat.

    No audio, but still an interesting look at British carrier operations in 1944.

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  • He162

    https://twitter.com/DownedWarbirds/status/599266137638055936

  • Air Force reviewing if airmen overlooked for Medal of Honor

    None of the Medal of Honor recipients from the war on terrorism have been airmen, and now the Air Force is making sure airmen have been appropriately recognized for their bravery.

    Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Cody answered questions Tuesday during a Reddit Ask Me Anything session, and one person said he and other special operators have wondered why no airman has received the Medal of Honor for actions since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

    “I know several personal cases (Robert Gutierrez and Dustin Temple most recently) were awarded the Air Force Cross but would think these actions would potentially merit recommendation for MoH discussion,” the questioner wrote.

    Cody replied that he “couldn’t agree more” with the questioner’s sentiment.

    via Air Force reviewing if airmen overlooked for Medal of Honor.

    I think all the services should take a long hard look and review whether some service crosses (or even Silver Star) awards should be upgraded. That’s not to say the criteria should be watered down, just that a second look should be given.

  • British tank crushes German teenage learner's car – Telegraph

    A learner driver in Germany had a narrow escape on Monday when her car was crushed by a British tank.

    The 18-year-old driver made the mistake of turning into a column of British tanks that were travelling through the small town of Augustdorf.

    The British soldier at the controls of the tank behind her had no time to stop, but managed to turn so that he crushed the engine of the car, just avoiding the driver.

    via British tank crushes German teenage learner’s car – Telegraph.

    Americans see the local reserve unit Humvee in a parking lot and go nuts screaming #JadeHelm. But in Germany, armored vehicles on the road are fairly common. I’ve done a couple of (fairly short) road marches myself.

    Here’s the thing. The laws of physics are at work. A body in motion tends to stay in motion. That Challenger II tank weighs about 65 tons. It stops in a lot shorter space than you might think, but it still takes a bit of time and space.

    If you do find yourself sharing the road with a military convoy, do please do your best to not interrupt it or weave in and out. Most convoys move at a slower pace than regular traffic. They generally also mark the first and last vehicles in the column. Move to the passing lane, pass the entire convoy, and then get back to the right hand lane.

  • V-1600: The Carrier-Capable F-16 That Wasn't | Defense Media Network

    After the F-16 had won the ACF competition, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) pushed hard for the Navy to procure the F-16 as well, presumably for economies of scale along with the benefits a common aircraft would have to both maintenance and training. Congress had already, in August 1974, directed the Navy to look to the LWF/ACF program’s competitors for its new Navy Air Combat Fighter (NACF) program, which had superseded the Navy’s own VFAX program, begun several months before, in April 1974, to replace the F-4, A-4, and A-7 aircraft on carrier decks. The Navy really wanted more F-14s, or at least something big enough to carry Phoenix missiles, but was now being forced to go with a lightweight fighter choice. Both General Dynamics and Northrop put forward proposals for navalized versions of their fighters, GD teaming up with Ling Temco Vought (LTV) and Northrop with McDonnell Douglas.

    via V-1600: The Carrier-Capable F-16 That Wasn’t | Defense Media Network.

    We wrote yesterday about SecNav Mabus, and his desire, among other things, to give the individual service chiefs greater autonomy in buying weapons for their service.

    This article highlights some of the possible compromises that face the services when trying to force one platform to serve two different roles.

    Also, the picture is pretty neat.

  • The Battle of Midway

    73 years ago today, the tide of war in the Pacific shifted through a combination of incredible intelligence, tactically sound thinking, stunning valor in the face of certain death, and no small amount of luck.