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Anglers can fish for free state-wide June 6-7 – Whidbey News-Times
Washington state Free Fishing Weekend is set for June 6-7.
During those days, no license will be required to fish or gather shellfish in any waters open to fishing in Washington state. Also, no vehicle access pass or Discover Pass will be required during Free Fishing Weekend to enter any state park.
via Anglers can fish for free state-wide June 6-7 – Whidbey News-Times.
FYI-PSA
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Grumman E-2X Hawkeye
By the 1990s the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye had already been about 30 years old. Also, at the time Grumman had spent considerable research resources into conformal antenna arrays such that the Navy requested that Grumman look into fitting a conformal array to the Hawkeye. Grumman began looking at ways to integrate the conformal array radar while maintaining most of the Hawkeye’s airframe commonality, landing gear and subsystems.
Grumman proposed the E-2X powered by the GE TF-34 turbofan (the same engine that powers the S-3 Viking and A-10). The conformal arrays would be fitted to the leading edges of the wing, fuselage sides, trailing edges and horizontal tail trailing edges. In order to house the array in the horizontal tail dihedral was removed and replaced by the same tail used in the C-2 Greyhound.
Removing the rotodome also had some effects to flying qualities when compared to the original E-2. longitudinal stability in the pitch axis necessitated a wing glove that also had additional fuel (which would make up for the fuel volume lost in the wings from antenna accommodation). The other major challenge in the E-2X was how to accommodate the TF-34 engines with changing the E-2C landing gear:
General Electric TF-34 Turbofan powers both the S-3 Viking and A-10 Warthog. The solution was to “wrap” the TF-34 engine intake and exhaust ducts around the landing gear utilizing a split fan exhaust system…”
TF-34 cutaway drawing. The resulting drag penalty would be overcome by using a slightly more powerful version of the TF-34.
Placement of the conformal array posed some unique problems. There were some problems with aircraft volume and weight distribution. The proposed number of transmitters posed weight and cooling problems resulting in additional complexity and therefore weight. Not to mention resulting changes to the flight control system based on the constraints of operating from an aircraft carrier.
Grumman’s display model of the E-2X Hawkeye. The E-2X was presented to the Navy and the E-2X program was shelved.
Source: The Aircraft Designers: A Grumman Historical Perspective.
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Is the Marine Corps persecuting her for being a Christian?
Making the rounds yesterday was the news that the Marines slapped a court martial upon a young Marine simply for posting a biblical verse at her workstation.
A Marine thought she was just doing what others she worked with did; she decorated her work station. In her case, Lance Cpl. Monifa Sterling printed out some quotes that gave her encouragement and taped them to her computer.
But while others were allowed to keep their decorations, Sterling was ordered by a supervisor to take hers down. Why? She had posted Christian scripture verses, including a slightly altered one from Isaiah 54:17, reports The Christian Post:
How about no. First, Sterling has already been court martialed. And convicted. And had her appeal denied. What Sterling is currently doing is attempting another appeal, again using the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a basis to overturn her conviction. Good luck with that. I get why The Liberty Institute would join this appeal- it’s what they do. And ordinarily I’m on board with their goals. But this is an extremely weak case, and a not at all sympathetic client.
Sterling was most certainly not court martialed for posting biblical verses. She was court martialed for a variety of charges, essentially for disobeying lawful orders. From that IJR article linked above Mike Berry of The Liberty Institute:
“Restricting a Marine’s free exercise of religion is blatantly unconstitutional. If a service member has a right to display a secular poster, put an atheist bumper sticker on their car or get a Star of David tattoo, then Lance Corporal Sterling has the right to display a small Bible verse on her computer monitor.”
But that’s just it- it is not her computer monitor. It is the United States government’s computer monitor. And like it or not, the government gets to decide what you can or cannot tape to its property. Therefore, the order to remove the verse (which, by the way, she never even told her chain of command was a religious statement) was lawful and proper. And as the appeals court noted when it comes to what is or is not a lawful order:
Military orders are presumed to be lawful and are disobeyed at the subordinate’s peril.
The appeals court does a fair analysis why Sterling has no claim under RFRA. RFRA is not a magical incantation that allows one to do whatever one wishes, neither in the civilian world, nor most certainly in the military.
Furthermore, Sterling was also charged with and convicted of multiple counts of failure to obey lawful orders in regards to changing into the proper uniform of the day, and of failing to obey lawful orders to hand out passes for a function on post.
You can read for yourself the appeals court decision here.
Reading between the lines just a little, Sterling certainly appears to me as one of those (fortunately rare) members who simply thinks the rules that apply to others don’t, or at least shouldn’t, apply to her. They say that as a leader, you spend 90% of your time on 10% of your people. And it is apparent that she was one that simply existed to suck up leadership’s valuable time, as opposed to contributing to the unit accomplishing its mission.
Good riddance.
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B-Roll Footage- Vertical Envelopment in Hawaii
Here’s a nice little clip from the recent RIMPAC exercise featuring Marine CH-53E Super Stallions performing an air assault into the Kahuku training area on the north side of Oahu.
A couple notes, some troops are carrying Steyr AUG rifles, so they definitely aren’t Marines. Australians maybe? And did you notice the Newport class LST? Our Navy got rid of them years ago. I wonder who operates that one now?
That’s some of the nicer terrain in the Kahukus. Most of the time I spent there (and it was a lot) was in the far more rugged parts of the terrain.
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Splodey!
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Russian Air Force to Get at Least 50 New Strategic Tu-160 Blackjack Bombers / Sputnik International
POGONOVO RANGE, Astrakhan Region (Sputnik) – The Russian Defense Ministry will purchase no less than 50 new Tu-160 (Blackjack) heavy strategic bombers when production is renewed, Russian Air Force Commander Col.Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Thursday.
“No less than 50 aircraft over time will be purchased in order to cover the costs that will go into production,” Col.Gen. Bondarev said without specifying when production would begin.
via Russian Air Force to Get at Least 50 New Strategic Tu-160 Blackjack Bombers / Sputnik International.
You have to take these pronouncements with a grain of salt. The Russian Air Force is a rather withered asset. They seem to be somewhat better at producing statements than sorties.
On the other hand, Russia has been stepping up its operations in some regions, and 50 new bombers would be quite a boost to their capability. The real question is, can they genuinely afford them?
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How A Pontiac Pushrod Saved a B-29 Bomber (with video)
It looks beat-up because it’s not so easy to keep a B-29 in flying order. The original Curtiss-Wright R-3350 engines were 1940s-era turbo/supercharged radials, and finding components to repair them was a full-time job. “In 2006 we had just overhauled our last serviceable spare,” flight engineer Don Obreiter told us as we stared up at the exhaust-smudged nacelles. “It came with a five-hour warranty, and in our sixth hour of break-in time we had a failure.” The plane’s crew chief had the idea to create hybrid replacement engines, not in the electric/gas way, but from a mix of parts from later 1950s Skyraider and Boxcar engines, supercharged only, and much easier to repair and maintain. Each engine has a 13.5-inch-diameter supercharger impeller driven off the back end of the crank and spinning at 6.45 times the crankshaft rpm. Originally fuel injected, they have been retrofitted with Bendix PR-58 pressure-injected carburetors. Sometimes, you just can’t beat a carb. The 18-cylinder engines are made of steel and magnesium, with a bore of 6.125 inches, stroke of 6.312 inches, displacement of 3,347 cubic inches and a dry weight of 2,670 pounds.
via How A Pontiac Pushrod Saved a B-29 Bomber (with video).
Here’s a pretty nifty article on some of the tricks and cheats CAF has to go through to keep FiFi flying. I’m not a gearhead, so some of it goes right over my head.
But the last part of the article talks about the challenge of the APU. Which, it was, if memory serves, an APU fire that caused the loss of Kee-Bird in Greenland.
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Oh, that’s just great. US personnel in Korea potentially exposed to live anthrax.
In response, USAFK announces extra SAPR training, mandatory PT belts, and restrictions on alcohol use.
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Witness: US Navy Ship Struck USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii | Military.com
A U.S. Navy ship struck part of the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor on Thursday morning, according to a woman whose husband witnessed the accident.
Photos submitted by the woman, who declined to be identified because her spouse serves in the Navy, show the naval hospital ship USNS Mercy sailing dangerously close to the USS Arizona Memorial.
“It went right over the dock,” she told Military.com. “You could hear the metal crunching. My husband said you could see mud and water being kicked up. It backed up to within feet of hitting the white memorial building.”
Tug boats were guiding the USNS Mercy from its port at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickham at around 7 a.m. local time.
via Witness: US Navy Ship Struck USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii | Military.com.
Oh dear. First, it’s never good to hit anything with a ship. It’s especially bad to hit a war memorial. And to make matters worse, the material condition of the Arizona is such that any impact could be disastrous, including the possibility of a major oil leak.
It should be noted that the USNS Mercy is operated by civilian mariners. The medical personnel are military. I suppose the Military Sealift Command can fire civilian captains much as the active Navy might do.
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Doin' the Rain Dance in Vermont
We were desperate for rain. The ground was dry two feet down. No substantial rain here for the last three weeks. It was sposta rain last night and this morning, but I woke up to clear skies and sunshine. Another day of hot sun would about finish my back lawn, already reeling from winter kill over half of it.
So I did what I knew I needed to do. I washed my car, AND I watered the lawn. And painted the fence.
The result? Coming down in buckets.
California Governor Jerry Brown can get ahold of me through our humble host. With my Big Medicine, I would make Palm Springs into the Louisiana Bayou in a month.
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