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  • The Northrup F-5A

    Here's a nifty little marketing video by Northrup circa 1961 showcasing the then new F-5A.

     

    Did you notice they cheated a bit on the sod field landings? Normally the F-5 has a single nosewheel, but for the sod field trials, they used a dual nosewheel to lower the ground pressure. 

    Incidentally, that sod field trial was very likely a part of the US Army evaluation of the N-156F (the Northrup internal model number for the F-5A) as it was seeking to field its own fixed wing close air support capability. Other jets looked at included the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, and the Fiat G-91. 

    Later variants of the F-5 are still in service with the US as adversary aircraft. 

  • Glider World Altitude Record

    So,  the other day, Steve Hinton got a modified P-51 up to 554mph. Wow. 

    In other aviation news, the Airbus Perlan II glider mission set a new sailplane altitude record, an astonish 52,172 feet. Which, that's way the hell up there. 

     

    What's more, Perlan Mission II thinks they can achieve an ultimate altitude of over 90 thousand feet. 

  • Active duty infantry mobilizing to serve as firefighters, 1.4 million acres on fire

    BOISE, ID – The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise is mobilizing active duty infantry and engineer military personnel to serve as firefighters to assist with wildfire suppression efforts.

    Currently, more than 80 large wildfires are burning on about 1.4 million acres in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming — with nearly 28,000 firefighters and support personnel working on them, said NIFC spokeswoman Jennifer Jones.

    The National Preparedness Level is currently at 5 — the highest level — indicating a high level of wildfire activity and a high level of commitment of wildfire suppression assets (i.e. firefighters, aircraft, and engines) to wildfires. “Weather and fuel conditions are predicted to continue to be conducive to wildfire ignitions and spread in most of the western U.S. through September — and in parts of the Northern Rockies and California through October,” Jones said.

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    The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group at NIFC requested the Department of Defense to provide 200 active duty military personnel to assist with firefighting efforts.

    via popularmilitary.com

    It's fairly rare, but hardly unheard of, for the Army to deploy active duty infantry battalions in support of firefighting efforts.

    I never went, but from what I'm told, it's pretty miserable, backbreaking duty.

  • World of Warships- Wyoming Earns a Kraken

     

     

  • Mingles with Jingles

    Guys, you can pretty much ignore the video. But the audio… Let Jingles give you a couple of great war stories. History, mates, history. 

     

     

  • World of Warships- The Shimi Double Strike

     

     

  • “God is with us all this day”

    Grunt_padre

    September 4th is the 50th anniversary of the death of Lieutenant Vincent R. Capodanno, CHC, USN.  He died while ministering to the wounded of Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines in the Que Son Valley.   Nicknamed "The Grunt Padre", Fr. Capodanno was a revered and beloved figure to the Marines to whom he ministered.  The Marine Corps Association published a superb 2011 article about this remarkable man of courage and faith.   As did the Catholic website The Word Among Us.  

    Soon after landing, Capodanno’s unit was hit hard by a force of nearly two thousand North Vietnamese. As the Marines came over the crest of a hill, they were bombarded with mortar shells and automatic weapons fire. “We’re being wiped out!” one platoon radioed back. “There are wounded and dying all around.”Hearing the message, the chaplain ran to their aid. He went back and forth, bringing in wounded men and giving Last Rites to the dying. Even though hit twice—once in the face and also in the right hand—he continued to look for wounded, telling them, “Jesus said, ‘Have faith. Jesus is the truth and the life.’”

    One of the men he helped was Ray Harton, who was bleeding heavily and feared that he was going to die. Then he looked up and saw Capodanno. “I can’t explain it, but when he touched me and I heard his voice, I had a calming feeling that I have never had before or since.”Capodanno reassured Harton that “God is with us all this day,” and blessed him with his still intact left hand.

    Then a wounded corpsman screamed in pain, and Capodanno ran to help. As he knelt there, a burst of machine-gun fire killed both men instantly. One of the soldiers who brought in Capodanno’s body hours later said, “He had a smile on his face, and his eyelids were closed as if asleep or in prayer.” 

    Navy MoH

    For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Chaplain of the 3d Battalion, in connection with operations against enemy forces. In response to reports that the 2d Platoon of M Company was in danger of being overrun by a massed enemy assaulting force, Lt. Capodanno left the relative safety of the company command post and ran through an open area raked with fire, directly to the beleaguered platoon. Disregarding the intense enemy small-arms, automatic-weapons, and mortar fire, he moved about the battlefield administering last rites to the dying and giving medical aid to the wounded. When an exploding mortar round inflicted painful multiple wounds to his arms and legs, and severed a portion of his right hand, he steadfastly refused all medical aid. Instead, he directed the corpsmen to help their wounded comrades and, with calm vigor, continued to move about the battlefield as he provided encouragement by voice and example to the valiant marines. Upon encountering a wounded corpsman in the direct line of fire of an enemy machine gunner positioned approximately 15 yards away, Lt. Capodanno rushed a daring attempt to aid and assist the mortally wounded corpsman. At that instant, only inches from his goal, he was struck down by a burst of machine gun fire. By his heroic conduct on the battlefield, and his inspiring example, Lt. Capodanno upheld the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the cause of freedom.

    The Knox-class frigate USS Vincent R. Capodanno  (FF-1093) was commissioned in 1973.  While aboard USS Miller (FF-1091) I went to sea alongside Capodanno in the summer of 1983.   (She was sold to Turkey in the mid-1990s and served until a few years ago.)  

    27_1093

    Father Capodanno is under consideration for canonization as a Catholic Saint, whose life was lived with "heroic virtue".   The Marines of Mike 3/5 on that hot September morning in the Que Son Valley might be able to answer that.  Whatever the decision, Lt Vincent R. Capodanno died a hero's death, fifty years ago this day.  

    URR here.

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  • Manufacturing the Bofors 40mm

    Immediately after World War I, the Army took  stock of its efforts in the campaign. One issue that was glaringly obvious to the Army was that the vast industrial power of the US had failed to produce weapons of all sorts on the scale needed to support a mass mobilization. 

    The Army was, of course, terribly short on money in the inter-war years. Nevertheless, in 1926, the Army founded the Army Industrial College. The AIC wasn't so much a school teaching its students, but rather a think tank that studied industry in America, with an eye toward what militarily  useful products could be produced when needed.  It cataloged which industries used what sort of machining, who used which skilled workers, and how their supply chains flowed from raw material to finished product.

    When mobilization began just before World War II, when the Army needed a weapon produced, they had the data set to tell them which companies would be best suited  to make it on a massive scale.  

    The catalog and mobilization effort were far from perfect. But the Army and the nation were far better prepared to become the Arsenal of Democracy than they had ever been before. 

     

     

  • THIS is how you give a weekend safety brief.

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  • World of Warships- Summertime hits and cits