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Sorry, just didn’t have time to narrate this one.

When Navy Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin was first arrested at the Honolulu airport in 2015 on a flight to China, military investigators thought they had uncovered an espionage case of epic proportions – a Mandarin-speaking Asian-American military officer accused of leaking highly sensitive U.S. military secrets to Chinese and Taiwanese officials.

After two days of intense interrogation, Lin confessed to telling a recently retired Taiwanese naval officer and others some highly classified details about the U.S. Navy’s weapons programs, including the Long Range Anti-ship Missile under development, the high-speed rail gun and the Laser Weapon System being tested in the Persian Gulf, according to statements made at a recent motion hearing in a courtroom in Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.

Read the whole thing. It’s very intriguing. For instance, he’s a SIGINT guy, but the information he’s accused of compromising has nothing to do with intel.

Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear weapons tests undertaken in Nevada in 1957. There were 27 nuclear explosions, and two non-yield events. The primary focus of Plumbbob was the development of warheads for ICBMs and intermediate range missiles.

Of course, developing warheads, the DoD also had a very strong interest in more fully understanding the effects of nuclear weapons. By 1957, it was already fairly well understood that future ICBMs would likely be stationed in underground silos. The question became, what shock loads would a silo be subject to, and how to protect against them.

One idea to mitigate the transfer of a shock load from the earth to the silo wall was to have a frangible barrier between them. The barrier would shatter, and the shock wave would have to cross an air gap before reaching the reinforced concrete of the silo.

Rather than using glass building bricks, which may have been too thick, the testers settled on a very simple system. They used empty gin bottles. Square, clear glass gin bottles were stacked like brickwork around the silo, and strapped in place. The earth was backfilled around them.

The test results were quite encouraging, though they’re a little fuzzy on what happened to all the gin.

I’m starting to enjoy teaming up in the Montana with Grump and Rusty.

A compilation of Grump, Rusty, and I today.

This is actually pretty fascinating.

Most of you are probably somewhat familiar with the origin story of the legendary P-51 Mustang. The British Purchasing Commission, desperate for fighter aircraft, approached North American Aviation about building the Curtiss P-40 under license. North American thought they could do better than that, and proposed an all new design. The Mustang, with the rather anemic Allison V-1710 engine, was soon flying, and proved to be quite good at  low altitude.

Here’s where the story gets a little weird, and shows that even World War II procurement had its issues.

The Brits wanted more Mustangs. But they ran out of Lend Lease funds for the fiscal year. And the US Army Air Forces wanted to keep the production line running as well, for their own reasons. So the AAF decided they would buy some of the contracted Mustangs. The problem was, the AAF had burned through its allocation of funds for fighters.

What they hadn’t spent that fiscal year was all the funds for attack aircraft. And so, the AAF wen to North American, and asked for an attack version of the Mustang. Dive brakes, a slightly revised armament, beefed up wing and bomb racks led to the dive bomber version, the A-36 Apache.

Orders for 500 were promptly made. The next question was, what to do with them. Two groups in the Mediterranean theater were eventually equipped with A-36s, and served in the Sicily campaign.

One interesting aspect of the Apache was the armament. There were four .50cal machine guns in the wings, and two .50cal guns mounted below the engine, synchronized to fire through the propeller.

The Apache was a capable, accurate dive bomber, but its Allison engine meant that its performance above about 12,000 feet was mediocre at best. Furthermore, its mission meant that it would spend considerable time at very low altitude, exposing it to light flack and small arms fire. And that was a real problem. The underbelly radiator was very vulnerable to damage. Any hit would almost certainly cause the coolant to leak out, inevitably leading to the loss of power, and the loss of an aircraft. Combat losses were quite high.

By 1944, the losses were such that it was withdrawn, and the ground attack mission was pretty much handed over to the Republic P-47, whose air cooled R-2800 engine was less vulnerable.

One unit of Apaches also served in the China/Burma/India theater as well, with mediocre results at best.

With only 500 built, the A-36 was something of a footnote to the legacy of the Mustang lineage. It was not a failure, really, but a stepping stone toward what would become the legendary Merlin powered Mustangs that would serve with such distinction.

The first half of this video follows the A-36 in the Mediterranean (FYI, the crews liked to call it the Invader, vice the Apache). The second half of the video is a fascinating look at Nazi propaganda celebrating war production. All in all, worth grabbing a cup of coffee and enjoying.

Sadly, Rusty’s replay file got corrupted. But trust me, if you’re a Tier VII Colorado, the last thing you want to see is a three ship division of Tier X Montanas coming around the corner, gunning for you.

We’ll have a full video up later today. For now, here’s a quickie.

Message to the Department of Defense from Secretary of Defense James Mattis

***
It’s good to be back and I’m grateful to serve alongside you as Secretary of Defense.

Together with the Intelligence Community we are the sentinels and guardians of our nation. We need only look to you, the uniformed and civilian members of the Department and your families, to see the fundamental unity of our country. You represent an America committed to the common good; an America that is never complacent about defending its freedoms; and an America that remains a steady beacon of hope for all mankind.

Every action we take will be designed to ensure our military is ready to fight today and in the future. Recognizing that no nation is secure without friends, we will work with the State Department to strengthen our alliances. Further, we are devoted to gaining full value from every taxpayer dollar spent on defense, thereby earning the trust of Congress and the American people.

I am confident you will do your part. I pledge to you I’ll do my best as your Secretary.

MATTIS SENDS

SAM- Special Air Mission. Traditionally, modern US former presidents depart on a final flight in their jet.

Former President Obama* headed for one of his favorite vacation spots, Palm Springs.

I just happened to be outside smoking when SAM 44 Heavy made its first approach to Palm Springs International Airport (KPSP)

Indicentally, you’ll notice the weather is terrible here. The first approach went missed, and as I write this, SAM 44 Heavy is holding over the Thermal VOR (TRM).

*damn that feels good to write