This post will be short, I will be going camping. I had to buy a hitch and ball and repair replace the old trailer plug wiring that the truck had. Apparently the old owner had backed up and crunched the plug assembly. I will be pulling the troop trailer...
The Shin detector......
2 minutes after I installed the hitch and ball, I was walking around the truck and *Crack*, I discovered that I had installed a hitch and ball....and my shin found it.....man that hurts...
On a different note, I saw in the news that while the Donald is in California a bunch of protestors tried to interfere, they trashed a few police cars....and I noticed quite a few mexican flags in this group.
Funny seeing the vaunted tolerance of the left again.....I know that the Donald can be a polarizing figure, but from what I have seen, the conservatives are not interfering with the speeches of the left, the only people that interfere with the left are the *black lives matter* crowd.
This was taken near my house....
As Old NFO has stated....."We live in interesting times..
I will have a political musing coming up....and yes...I shamelessly ripped this off from Drudge. Statistically Ted Cruz is eliminated for running for the GOP nomination for President. I have heard rumblings that Cruz and Kasich are teaming up to act as spoilers to keep THE Donald from the nomination...
Funny how that is working out. I have seen the poll numbers, there are many more republicans millions more that in 2008 and 2012. Sure some of them are democrats....and some of those are what I call "Stalking Horse" voters and they are hoping to benefit the Democratic nominee...
Yes that is the presumptuous candidate on the "Team Donk" side. When the primary hit here in Georgia, I voted for Cruz....but if THE Donald gets the nod, I will happily vote for him. I am voting not for the man, but what he represents...a big "Bite Me" to the GOP establishment, that took their base for granted, ran mediocre candidates, and basically went along with obama's policies because it kept them at the dinner table. while screwing the rest of the country. What Cruz and Kasich is hoping for is a contested or brokered convention where the establishment can tell everyone else "this is your candidate...." and again the peoples will is stymied. They don't understand and neither does "Team Donk" that the voters are really pissed and it will not take much for us to have an "American Spring" here and really stir things up. The establishment is really playing with fire....as long as the people believe in the system, there will be quiet...but according to the latest polls, about half of the people believe that the system is rigged against them.
....and it will not take much for that to become a majority and when that happens....the protest will no longer be peaceful....but violent.
And there are others that see another candidate in their future.....That would solve all their problems...
"Small meteor of Death"
And a final video clip that has been called "the Greatest baseball play of all time"
mega Kudo's to Rick Monday for doing the honorable thing...
I know this is unusual, I am getting a "Monday Music" in on Monday. I was surfing the web at night and was listening to VH1"Classic", reminds me of MTV....back when they played music...yeah...that channel that was made famous in the 80's for its music video......not the trashy reality show crap it has now....but I digress. I was surfing the web and I was watching the "alternate" music from the 80's and 90's. And this song came on from A-ha, Now A-ha's "Hunting High and Low" was the first CD I ever saw when my roommate spent $400 on a portable CD player that looked like a big brick When the song the "Sun always shine on TV". I never heard of this song so I started digging and found out much more. so I included both the second and 3rd video's from the album that kinda tied all of this together. I have said many times that the 80's was a magical time for music, you can find almost any kind you liked.
The album that all three songs came from.
An early version of "Take On Me" was the first song that Morten Harket had heard Magne Furuholmen and Pål Waaktaar play in Asker.
At that time, the song was called "The Juicy Fruit Song", and the two
men were still known as Bridges. It was named "Lesson One" when it was
first recorded by A-ha. After some re-writing, multiple re-recordings,
and three releases, "Take On Me" became a hit on both sides of the
Atlantic in 1985. The first version of the song, released in 1984, was
promoted by a video of the band performing the song in front of a blue
background. The song was then re-recorded with production by Alan
Tarney, but both of these releases failed to chart. It was then
re-released with a new, groundbreaking video which peaked at number 1 on
the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart.
A-ha became the first Norwegian band to have a number 1 song in the US;
the song's popularity earned the band a spot on the American television
series Soul Train
in 1985, making them one of the few white artists to appear on the
black music-orientated show. Gino Vanelli, Elton John, David Bowie, Hall
& Oates, Sheena Easton and Teena Marie all had performed on Soul Train prior to A-ha's 1985 performance.
Lead singer Morten Harket and actress Bunty Bailey in a scene from the music video, which features them in a pencil-sketch animation / live-action combination called rotoscoping.
The first release of "Take On Me" in 1984 includes a completely
different recording, and was featured in the first video, which shows
the band singing with a blue background.
The second video was directed by Steve Barron, and filmed at Kim's Café (now called "Savoy" cafe) and on a sound stage in London, in 1985. The video used a pencil-sketch animation / live-action combination called rotoscoping, in which the live-action footage is traced over frame by frame to give the characters realistic movements. Approximately 3,000 frames were rotoscoped, which took 16 weeks to complete.
The video's main theme is a romantic fantasy narrative. It begins with a montage of pencil drawings in a comic-book style representing motorcycle sidecar racing, in which the hero, played by Morten Harket, is pursued by two opponents, one of whom is played by English actor Philip Jackson. It then cuts to a scene in a cafe, in which a young woman, played by Bunty Bailey (Harket's girlfriend at the time),is seen drinking coffee and reading the comic book in a coffee shop. As
the girl reads, the waitress brings her the bill. The comic's hero,
after winning the race, seemingly winks at the girl from the page. His
pencil-drawn hand reaches out of the comic book, inviting the girl into
it. Once inside, she too appears in the pencil-drawn form, as he sings
to her and introduces her to his black-and-white world which features a
sort of looking-glass portal where people and objects look real on one
side and pencil-drawn on the other.
Meanwhile, back in the restaurant, the waitress returns to find that
the girl is not there. Believing that the girl has left without paying
the bill, she angrily crumples and throws the girl's comic book into a
bin. This makes Harket's two opposing racers reappear, armed with a
large pipe wrench
and apparently aggressive. The racers smash the looking glass with the
pipe wrench, evidently trapping the girl in the comic book. Harket
punches one of the thugs and retreats with the girl into a maze of
paper. Arriving at a dead end, he tears a hole in the paper wall so that
the girl can escape as the menacing opposing racers close in on him.
The girl, now back in the real world and found lying beside the bin to
the surprise of restaurant guests and staff, grabs the comic from the
bin and runs home, where she attempts to smooth out the creases to learn
what happens next.
The next panel shows Harket lying seemingly lifeless, and the girl
begins to cry. But he wakes up and tries to break out of his comic-book
frames. At the same time, his image appears in the girl's hallway,
seemingly torn between real and comic form, hurling himself repeatedly
left-and-right against the walls as he attempts to shatter his
two-dimensional barrier. (This scene is largely patterned after a
climactic scene in the 1980 film Altered States).
He escapes from the comic book by becoming human and stands up.
Smiling, the girl runs towards him and he embraces her. The video story
is effectively concluded in the intro sequence of its successor, "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.".
1st edition of "Take on Me" by A-ha.
Extended version of the more famous video version..
The video used a pencil-sketch animation/live-action combination called rotoscoping, in which individual frames of live video are drawn over or coloured.
It became one of the most instantly recognisable and most enduringly
popular music videos in the US where it was nominated for eight awards
at the third annual MTV Video Awards
in 1986, winning six, including Best New Artist in a Video, Best
Concept Video, Best Direction, Best Special Effects, and Viewer's Choice
and Best Video of the Year. Their six MTV Award wins for that video
gave them twice as many wins as Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and more than any artist in the three years of the awards combined.
But those were not A-ha's only MTV awards that year. The band's second single was "The Sun Always Shines on TV". In the US the song peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 17 on Radio & Records airplay chart. A remix version was a club hit, rising to number 5 on the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart.The music video for the song was another popular and critical success,
nominated in three categories at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards and
winning two awards, for Best Cinematography and Best Editing, bringing
A-ha's total to 11 nominations and eight wins. The following year, Peter Gabriel
would earn 13 nominations and win nine awards, also for two separate
videos. In successive years, even as the award categories have expanded,
only a few artists have approached — and none has surpassed — the
single-year award totals of A-ha and Gabriel.
"The sun always shine on TV" Music video
In early October 1985 A-ha recorded the video for The Sun Always Shines On TV at Saint Alban the Martyr Church and Udney Hall Gardens at Teddington, Middlesex, in England over three days with the Director Steve Barron.
The video opens with an epilogue scene to the highly successful Take on Me video, continuing with the use of rotoscoped animation. The romantic young lovers (played by Morten Harket and Bunty Bailey)
having survived the ordeal of the first video's story now face one
another in a night wood. Suddenly the male youth begins physically
reverting to his original animated condition from the Take on Me
video's story-line. The female youth in distress realizes that he cannot
remain in her world. In pain, he flees the scene into the distance back
to his comic book world, she being left behind, sundered from him. At
this point the camera rises vertically away from her alone and closing
credits roll in the style of the end of a Hollywood classic film bearing the legend: The End, A Warner Bros. First Picture, followed by an animation of a television graphic with the text: you are watching channel 3, followed by the A-ha stylized brand logo. The next scene opens on A-ha performing The Sun Always Shines on TV (with a session drummer (Lindsay Elliot) and a bass player also being present) within the dramatic setting of the interior of an English Victorian Gothic church. The performance is filmed mainly in black-and-white footage, with splashes of pastel coloring; spectating at the performance is a dense crowd throughout the church of bare mannequins,
some being clothed in formal concert dress holding musical instruments
to represent the song's classical instrumentation arrangement. The video
ends with A-ha being cut out from the background and becoming a still
frame. The music video for the band's next single, Train of Thought, would pick up from this cue shot, making a visual & story trilogy of Take On Me, The Sun Always Shines on TV and Train of Thought.
"Train of Thought" Music Video
The music video was directed by Candice Reckinger and Michael
Patterson. The video concept was designed by the same producers who
brought "Take on Me"
into the video mainstream. The black-and-white footage and animation in
the "Train of Thought" video actually predated the "Take on Me" single,
and was the inspiration for the animation in the "Take on Me" video. It
originated as Michael Patterson's student film at CalArts, which went on to influence a generation of MTV videos.
Most of the video was the old animated footage, interspersed with live parts with a-ha filmed during a break in the band's tour.
A-ha's American success culminated in their 1986 Grammy nomination in the coveted Best New Artist category, which was eventually won by Sade. "The Sun Always Shines on TV" turned out to be A-ha's last Hot 100 Top 40
single, and to this day in the United States, A-ha is remembered by the
general public almost entirely because of their number one hit single, Take On Me.As such, the band is frequently considered a one-hit wonder
there, despite their two Top 40 hits. In the UK, however, the story was
very different: "The Sun Always Shines on TV" was an even bigger hit
among British fans than "Take On Me", peaking at number 1.
In the UK, A-ha enjoyed continued success with two more hit singles
from the same album—"Train of Thought" and "Hunting High and Low" (with
another innovative video) —and the band remained popular throughout the
1980s and early 1990s.
I have been real busy, but my weekend has started YAY! Our latest 757 airplane is almost finished, we will be kicking her out next week for revenue service. I walked in at the beginning of shift and saw this and immediately grabbed the phone to take a picture...
The plane is equipted with "mood" lighting...apparently there is a study that shows if there is a lot of blue, that it is a soothing color. I just thought it looked cool....but I am strange..
Also here is a couple of pics of Camp Rainey Mountain that we attended for conclave(Order of the Arrow event).
Morning at camp
I enjoyed the scenery, I have never been to this camp before....One of my troops are going up there this summer for summer camp.
I did see this in the bathroom....
Apparently this is an issue ...
I will then add an article that I read...
It is the Trumpkins they fear
Donald Trump was a bundler who raised lots of money for McCain and
Romney, men who seem honorable. Yet they turned their back on Trump and
actually worked to block his nomination. Theories abound as to why that
may be. I will offer this one: It is not that Trump is about to be
elected president -- it is about the people who will elect him. McCain
outright called them "crazies."
The hoi polloi scare the foie gras out of the hoity-toity who run this nation.
This is an idea I have toyed with off and on as I write my book on this
nomination. I began by thinking Trump's critics in the media live in a
bubble -- you know the usual stereotype of Pauline Kael covering
politics. But as Trump rose and nears the nomination, that mask fell.
Never Trump is not about him. It is about us, his supporters. Kevin
Williamson of the National Review pleasured his bosses at the National
Review by writing, in his "Father Fuhrer" piece last month, that rural
towns that white people live in deserve to die. He is from Amarillo, so
he can get away with this, right?
Just as Obamacare's destruction of the nation's health system was by
design, not accident, so we see the results of free trade and illegal
immigration are not unintended consequences, but rather by design. Their
message to America is:
Wages are lower as is the standard of living in America, but hey, you
can get an iPhone for $399, so what are you complaining about? You're an
ingrate who hates capitalism and the free market, you damned Marxist.
Die, rural white America, die.
More to the point: Die, Poca, die.
What bothers Washington is Trump is the worst presidential candidate in
American history and yet he is winning and will win the White House
because the people have had enough of the race-baiting politics of
division in America and appeasement overseas. That shows the power of a
people who are the last group you can mock in a politically correct
nation. They are rising. His message resonates because it comes not from
him but from the people. He heard you. We hear you. Soon the whole
world will hear from us.
Rich Americans still have it pretty good. I don’t mean everything’s
perfect: business regulations can be burdensome; Manhattan zoning can
prevent the addition of a town-house floor; estate taxes kick in at over
$5 million. But life is acceptable. Barack Obama has not imposed much
hardship, and neither will Hillary Clinton.
And what about Donald Trump? Will rich people suffer if he is elected
president? Well, yes. Yes, they will. Because we all will. But that’s a
pat answer, because Trump and Trumpism are different things. Trump is an
erratic candidate who brings chaos to everything. Trumpism, on the
other hand, is the doctrine of a different Republican Party, one that
would cater not to the donor class, but rather to the white working
class. Rich people do not like that idea.
Yesterday’s primary handed victories to Trump and Clinton, and, if
Michael Lind is right, Trumpism and Clintonism are America’s future.
Lind’s point, which he made last Sunday in The New York Times, is that
Trumpism — friendly to entitlements, unfriendly to expanded trade and
high immigration — will be the platform of the Republican Party in the
years going forward. Clintonism — friendly both to business and to
social and racial liberalism — will cobble together numerous interest
groups and ditch the white working class. Which might be fair enough,
but Lind didn't mention rich people. Where will they go?
The Democratic Party has not been a total slouch, offering policies
friendly to health-care executives, entertainment moguls, and tech
titans. In fact, financial support for Democrats among the 1 percent of
the 1 percent has risen dramatically, more than trebling since 1980.
Traditionally, though, the Republican Party has been seen as the better
friend to the wealthy, offering lower taxes, fewer business regulations,
generous defense contracts, increased global trade, high immigration,
and resistance to organized labor. It’s been the buddy of homebuilders,
oil barons, defense contractors, and other influential business leaders.
The article went on to say: "In a world of Trumpism and Clintonism,
Democrats would become the party of globalist-minded elites, both
economic and cultural, while Republicans would become the party of the
working class. Democrats would win backing from those who support
expanded trade and immigration, while Republicans would win the support
of those who prefer less of both. Erstwhile neocons would go over to
Democrats (as they are already promising to do), while doves and
isolationists would stick with Republicans. Democrats would remain
culturally liberal, while Republicans would remain culturally
conservative."
I doubt there is one conservative in Washington who is happy with that
arrangement. Trump is bringing people to the party, but not the right
kind of people. The party of the working class? Ew. And so the
Conservative Commentariat fights on.
They call Trump vulgar. No profane or obscene, but vulgar. The reason is
that vulgar means of the common people, which is the last thing they
want for their little party.
Which is why they hope to hell Hillary Clinton wins and saves their insider jobs.
Well I survived the Camping at the Conclave, I will post some pics later this week. I was unable to get this out on Monday like I wanted, I wanted to post but I wanted to sleep more, I don't do as well in camping like I used to. I decided to roll with this song, it was playing on my MP3 stick in my radio and I decided "What the hell..." So Quiet Riot got on Monday Music. I remembered Quiet Riot as being one of the first of the "Hair Metal" bands of the 80's, they were followed by Poison, Great White, Motley Crue and others. But to me Quiet Riot is the first Heavy Metal band of the 80's that I heard and it was part of the breakout of the music scenes that defined 80's music along with the 2nd British Invasion. I found out in doing research that Quiet Riot covered this song and it was from Slade, I also liked Slade so it works:)
Metal Health is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Quiet Riot. It was released on March 11, 1983, bolstered by the No. 5 hit "Cum On Feel the Noize" and the No. 31 hit "Metal Health". Metal Health is notable for being the first heavy metal album to reach the top spot on the Billboard 200, replacing The Police's Synchronicity
at number one in November 1983. The album went on to sell more than six
million copies and is considered a classic among heavy metal fans. Some
critics, such as AllMusic,
describe it as a one-hit wonder, owing to Quiet Riot's relative lack of
critical and commercial success with following albums (and subsequent
disintegration) towards the end of the 1980s. The title track was ranked
No. 35 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs.
In 1983, American heavy metal band Quiet Riot
covered the song. Quiet Riot's version of "Cum On Feel the Noize" went
on to peak at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 on 19 November 1983.
It helped make Quiet Riot's Metal Health
album a number-one hit. The song's success drew huge nationwide
attention to the 1980s Los Angeles metal scene. It also helped to break
Slade belatedly in the US. The song was certified gold by the RIAA. Originally, Kevin DuBrow and Frankie Banali
were dead set on not covering the song, because they claimed that they
hated it. Instead, they decided to try to cover the song as badly as
they could so the label would refuse to release it.
Quiet Riot's version of "Cum On Feel the Noize" was ranked #80 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders
back in 2002, though the song was not Quiet Riot's only Top 40 hit and
therefore not a true one-hit wonder. In 2009, it was named the 41st
"best hard rock song of all time" also by VH1.[31]
In a December 1983 interview by Kerrang magazine, Holder spoke of the Quiet Riot version.
The first Slade knew about Quiet Riot was when they approached our
publisher for permission to do 'Cum On Feel the Noize.' We agreed, never
believing something like this would happen. In fact, the record was out
for some while in the States before becoming a big hit, wasn't it? The
really nice thing about the whole affair is that it proves how strong
our songs are. After all; 'Cum On Feel the Noize' is now ten years old,
so it's obviously stood the test of time rather well!
We've actually been approached in the recent past by people wanting
us to update one of our classics. But, not even seeing what a band like
Quiet Riot have done so successfully with modern studio technology on an
old Slade tune has persuaded us it's worth doing. There was a
spontaneity and electricity about the numbers when we first did 'em that
could never be recaptured now. There just wouldn't be the same feel so,
no matter how much money is offered, we're not into prostituting our
own heritage.
In a December 1983 interview by Record Mirror magazine, Lea
stated: "Quiet Riot phoned us up and asked if they could use the song.
They were a bit cheeky really because they had already recorded it. I
think they've done a very good version and the song is a classic." Lea
was asked if he knew how much he was to make out of the publishing
royalties. He replied, "Let's say enough to buy some very nice Christmas
presents. Because of the success of the song in the States, we've also
got five major record companies trying to outbid each other and sign us
to a major deal. We've had ridiculous offers coming over the phone.
We'll give you five Rolls Royces if you go with us, that kind of thing."
In a Ludwig drums interview with Quiet Riot's drummer Frankie Banali,
Ludwig HQ asked, "It has been said that Slade liked Quiet Riot's
version of 'Cum On Feel the Noize' better than their original. Is this
true?" Banali replied, "If that is true, they never told us! I think
they were a little bitter about our success with their song. They had a
hit with it in other territories but not in the US and later our version
overshadowed theirs worldwide. Any real success in the US always seemed
to elude Slade, so Quiet Riot having a major hit with 'Cum On Feel the
Noize' was bittersweet for them. When Quiet Riot played the Hammersmith
Odeon in London opening up for Judas Priest in 1983, we offered them an
invitation complete with a limo service to attend the show, but they
never responded. Later I was shopping in Kensington Market and ran into
(Slade bassist,) Jimmy Lea, who co-wrote the song. I wanted to shake his
hand and thank him for writing a great song. He looked into my face,
and walked away leaving me with nothing in my hand but air! I look at
the situation like this: Quiet Riot received a great measure of success
with the help of that song, and Slade received a great deal of money for
their trouble. Fair enough!"
I was unsuccessful in finding the video for this song....
I and my son are going to an Order of the Arrow Conclave this weekend....basically camping, so I loaded this into the auto-scheduler thingie my blog has. Hopefully it will post Saturday afternoon....but we will see.
Stuttgarter Hofbrau...My favorite beer :)
THE TAX SYSTEM EXPLAINED IN BEER
Suppose that once a week, ten men go out for beer
and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way
we pay our taxes, it would go something like this..
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
And the tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every week and seemed
quite happy with the arrangement until, one day, the owner caused them a
little problem. "Since you are all such good customers" he said "I'm
going to reduce the cost of your weekly beer by $20". Drinks for the ten
men would now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we
pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still
drink for free but what about the other six men? The paying customers?
How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his
fair share?
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33 but
if they subtracted that from everybody's share then not only would the
first four men still be drinking for free but the fifth and sixth man
would each end up being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fairer
to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage. They decided to
follow the principle of the tax system they had been using and he
proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now
pay.
And so, the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (a 100% saving).
The sixth man now paid $2 instead of $3 (a 33% saving).
The seventh man now paid $5 instead of $7 (a 28% saving).
The eighth man now paid $9 instead of $12 (a 25% saving).
The ninth man now paid $14 instead of $18 (a 22% saving).
And the tenth man now paid $49 instead of $59 (a 16% saving).
Each of the last six was better off than before with the first four continuing to drink for free.
But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare
their savings. "I only got $1 out of the $20 saving" declared the
sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man "but he got $10"
"Yes, that's right" exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved $1 too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!"
"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I only got $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute" yelled the first four men in
unison "we didn't get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the
poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next week the tenth man didn't show up for
drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when
it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important -
they didn't have enough money between all of them to pay for even half
of the bill.
And that, boys and girls, journalists and
government ministers, is how our tax system works. The people who
already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a
tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy and
they just might not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking
overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier
This is part 2 of my Pensacola Trip to the Naval Aviation Museum. The trip was awesome, and like I stated in the prior post, You can walk up and actually touch the airplanes....something that most museums don't allow.
Grumman Wildcat F4F-3
Cactus Air Force refers to the ensemble of Allied air power assigned to the island of Guadalcanal from August 1942 until December 1942 during the early stages of the Guadalcanal Campaign, particularly those operating from Henderson Field. After December, the official name of the unit became Commander, Aircraft, Solomons
(AirSols), but Cactus Air Force was still used frequently to refer to
the organization. The term "Cactus" comes from the Allied code name for
the island. In April 1943 the organization was redesignated as AirSols.
The airfield was frequently attacked by the Japanese Air units and their surface ships. They even were shelled by a couple of Imperial Battleships, the Kongo and the Haruna. The Navy and Marine Pilots and ground personnel held off the Japanese attacks, the Navy had several battles around Guadalcanal trying to protect the Marines on that island, The casualties and losses were immense, the Japanese would run "the Slot" trying to resupply their men and the U.S. Navy would try to stop them. The end results was that it bled the Japanese and in the end, they finally withdrew what was left of their forces and the United States neutralized the huge Japanese base at Rabaul with the "wither on the vine" tactics. and their operations in the Solomon islands helped pave their eventual return to the Philippine Islands.
The ground crewmen frequently labeled bombs to help deal with the frustrations of being shelled and shot at by the Japanese. In the modern world, such things might be frowned upon as "hurtful" but back then we were made of sterner stuff. The Great depression and the Japanese Attack at Pearl Harbor had molded the United States servicemen into steel, the "special Snowflakes" had been weeded out by natural selection. I could go on and on about the battle at Guadalcanal but that is a subject for another time.
Man Snoopy gets around...I saw him at the Apollo Spacecraft Museum in Florida last year...
And here he is in the role that was made for him.....
The nemesis of the Red Baron
Here is a view of the "Main Area" what I call of the Museum
You see many airplanes on display, like I stated you can WALK up to an airplane and actually examine it. I am sure that they would frown on you climbing on one...Just a guess.
Here a few more things that I saw...
Here is the Story on this car....Notice the refueling probe on the roof.
I also saw this airplane out there....the propellers are different as is the livery, I wonder if Old NFO can shed some light on it. I saw no information on this airplane there..
My son and I got hungry and so we ate at the "Cubi Cafe". In addition to the displays, the museum operates an IMAX theatre, museum store, and cafe. The Cubi Point Café is itself an exhibit as it displays squadron memorabilia from the closed NAS Cubi Point Officers'
I took pictures of a couple of the plaques, some were simple and others were very ornate. I wonder if some "nugget" got voluntold "you are responsible for the plaque" and some of them really took the assignment and ran with it....like this one...
Or this one...
I wonder what fleet air units do now for plaques since the Cubi Air Station was closed down in 1992
and if they still do stuff like this. The detail on some of these plaques are amazing. It was interesting to see the history of a unit and after looking at some of them, I started recognizing names from past deployments.
Also there is a mockup on the floor of the Museum of the U.S.S Cabot island with a coupe of aircraft on "ready 5" I believe the term was..But today was some kind of ceremony from the chairs and color guard units standing around.
I and my son enjoyed the museum immensely, we would go again....Like I said in the prior post, you have to come in through the west gate off Blue Angel Parkway to get to the museum. It is in my humble opinion one of the best aviation museums in the United States. Did I say you can walk up to an airplane....there is no barrier ropes preventing examinations..? I must have...somewhere. Go check it out, I plan on going again I am sure I missed stuff in there from my past 2 trips.
My Son and I went to PNS to visit the Naval Aviation, We last went back in January 2013..
January 2013
Yesterday
It was his idea, he had commented that he would like to go check out
the museum, He had commented that when he went to NOAC last year, they
stopped at the Air Force Museum and he noticed stuff that he missed
several years ago. So we went back to Pensacola. They have changed the
directives for entry..if you don't have a DOD ID card, you have to use
the west gate off Blue Angel Parkway. After showing my drivers license
to the nice guard, he gave me directions to the museum and off we
went. After finding a parking apot, we walked in and the first thing I
saw was a replica of Old NFO Eugene Ely airplane and the historical flight he made when he landed on the U.S.S. Pennsylvania
He then after landing, then turned around and took off again...and Naval Tactics were never the Same.
We then walked into the main room and there were airplanes everywhere.....
And more airplanes....
We walked around and saw more planes...they are grouped by era's of
flight I immediately walked up to an airplane.....I say ..WALKED up to
an airplane..
and
took this picture...This is a P40 in the colors of the Adam and Eve
squadron one of the 3 pursuit squadrons, the other being the Panda Bears
and the Hell Angels. This is what I liked about the museum...with rare
exceptions...you can walk up to the airplane and touch it if you
want. Most museums, you have a rope barrier blocking you.
Training F4F....this is one of the planes they fished out of the lake Michigan during WWII
Between 1943 and 1945, two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers stationed at
Navy Pier in Chicago . functioned as training platform for about 17,000
pilots, signal officers and other personnel.
Former U.S. President
George H. W. Bush was among the pilots who learned to take off and land
on the 500-foot long carrier decks.
The carriers, the USS Sable (IX-81) and USS Wolverine (IX-64), were
converted Great Lakes paddle steamers. They had shorter flights decks,
no hangar bays, and required enough lake wind for operations.
Lake Michigan was chosen for the secret training because it's the
largest body of water within the continental United States
Between 8 and 12 pilots died during the training and
about 100 planes now rest on the lake bottom after crashing during
training missions.
USS
Wolverine (IX-64) underway in Lake Michigan. Between 1943 and 1945, two
U.S. Navy aircraft carriers stationed at Navy Pier in Chicago
functioned as training platform for about 17,000 pilots, signal officers
and other personnel. The Navy also operated a drone program from one of
the carriers. (Courtesy | National Archives)Pier in Chicago functioned as training platform for about 17,000
pilots, signal officers and other personnel. Former U.S. President
George H. W. Bush was among the pilots who learned to take off and land
on the 500-foot long carrier decks.
U.S.S. Sable docked in Chicago
The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range fighter aircraft, manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the Mitsubishi Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter(零式艦上戦闘機rei-shiki-kanjō-sentōki?),
or the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen. The A6M was usually referred to by its
pilots as the "Reisen" (zero fighter), "0" being the last digit of the Imperial year 2600 (1940) when it entered service with the Imperial Navy. The official Allied reporting name was "Zeke", although the use of the name "Zero" was later commonly adopted by the Allies as well.
When it was introduced early in World War II, the Zero was considered the most capable carrier-based fighter in the world, combining excellent maneuverability and very long range. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service ("IJNAS") also frequently used the type as a land-based fighter.
In early combat operations, the Zero gained a legendary reputation as a dogfighter, achieving the outstanding kill ratio of 12 to 1,
but by mid-1942 a combination of new tactics and the introduction of
better equipment enabled the Allied pilots to engage the Zero on
generally equal terms. By 1943, inherent design weaknesses and the failure to develop more powerful aircraft engines
meant that the Zero became less effective against newer enemy fighters,
which possessed greater firepower, armor, and speed, and approached the
Zero's maneuverability. Although the Mitsubishi A6M was outdated by
1944, design delays and production difficulties of newer Japanese
aircraft types meant that it continued to serve in a front line role
until the end of the war. During the final year of the War in the Pacific, the Zero was also adapted for use in kamikaze operations. During the course of the war, Japan produced more Zeros than any other model of combat aircraft.
The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Demand for the aircraft soon overwhelmed Vought's manufacturing capability, resulting in production by Goodyear and Brewster: Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and Brewster-built aircraft F3A.
From the first prototype delivery to the U.S. Navy in 1940, to final
delivery in 1953 to the French, 12,571 F4U Corsairs were manufactured by
Vought, in 16 separate models, in the longest production run of any piston-engined fighter in U.S. history (1942–53).
We also saw the 4 A-4's that comprised the Blue Angels..The A-4's served with the Blue Angels for about 10 years.
This was the distance the Blue Angels were separated by in the formation flying, Old NFO mentioned that to me. it shows the skills and balls to fly that close.
Regular A-4 in "Fleet Color"
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single seat carrier-capableattack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D under the U.S. Navy's pre-1962 designation system.
The Skyhawk is a lightweight aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight
of 24,500 pounds (11,100 kg) and has a top speed of more than 670 miles
per hour (1,080 km/h). The aircraft's five hardpoints
support a variety of missiles, bombs and other munitions. It was
capable of carrying a bomb load equivalent to that of a World War
II-vintage Boeing B-17 bomber, and could deliver nuclear weapons using a
low altitude bombing system and a "loft" delivery technique. The A-4
was originally powered by the Wright J65turbojet engine; from the A-4E onwards, the Pratt & Whitney J52 was used.
Skyhawks played key roles in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Falklands War.
Sixty years after the aircraft's first flight, some of the nearly 3,000
produced remain in service with several air arms around the world,
including from the Brazilian Navy's aircraft carrier, São Paulo.
