Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Three Legendary American Battleships

 I shamelessly snagged this from "SOFREP"  I have been working the Overtime and my off time is limited compared to normal.

Battleships were not just some boats amidst the vast ocean. During conflicts, they were the stronghold of the soldiers who were fighting alongside and onboard these ships.

In the United States, particularly in the US Navy, the construction of its first-ever battleship happened in 1892 with the making of USS Texas, although the first battleship under that designation was the USS Indiana. By the 20th century, the US Navy made the United States the world’s fifth strongest power at sea which rose from its 12th rank in 1870. Also, no American battleship has been lost at sea, although there were four that sank during the Pearl Harbor attack. The last decommissioned battleship for the US Navy was in 1992. With that, let’s have a look at some of the legendary ships that the US built:

The USS Texas

USS Texas
USS Texas, photochrom print c. 1898 (Wikipedia)

As mentioned above, the USS Texas was the first battleship of the United States, just before the USS Maine. In the Spring of 1898, the USS Maine (ACR-1) was destroyed by an explosion after losing a war in Havana Harbor. The United States, at that moment, declared war on Spain. USS Texas was one of the ships sent against the Spanish in the Atlantic Ocean. Together with one other ship, Texas destroyed the Spanish fort located at Cayo del Tore in a span of 75 minutes. The Spanish ships tried to run the American blockade, but Texas worked and attacked four of their ships simultaneously, inflicting heavy damages on each of them and giving them no choice but to run on the ground. After that, USS Texas also assisted against the rest of the Spanish fleet. This helped towards the end of the war.

USS Iowa (BB-61) in WWII, Korean War, and the Persian Gulf War

The USS Iowa entered the scene of World War II in 1943 when she carried President Franklin Roosevelt across the Atlantic to North Algeria to attend a conference with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. This battleship class comprising Iowa, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Missouri were “Post Treaty” ships made after the restrictions of the Washington Naval Conference treaty were discarded when Japan attacked the U.S. in December 1942.  These were the fastest battleships ever built and arguably the most lethal in terms of their armaments and targeting systems.  The record for the biggest battleships ever built belongs to the Japanese, who built the Yamato and Musashi in secret and in violation of the treaty terms. Size is not everything and if you want to read how the Iowa class ships probably would have trounced the Yamato class battleships in a fight, you can read that here.

USS Iowa 1952. (Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

During the Korean War, Iowa was decommissioned into the US Navy reserve fleets known as the “mothball fleet” after becoming involved in raids conducted on the North Korean coast. She was reactivated in 1984 and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets as part of the 600-ship Navy plan.

In the Gulf war, USS Iowa was part of Operation Earnest Will. She set sail across the Suez Canal and towards the Persian Gulf, which was one of the battlefields of the Gulf War. She carried a number of Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles and escorted oil tankers of Kuwaiti towards the international waters.

She was decommissioned in 1990 and is now a museum ship that can be visited in Los Angeles, California.  It is a testament to the utility and quality of this battleship class that they enjoyed a service lifespan of almost half a century.

USS Jersey (BB-16) The Original

The USS New Jersey (BB-16) in camouflage coat. (DoD/Navy Dept. (War Dept.), Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

USS Jersey (B-16) was part of the Second Occupation of Cuba, as well as the Jamestown Exposition in 1907. At the end of 1907, she joined the Great White Fleet and sailed more than 50,000 miles around the world in 1909. She then spent the next five years training officers in gunnery. In 1914, USS Jersey took part in the occupation of Veracruz within the gates of the Mexican Revolution. In World War I, she was considered obsolete and unsuited to take on more modern battleships and was utilized as a training ship and then transported American soldiers back when the war ceased. USS Jersey was decommissioned in 1920.

She was then slated to be used as a target in aerial bombing practice, which was a very new thing.  Aircraft dropped a variety of bombs on her ranging from 600 lbs up to 2,000 lbs.  The battleship considered too old for combat surprised everyone when she absorbed four 600 lb bombs, a hit from a 1,000 lb bomb, and numerous near misses to crack her hull before she finally sank.

 

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Monday Music "Kryptonite" By 3 Doors Down

 This was supposed to drop on Monday, but somehow I got the days mixed on my scheduler thingie so instead of "Monday Music" we have "Tuesday Music".   Eh it happens.   I heard this song on my Sirius/XM on another channel and I figured it would be a good candidate for a "Monday Music Bugaloo Theme", basically that we are Kryptonite to the evils of an overbearing state kinda bringing down superman, but in this case the "SuperState".

           Saw this meme and *rescued it from farcebook*, why? because I am a humanitarian, that's why.

I am continuing my string of "bugaloo" songs.  This discussion was started in the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite", back in November of 2019? it is a Facebook group with enthusiast of the ILOH "International Lord of Hate" A.K.A Larry Correia.  We were talking about what song would we use if we looked out of our window or glanced at our security camera and saw this.....

One of the alphabet bois lining up to take down your house...What would be your "Valhalla" song and you would set it up to play as you load up magazines set up the Tannerite Rover, turn on the water irrigation system and fill it with gasoline instead of water and prepare yourself.

 I figured it would scar the alphabet boys if they come busting in and hearing a song about people having a good time and standing up for themselves and having the best music from the best decade and  playing  it Loud will scar the Alphabet Boi's as they force the stack through the door, because they will be exposed to good music for the first time unlike the crap they listen to now sipping their soi latte's and comparing notes on the latest soyburger recipes and who wears the best manbuns in the team.
 
"Kryptonite" is the debut single of American rock band 3 Doors Down. It was originally released as a demo for local play by 97.9 WCPR-FM in Biloxi, Mississippi, then was picked up by several radio stations during November and December 1999  and was officially serviced to radio on January 18, 2000. The song first charted on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, reaching number one for nine weeks, then hit number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart for 11 weeks. It also reached number one on the Mainstream Top 40 chart for five non-consecutive weeks, number four on the Adult Top 40 chart, and number three on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's highest-charting single on the listing.  



The song was written by the band's vocalist and drummer, Brad Arnold, in a mathematics class when he was fifteen and was one of the first songs he ever wrote.

About the song's meaning, Arnold has said:

"That song seems like it's really just kind of like asking a question. Its question is kind of a strange one. It's not just asking, "If I fall down, will you be there for me?", because it's easy to be there for someone when they're down. But it's not always easy to be there for somebody when they're doing good. And that's the question it's asking. It's like, "If I go crazy, will you still call me Superman?" It's asking, "If I'm down, will you still be there for me?" but at the same time, "If I'm alive and well, will you be there holding my hand?" That's kind of asking, "If I'm doing good, will you be there for me? Will you not be jealous of me?" That's the basic question that song's asking, and maybe throughout the years of singing that song, I might have come up with more meanings for it than it actually might have originally had."
The band gave their demo tape to local Mississippi radio station WCPR-FM who started playing the EP version of "Kryptonite" and it became the No. 1 requested song on the station for over 15 weeks.[5] The station's program director sent the song to manager Phin Daly who in turn showed it to Bill McGathy, his employer at In De Goot Entertainment. The band was booked in New York to perform a showcase at the CBGB music club. Daly told HitQuarters: "Once they got on stage and started playing it was apparent the magic was in the music. So we moved to sign them."
 
 

 
Directed by Dean Karr and filmed in March, the music video presents an old man who was a big-time action hero on 1950s TV. The scene cuts between the band hanging around on the roof of the apartments where the old man lives, spying on a man harassing a woman. When the man drags her away, the old man dons his superhero suit and follows. In between shots of the old hero chasing the bad guy and failing to protect himself against a group of goths, the band is shown playing in a club (the Cowboy Palace Saloon in LA) with several other elderly people dressed as caricatures of comic villains. Several of these people are seen riding a mechanical bull during the final chorus. The video comes to a close when the old man dives through the skylight and catches the bad guy off guard, possibly knocking him out by falling on top of him. The video ends with the old man smiling, giving a thumbs up to the camera, having successfully completed his mission. 
 

Sunday, March 27, 2022

We need to quit making ethanol

 

 I had snagged this off "SSG" the next generation Think Tank, I thing converting corn to fuel was an idiotic idea anyway, but the corn lobby loves it because of the huge subsidies they get from the government.  Ethanol mixed fuel is crap for engines, it tends to foul the vehicles and plays havoc with the fuel systems of the vehicles, but if you say anything bad, then you are against our energy independence, my truck runs so much better on straight gas.  Now there is the threat of food shortages to the Russians trying to add the "Breadbasket" A.K.A to Mother Russia and food production is disrupted there because of that country fighting for her existence.

 



The war in Ukraine means that fields are not getting planted, and Ukraine supplies much of the world’s grains. According to Eric Hansotia, the CEO of Agco, approximately 13% of the world’s total calories —  not just grains — are offline this year because of the war. That raises the specter of famine.

We are able to take steps to buffer global food supplies against this risk, most notably suspending corn-based ethanol production. These steps need to be taken now, so that the crops being planted are secured to global food supplies instead of energy production. The amount of corn that we devote to ethanol production is huge: up to 25% of American corn cropland produces crops for ethanol use. By shifting that corn to food production instead, we could reduce the amount of starvation that is likely to occur from the war. In addition to saving many lives, this policy would also reduce Russia’s capacity to use the stoppage of food production in Ukraine as a lever for obtaining its will.

This proposal will be unpopular with the present administration because it runs counter to their Green agenda. Nevertheless, they should adopt the policy anyway for moral reasons. A similar devotion to a political agenda worsened the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s: because the ruling British government was wedded to a Free Trade agenda, they shipped thousands of tons of grain out of Ireland while the people starved. Given the scale of the famine, there is debate about whether the grain would have been sufficient to completely prevent starvation in Ireland during that period. Nevertheless, it is beyond question that the grain could have buffered the harm.

We are in the same situation today. This proposal will have some second order effects, such as potentially further increasing gasoline prices as part of the fuel production — most American gas is 10% ethanol — will no longer be available, and the missing volume of ethanol would have to be supplemented with extra gasoline instead. Swallowing increased gasoline production, and therefore oil production, would be a second bitter pill for the administration’s Green agenda.

Yet the alternative is to accept potentially widespread starvation, especially in Africa and the Middle East, in order to pursue a favored political agenda at home. The British government of the late 1840s is still held in infamy for its decisions during the potato famine. The Biden administration should make the moral and wise choice, with support from Congress.

Saturday, March 26, 2022

Russia may resort to Cannibalization to keep her fleet flying.

 Another report that popped in my email discussing the aviation situation and the ongoing Russia/Ukraine conflict.

Aeroflot
With Russia blocked from receiving spare parts from the West, continued operations of its airline fleets will soon require cannibalization of parts from other aircraft.
Credit: Joe Pries

Earlier this month brought news of a second ex-Copa Boeing 737NG acquired for teardown by Aventure Aviation.

The aircraft is already undergoing teardown in Roswell, New Mexico, with Aventure noting that it was talking to other aircraft owners about performing similar work on their idle aircraft, and adding that “talks have increased due to the amount of early lease returns from Russia and conflict zones.”

However, the pictures of the 22-year-old, part-dismantled 737NG may also stir unease among lessors with much newer aircraft still in Russia.

This is due to growing concern that Russian airlines will not cooperate with requests to repossess the aircraft following the lease terminations required by sanctions on Russia.

And with Russia also blocked from receiving spare parts from the West, continued operations of its airline fleets will soon require cannibalization of parts from other aircraft.

As bad as that would be, an even worse possibility is that Russia orders its state-owned airlines to confiscate their leased aircraft. In both cases, lessors should be protected from damage to, or loss of aircraft by war insurance policies, but, even so, an almighty tussle with their insurers appears likely if timely repossession cannot be achieved.

Risk analyst Russell Group estimates that 589 Western-built aircraft with an aircraft market value of $13 billion (£9 billion) are currently on the ground in Russian airports. While the number linked to U.S. and European lessors is less than that, the potential market value of claims would still dwarf any previous event, including claims linked to the 9/11 attacks.

“There is a large concern in the aviation war market at the moment; clients are all trying to understand the number and value of planes on the ground in Russia, as there are concerns that these aircraft could be confiscated by the Russian government,” said Suki Basi, Russell Group’s managing director.

One early observation is that around 76% of the Russian fleet is leased with foreign lessors, according to Aviation Week Network’s Fleet Discovery data, and the prospects for repossessing any significant portion of these approximately 600 aircraft are essentially nil. The Russian government, which oversees 11 time zones, can’t afford for its aviation network to collapse, so it is on a path to effectively nationalize the fleet by re-registering aircraft in the country. With Russian airlines also suspending international flights, the window to seize aircraft while they are abroad has closed.

On top of this, western OEMs have cut off technical support and spare parts sales to Russian operators. With no spares or technical support, lapsed insurance coverage and airworthiness certificates being revoked by regulators outside of Russia, this must mean that the Russian fleet has essentially become very expensive paperweights, right?

Not quite. While these sanctions will surely squeeze Russian operators, it will not entirely stop these aircraft from flying all together—the faucet is not completely off and will still drip. Russia has several tools at its disposal to weather these aviation sanctions, at least for a limited period.

Russia’s first likely move is to burn through any inventory available in-country and potentially cannibalize its own fleet. With Russia’s economy expected to contract around 10% this year and the suspension of international flights, air travel demand in Russia will correspondingly suffer, meaning there are already excess aircraft relative to needs. This leaves room to park aircraft and harvest them as required, which is not dissimilar to what the industry witnessed at the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, this can’t last forever as a skeleton fleet eventually emerges, at which point Russia will begin relying on its next tool.

In contrast with other countries that have faced aviation sanctions, Russia has a sizeable domestic aerospace industry and talent pool to leverage. In 2018, AeroDynamic Advisory estimated that Russia has the sixth-largest aerospace industry with approximately $27 billion in output, or around 3% of the global total. Employment is on the order of hundreds of thousands between the factories, design bureaus and other supporting functions.

Say what you will about the commercial success of programs like Ilyushin, Tupolev, Irkut and Sukhoi—the important point is that there is a history of designing and building aircraft, engines and components. The engineering base will suddenly have nothing to do with dismal export prospects and can thus focus its efforts on reverse engineering and establishing alternative sources of supply. Some aircraft equipment, especially those more reliant on software or highly proprietary processes, will of course be difficult or impossible to reverse engineer. However, some electro-mechanical products, consumables/expendables and non-flight critical items could be vulnerable.

The difficulty will also likely vary by aircraft generation. Developing alternative solutions for a new generation Boeing 787 or Airbus A350 will be far harder than an aircraft program that has been around for decades, such as the A320ceo or 737NG.

Russia’s third option is to employ the tools used by another country subject to sanctions—Iran. Civil aviation in Iran has been subject to sanctions ever since the 1979 hostage crisis, and the sanctions regime expanded in 2007. Despite these restrictions, Iranian operators were able to continue operating aging Airbus, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Fokker jets with an average age of around 23 years and no deterioration in their safety record, according to The Washington Institute. Iranian operators have survived using intermediaries and front companies to procure spare parts—the aerospace black market so to speak. It is difficult and expensive, but Iran has nevertheless shown that it is possible to maintain some semblance of a civil aviation network.  

None of these options are particularly easy, and even if Russia is successful, the active fleet will be a shell of its pre-invasion self. The world is also more united in sanctions against Russia compared to Iran, and the fleet in Russia is far larger, so perhaps preventing the development of an aerospace black market is easier this time around.

Regardless of what tactics Russia employs to keep its fleet flying, there is a daunting implication to consider: If relations do normalize and lessors gain access to their assets again, records could be a mess. This means longer periods to prove that sufficient maintenance was completed and correct any deficiencies before remarketing the assets. This assumes, of course, that these aircraft ever re-emerge from the new iron curtain at all

 

 

Friday, March 25, 2022

The Russian will be trying to keep their commercial airframes "Airworthy" despite the sanctions.

 I have blogged before the saga about the commercial airplanes that the Russians have leased from outside Russia but will not pay for and the sanctions and restrictions will start cutting off the spare part supply to keep those airframes "Airworthy".  They are going to try to reverse engineer what they need, and it is possible, remember they reverse engineered a B29  from WWII and they called it a "TU-4", and it flew during a "May Day" parade stunning the American observers.  The plane was a "Hero" project under the direct orders of Joseph Stalin.  So the Russians do have the capabilities to reverse engineer so this will be interesting.

Ural Airlines A320neo

Russian airlines are looking for ways to continue airworthiness of their foreign-made aircraft now that access to European spare parts and MRO services has closed due to the EU sanctions. 

Speaking at the MRO Russia 2022 conference held in Moscow March 10, Igor Poddubny, technical director of Russia’s Ural Airlines, said the carrier had already found other “civilized” sources for spare parts on the global market. “I mean that consumables and spare parts that will be offered to us, [which] meet both the European and Russian airworthiness standards,” he explained.

The EU decided to ban the supplies of aircraft space parts and technical services to the Russian companies starting March 28 in response to the conflict in Ukraine. 

Ural Airlines is Russia’s fifth largest carrier; it operates 54 Airbus A320 family aircraft including a dozen A320neo and A321neo types. The airline has its own maintenance center, certified under EASA, Bermuda and Turkish aviation authorities, in its home airport of Yekaterinburg.

Poddubny recalled that during the first day of the Russian invasion, the airline faced a cyberattack that cut it from the Swiss-AS AMOS aviation maintenance management system. It took five days to restore the access, while the airline continued its maintenance activities using paper-based documentation. The airline has already taken into account all its material, human, document and information resources to keep its aircraft flying despite the current difficulties. “The Ural Airlines’ fleet can fly safely, without grounding or cannibalization, for two to three months,” Poddubny said. 

Vladmir Burtzev, the head of TS Technik, an MRO subsidiary of Russia’s Utair airline, agreed that local carriers had up to four months to settle the problem with spare parts supplies. The Russian Transport Ministry has recently suggested prolonging the validity of current maintenance documentation until September and allowing locally certified MRO providers to maintain foreign-made aircraft without OEM support. 

According to Marat Tereshchenko, deputy head of Russia’s largest MRO provider S7 Technics, this is possible as the Russian operational and maintenance standards had already been harmonized with EASA and BAA requirements. “We have no difference in approach [to maintenance of foreign-made aircraft],” Tereshchenko said.

Russian carriers operate almost 900 Western-made commercial aircraft, most of which are registered in Bermuda and operate in Russia under the Chicago Convention Article 83 bis. The Russian media cited sources saying that the government discussed various options to keep them operating inside the country despite the sanctions. However, the final decision has not been made yet, Burtzev said. The shortage of spare parts is likely to affect Russian-made Superjet regional jets too as the type has many foreign-made subsystems including avionics and engines. 

Almost all local operators are looking to ensure spare part supplies from the third countries, confirmed Ignatiy Vakorin, head of maintenance at another Russian MRO provider SkyTechnics. Vakorin hopes that most of the needed consumables can be produced in Russia while some imported spare parts can be reverse-engineered by the local industry.

Thursday, March 24, 2022

Some Pithy Musings....

 I have been busy so this will be a quick post, that is why I didn't post yesterday.


   I saw this tweet and Luckily Miggy from "GunFreeBlog" saved it and the pure arrogance of our "Betters" really pissed me off and I ain't alone, This "tweet" didn't go over well and it certainly pissed
everybody except the hardcore donk supporters, they will go with whatever the media lapdogs and the DNC tell them.  The pure arrogance just chaps my ass, they expect us "Dirt People" to just accept them totally fucking us over and taking our wealth.  They want to break us like their hero Stalin did to the "Kulaks"of old Russia and broke their middle class and in the process created the Holodomor that the Ukrainians even now have a blood hatred to the Russians for.
       Speaking of "gas" I was getting gas last week at "Sams Club" in a heavily democratic part of my county and every gas pump had this on it...

 I was kinda surprised actually, makes me wonder that mayhaps a huge chunk of the normally democratic "faithful" aini't happy and this portends rather poorly for the donks this November...
unless they are successful in stealing another election......again.
     My Son and I went to the location of the original "Chicfila" in Hapeville where across the street my former Ford Atlanta Assembly Plant stood.  Yeah I am doing well as a "Chemtrail" technician, but I do miss the days at the Assy Plant and what could have been.
      They had done what is called a "Scrape and Rebuild"

   Here we are walking up to the entrance, and it is huge!

       The Entrance to the Restaurant, and there on the left is a statue of Truitt Cathy.
        A Closeup of the Statue of Truitt Cathy. and I had Blogged about him and his influence on me and 
                                              my former employer. 

Inside shot of the "Full Service Side", I didn't get any pics of the "Self Service" side.

  My Cup, I had my usual, Unsweet Tea and Diet Lemonade, they call it a "Skinny Palmer"

  A Plaque that is placed on the outside of the building, the bricks shown came from the original "Chicfila" grill, they saved all the bricks and repurposed them.

A "Visual" history of the 3 prior buildings that were on this site


   This is the layout of the original "Chicfila" as it was placed in 1946, this is the "GrillSide"


  This is the "Diner Side" of the restaurant"  They had gone and found the original blueprints and original location and placed this in that exact location.

  A copy of the original menu from 1946, check out the prices!
    The next day my son and I went to a "CommieBall Game as Mack calls it or Soccer, We had gone to the Dome to watch Atlanta United play Charlotte.
The Seats were actually pretty good seats.

First Goal.........

And we would up winning 2-1.  It was a good game, we enjoyed it immensely.

  The View was a good view of the city skyline.

     We then went home.    Granted my son is 19, but he still wants to spend time with his Dad and I like spending time with my son and I will do so as long as I can.
 
   Went and got gas again at Sams Club today and guess what I saw again......
         The Staff tries to half ass peel them off......LOL
 

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Major Changes to Schools training new Aviation Maintenance Technicians.

 I ran across this and I know that my industry has been clamoring for changes for years, New A&P mechanics are coming out of schools and getting hired on the commercial side of the house and the FAR 147 schools stress mostly general aviation aircraft and maintenance.  As part of my getting my A&P I had to learn how to work dope and fiber and time magneto's and so forth but I am a commercial Aviation Mechanic and most of what is taught in the schools are tailored for general aviation and reciprocation engines.  It takes an average of 5 years to get a mechanic comfortable with our manuals and processes, that is part of the reason for the length of time it takes for "Top Out Pay".  And as I understand it, it is the same with other commercial carriers.  I do know that we call the A&P license a "License to Learn".  The industry is expanding and if you wish to make a good living, it is a way to go, a Commercial A&P mechanic at one of the major carriers and at Fedex or at UPS at top pay make excess of 6 figures, granted the work is hard, but we are compensated well for it.  The responsibility is daunting for us because we have the job of safeguarding the flying public and we do everything we can to make sure that the planes are as safe as we can make them.

 

maintenance technicians repairing overhead bin

WASHINGTON—A major revamp to the rules that spell out how U.S. schools teach aspiring aviation mechanics is inching toward completion, with a few key steps remaining before new standards come into force. 

The FAA on March 10 published on its website the proposed text of an interim final rule modifying Part 147, the regulations that set aviation technician education school standards. The agency called attention to the rule, alerting key congressional leaders and staffers that the regulations—which lawmakers have been pressing the agency to complete—were done. 

But the rule has not made it through the Federal Register and is not yet officially in place. Several days after it was posted online, the FAA-amended document clarified that the rule’s text is not quite set in stone. 

“Please be advised that the published document may contain minor changes due to formatting and editorial requirements,” the agency said. 

Industry sources with knowledge of the situation told Aviation Week that any changes are expected to be minor. However, several key pieces required to implement the new rules, including an advisory circular and the finalized mechanic airman certification standards (ACS), which are replacing current practical test standards and will provide the framework for all Part 147 mechanic testing.  

The ACS is made up of general subjects, such as Cleaning and Corrosion Control, with related subtopics, such as corrosion identification and inspection. Both the AC and the ACS are expected to be added to the docket as part of the rule finalization process. 

The final rule’s effective date will be 120 days after publication in the Federal Register, which the FAA said will be sometime “this spring.” 

A Part 147 revamp has been in the works for years. Unlike the aircraft, engines and components that mechanics work on every day, the current standards have changed little since 1970. Proponents of the revamp are confident that the new standards will produce better-qualified certificated mechanics that need less on-the-job training once they are hired. Getting mechanics qualified quickly and effectively is seen as key to meeting future demand, which is expected to be strong as the industry shifts from recovery to growth mode in the coming years.  

A lobbying effort succeeded in getting Congress to order the FAA to wrap up the rulemaking—even if the next step needs further revamping—as part of the massive Consolidated Appropriates Act of 2021 omnibus bill that also ordered changes the FAA’s aircraft certification process. 

“These improvements will help us educate the future workforce and meet the demands of the evolving aviation community,” the FAA said when the interim rule was posted. “Under the new rule, technical schools will update curriculum and incorporate technical training that aligns with the current industry standards.”

 

Monday, March 21, 2022

Monday Music "Open Seseme" by Kool And The Gang

 

I am continuing my string of "bugaloo" songs.  This discussion was started in the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite", back in November of 2019? it is a Facebook group with enthusiast of the ILOH "International Lord of Hate" A.K.A Larry Correia.  We were talking about what song would we use if we looked out of our window or glanced at our security camera and saw this.....

One of the alphabet bois lining up to take down your house...What would be your "Valhalla" song and you would set it up to play as you load up magazines set up the Tannerite Rover, turn on the water irrigation system and fill it with gasoline instead of water and prepare yourself.

 I figured it would scar the alphabet boys if they come busting in and hearing a song about people having a good time and standing up for themselves and having the best music from the best decade and  playing  it Loud will scar the Alphabet Boi's as they force the stack through the door, because they will be exposed to good music for the first time unlike the crap they listen to now sipping their soi latte's and comparing notes on the latest soyburger recipes and who wears the best manbuns in the team.
 
I decided to roll with Kool and the Gang, I was riding home and on my motorcycle sound system the song came on "Open Sesame" by Kool and the Gang.  Back in 1977/1978 I was one of the producers of our 6 grade play and it was based on historical events, and I used several songs from the sound Track from Saturday Night Fever in the Play and one of the songs I used was "Open Sesame" from Kool and the Gang.  I went with a visual story with music to back it up.  I was told later on I raised the bar on subsequent productions.   I was never told "I couldn't" so I went with my gut and it went well.  I sometimes wonder if my life would be different if I had pursued that avenue instead of the direction that my life has taken.  Naa I am happy with my life that I have now with no regrets.  I went with a 2fer from Kool and the Gang, one song from the 1970's and one song from the 1980's...There is symmetry there, LOL


Open Sesame is the eighth studio album by the funk band Kool & the Gang, released in 1976. The album yielded the hit title track, "Open Sesame", which achieved some success, first as a top ten R&B single, then later as part of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. "Super Band" also reached the R&B top twenty. The album was the second of two albums released by the band in 1976.

 I couldn't find out any real information on this song except it was in "Saturday Night Fever and it was at the height of the "Disco Movement.".   I do like the sheer pageantry of the video's This was before the advent of "Professional" video's and music video's varied depending if the band was willing to make a video clip.


Emergency is the sixteenth studio album by the American band Kool & the Gang, released in 1984. It ultimately became the group's biggest selling career album, earning Double Platinum status in America, Platinum in Canada, and Silver in the UK.

The album produced four US top 20 hit singles including "Fresh" (US #9); "Misled" (US #10); the title track "Emergency" (US #18); and the album's biggest hit, the million-selling "Cherish" (US #2). "Fresh", "Misled", and "Cherish" also cracked the top 40 in the UK reaching #11, #28, and #4 respectively while "Emergency" only reached #50 in that country.

Misled started hitting the charts while I was in AIT in Fort Devens in MA in 1986 and I associate that song during that time.  I think of mu friends I had made in that school and still wonder how they are doing, with 1 exception, I have lost track of all of them and especially my classmates in the "J" school.  I guess I get nostalgic a bit older I get.

Friday, March 18, 2022

The Western Alliance has discovered the secret of increasing their defence spending.

 Like I mentioned a few days ago, Germany had approved an increase of her GDP, apparently Russia's aggression toward the Ukraine has encourage the assorted NATO members to finally spend the 2% of GDP that they were supposed to spend and apparently all of them are doing it.  Russia invading the Ukraine was a wakeup call.

Swedish Air Force Saab Gripens and Royal Danish Air Force F-16Denmark and Sweden, represented here by Swedish Air Force Saab Gripens (foreground) and Danish Air Force F-16s, have pledged to raise defense spending to 2% of GDP.
Credit: Danish Ministry of Defense

European governments have embarked on dramatic increases in expenditures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Fears of reduced defense spending after the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have largely evaporated, as nations pledge to accelerate plans to reach or exceed NATO’s defense spending target of 2% of GDP.

  • Poland aims to boost defense spending to 3% of GDP
  • Denmark considers repealing opt-out from European defense and security initiatives

Aviation Week Network analysis suggests that annual spending for the 16 largest European defense budgets could rise from around €311 billion ($340 billion) now to over $400 billion by 2030—and potentially more than $460 billion if all decide to meet the NATO 2% target.

But European governments will need to reexamine their defense commitments and doctrines before the resources can be used—and the investments are likely to focus on improving readiness, posture and deployability as much as on equipment modernization over the next decade.

Germany was the first to react to the invasion with budget changes. Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the creation of a €100 billion ($110 billion) fund to address urgent capability gaps and an accelerated move toward  the NATO defense spending target of 2% of GDP.  By comparison, the predecessor Merkel administration had pledged to raise spending to just 1.5% of GDP by 2024 (AW&ST March 7-20, p. 20).

Since Scholz’s Feb. 27 statement, Germany has been joined by Denmark, France, Latvia, Poland and Sweden in announcing planned increases in defense spending, with more nations expected to follow suit.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a national address that France would increase its investments in defense. “[Europe] must become a power for peace,” he said.

“We can no longer depend on others to defend us, be it on land, at sea, under the sea, in the air, in space or in cyber-space. . . . To this end, our European defense must step up,” Macron said.

Sweden confirmed it will raise defense spending to 2% of GDP. Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said at a March 10 press conference that the budget increases would be allocated “as soon as it is practically possible.”

“In a situation where tensions in our immediate area are worse than in several decades, we need to continue to strengthen our defense capabilities,” Andersson said.

Stockholm had already been taking steps to boost its defense capabilities in response to Russia’s actions in Crimea in 2014, with ministers originally planning to increase defense spending by 85% between 2014 and 2025, the largest rearmament by the Scandinavian country since the 1950s. Spending is being immediately boosted to strengthen capability in the short term, but work is underway to find “a stable, long-term and solidary financing of the expansion,” Andersson noted. “The expansion must rest on a stable foundation for us to be able to have a strong and secure defense.”

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis says Bucharest will raise spending from 2% of GDP to 2.5%. “[The additional funding will] ensure better conditions for our armed forces, in order to better train and respond more effectively to the operational needs of the Romanian Army and current and future security challenges,” he says. Defense spending in Romania has already more than doubled, to $6.1 billion from $2.8 billion, since Crimea’s annexation. Bucharest’s investments included the purchase of more secondhand F-16 fighters, along with Patriot air and missile defense batteries, coastal defense weapons and rocket artillery systems from the U.S.

In early March, Poland’s parliament began drafting new laws that would enable Warsaw to further increase national defense spending to 3% of GDP to give the country’s armed forces a “greater deterrent potential,” says Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak. Ministers hope to enable the spending increase next year. It was previously envisioned that Poland would boost defense spending by 2.5% of GDP by 2023.

“This is an act that will allow us not only to increase the size of the Polish Army but also to spend on the Polish Armed Forces, restore the reserve system, encourage soldiers to remain in service and implement the concept of universal defense,”  Blaszczak says.

Denmark has also pledged to raise defense spending permanently to 2% of GDP—albeit at a slower rate than some of its neighbors, achieving the goal by 2033. Current annual spending sits at 1.4% of GDP.

In another notable change, Copenhagen is also looking to repeal its opt-out from European defense and security initiatives. The government is planning to hold a referendum in June on reversing the policy.

“Denmark must be fully involved in the development of European defense and security policy,” says Danish Defense Minister Morten Bodskov. “Russia’s aggression on Ukraine threatens European peace and stability. Therefore, the times call for a gear shift.”

 

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

10 Facts about Mauser

 I have or *had* a Mauser pattern Rifle, my dearly departed 03A3, Swedish Mauser and my 98K Clone that I lost in those durn Kayak accidents. *Sniff*Sniff*.The Horror, Durn kayaks and Canoe's should be regulated by the UN as Weapons of Mass destruction.  Well anyway Those Rifles have stood the test of time and are bone reliable, you work the action, it will work or go bang if you are using decent ammo the rifle will function as it is designed to.   I shamelessly snagged this from "American Rifleman"

Knupp Mauserfacts 0

Everyone knows the name “Mauser” and the bolt action rifles associated with it. Here are 10 facts you may not have known were associated with the Mauser story:

One: There Were Two Mausers - Paul And Wilhelm

Mauser brothers Paul and WilhelmBrothers Wilhelm Mauser (right) and Paul Mauser (left).

The Mauser firm was the work of brothers Peter Paul (known simply as “Paul” ) and Wilhelm Mauser. Following military service, the Mauser brothers’ father Franz became a gunsmith at the royal armory at Oberndorf, a small town on the Neckar River in Germany. The younger brother Paul would develop an interest in artillery through his own military service, which eventually led to small arms design. Wilhelm served as business manager for the company.  

Wilhelm died in 1882 at the age of 47. Paul remained the technical director of the company through its major developments and would live to the age of 76 in 1914.

The Mauser factory in Oberndorf am Neckar in 1910.

While many of Mauser’s innovations were patented in the name of Paul Mauser, throughout the article that follows, when we say “Mauser” we’re referring to the company, in general. 

Two: Mauser Didn’t Invent The Bolt Action

While Mauser is responsible for many of the design elements that we see in modern turn-bolt actions, they did not invent the system. The first firearm to use a rotating bolt to open and close the breech was the Dreyse Needle Gun, which used a paper-cased black powder cartridge that was internally primed so that a needle-like firing pin had to pierce the case to reach it. Developed in the 1820s by Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse, the design was perfected in 1836 and adopted by the Prussians in 1841. Dreyse’s system gave a massive rate-of-fire advantage over contemporary muzzleloading muskets.

      A Model 1860 Dreyse Needle Gun with its bolt handle visible.

As modern, breechloading firearms were developed, several would use the Needle Gun’s turn-bolt system. Two bolt-action firearms, the Palmer and the Greene (the first bolt action used by the U.S. military), were issued during the Civil War.

The Greene breechloading bolt-action rifle from the Civil War era.

The action of the Greene, showing its turning bolt mechanism and locking lugs.

Mauser’s earliest design was an improvement of the Needle Gun that could be used as a way to convert muzzleloading muskets to breechloaders using a turn-bolt system, a mechanism that the company would eventually become synonymous with.

Three: Mauser Had An Early Connection To America

The Mauser brothers came from a large family and an older brother, Franz, went to the U.S. and would eventually work for the Remington arms company.

Samuel Norris, who was Remington’s agent in Europe, would be influential in the infant Mauser company. Norris was impressed with Mauser’s early design and became convinced it could be used to convert needle guns, like the French Chassepot, to fire metallic cartridges. Norris partnered with Mauser and provided financial backing, moving the Mauser brothers to Liege, Belgium.

The action of the Interim Model 1869/70, a prototype that would lead to the first successful Mauser, the M1871.

The partnership crumbled when it failed to interest any governments and the Mauser brothers returned to Oberndorf where they continued to develop a design that would eventually become their first successful firearm, the 1871 Mauser.  

Mauser’s first successful model, the 1871, was a single-shot that fired a blackpowder cartridge.

Four: Mauser Took Out An Early Patent Of Its Designs In The U.S.

As a result of the partnership with Norris, Mauser would apply for its first patent in the United States. Granted on June 2, 1868, Patent No. 78,603 for “Improvements in Breech Loading Firearms” was taken out in the name of “S. Norris & W. & P. Mauser.” The patent would cover features like the rifle’s cock-on-opening bolt system and the interface between the sear and firing pin.

Mauser’s first U.S. patent for “Improvements in Breech Loading Firearms.”

It was the first of many patents that Mauser would take out in the U.S., covering everything from ammunition to scope mounting.

A 1915 Mauser patent for semi-automatic pistol design (right) and a 1906 Mauser patent for a rifle magazine (left).

The patent model for the Mauser-Norris rifle is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute, but not currently on public display. Another Mauser-Norris prototype is in the collection of the National Firearms Museum at the NRA headquarters, as are many of the firearms whose images appear in this article.

An early Mauser-Norris prototype, showing the action opened.

Five: The 1888 Commission Rifle Is NOT A Mauser (But It’s Important To Mauser History Anyway)

A Model 1888 Commission rifle made at the Amberg arsenal.

While the German 1888 Commission rifle is often referred to as a “Mauser,” it’s not. As the name implies, in response to the French adopting the revolutionary 1886 Lebel with its modern, high-velocity smokeless cartridge, the Germans formed a military commission to develop a new rifle to replace the black powder cartridge-firing Mauser 71/84. The result was a design that combined innovations of both Paul Mauser and Ferdinand Mannlicher. The rifles used a Mauser-type firing mechanism and safety combined with a Mannlicher magazine that utilized an en-bloc clip. The rifle also introduced the 8 mm cartridge that would eventually become the 7.92x57 mm or “8 mm Mauser” that would be the German service cartridge through the end of World War II. 

While the 1888 Commission Rifle was a successful design that soldiered on through World War I, it was quickly outclassed in the rapidly changing world of late 19th-century infantry rifles. Mauser immediately began developing what would become their own groundbreaking design, the Model 1889, that would eventually evolve into the classic 1898 Mauser.     

On Mannlicher’s side the ‘88 Commission would lead to the Romanian and Dutch service rifles, Mannlicher-Schoenauer hunting and military rifles and inspire other military rifles, like the Italian Carcano series.  

A Model 1888 Commission rifle action (top) compared to a 1903/14 Greek Mannlicher (center) and a 1903 Mannlicher Schoenauer sporting rifle (bottom).

Six: The First Mauser Handgun Was Not A Semi-Automatic…Or A Revolver

A Mauser Model 1896 “Broomhandle” semi-automatic pistol.

While it may be the best known handgun associated with the Mauser name, the  semi-automatic C96 “Broomhandle” pistol was not Mauser’s first handgun design.

In 1878, Mauser developed a revolver for an upcoming German military handgun trial. The M78 was a single-action revolver, the first generation of which had a solid frame with a separate ejector rod, as was common in European revolvers of the time. The second generation M78 had a break-open action with a hinge at the top of the frame that was made in both single-action and double-action forms.

The M78 got its “Zig-Zag” nickname from its method of cylinder rotation. A lug attached to the hammer mechanism engaged the angled grooves on the cylinder to rotate and lock it when the hammer was cocked or the trigger was pulled. 

The Mauser Model 1878 “Zig-Zag” revolver.

While the winner of the trials was the 1879 Reichsrevolver, the Zig-Zag would continue in production in various calibers for the civilian market until the Broomhandle was introduced.

But the Zig-Zag was also not the first Mauser handgun. In 1877, Mauser designed a single-shot pistol that used a falling block mechanism. A thumb-actuated latch dropped the breech, ejecting the spent case and allowing for another cartridge to be loaded. Pulling the trigger cocked and fired an internal striker. As a single-shot handgun was outdated by the late 1870s (though other European manufacturers were still designing and building them at the same time as Mauser), only about 100 of these C77 pistols were produced before Mauser moved on to a revolver design and ultimately, semi-automatic handguns.

A Mauser C77 single-shot pistol with the action closed (right) and opened for loading (left).

Seven: Mauser Perfected The Clip-Loading System

While we all know that a “clip” is different than a “magazine,” Mauser was responsible for innovations in both areas. 

In the late 19th century, there were several competing magazine designs for military rifles. Some, like Mauser’s own 71/84, used a tubular magazine under the barrel, James Paris Lee had invented a detachable (for cleaning) box magazine and Ferdinand Mannlicher had developed a system where a clip of cartridges was inserted into a fixed box magazine and stayed there as the cartridges were expended.

The main advantage of the Mannlicher design was how rapidly a full clip of cartridges could be loaded. But the Mannlicher system also had its disadvantages. Without the clip, the rifle wouldn’t function, and the Mannlicher design couldn’t be “topped up” after a few cartridges had been fired (problems familiar to anyone who has used the en-bloc clip of the M1 Garand). Finally, the bottom of a Mannlicher magazine had to be open to allow the empty clip to fall from the rifle after the last round was fired, allowing for dirt and dust to enter the rifle’s mechanism.

Though they were not involved with the design of the ‘88 Commission rifle, Mauser quickly responded to it with a modern, smokeless cartridge-firing rifle of their own. They developed a rifle for a Belgian trial that would define many of the features of turn bolt firearms that carry on to this day. What would eventually become the Belgian Model 1889 Mauser was a major break from Mauser’s earlier designs. Among its features was a built-in, single-column box magazine that extended below the action in front of the trigger guard.

Mauser sought to retain the advantages of the speed of the Mannlicher clip loading system and eliminate its drawbacks. To this end, the company designed a flat metal clip that held the cartridges by their rims. The clip was inserted into a groove on the receiver bridge, and then the cartridges were “stripped” from the clip into the magazine with the thumb. Pushing the bolt forward to load the first cartridge ejected the clip from the action. The feed lips were built into the magazine box, so single cartridges could be loaded at any time during the firing process.

A Belgian Model 1889 Mauser action with the barrel jacket removed, showing a stripper clip, or charger, of cartridges inserted into the action.

With the stripper clip loading system came several other innovations to the Mauser rifle design. The locking lugs were moved to the front of the bolt, allowing the bolt handle to be moved behind the rear receiver bridge. This placed the bolt handle closer to the firing hand for quicker manipulation. It also meant that the rear receiver bridge didn’t have to be split to allow the bolt handle to pass through, a design element that would eventually become important for the mounting of telescopic sights.

The success of designs like the 1889 meant that the “stripper clip” form of loading and the box magazine would go on to become the dominate design for all non-Mannlicher military bolt action rifles, from the 1903 Springfield to the Schmidt-Rubin straight pulls

Eight: Mauser Was Influential In The Creation of FN

When Belgium adopted a Mauser design in 1889, they wanted to produce their new rifle in-country. In response, a conglomerate of the nation’s gunmakers formed

Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre or as it was more simply known “FN.” In the early days, 50 percent of FN stock was owned by Ludwig Loewe & Co., a German corporation that also owned Mauser. 

Along with 275,000 Model 1889s, FN would also manufacture other models of Mauser. When the Versailles Treaty prohibited Mauser from exporting military weapons, FN became one of the leading producers of Mauser-type rifles, mainly of the 1898 design.

A Venezuelan contract Model 1924/30 rifle made by Fabrique Nationale.

FN also supplied actions to British sporting rifle manufacturers and made large numbers of ‘98 Mauser rifles and actions for the American market, which were sold through companies like Browning, Colt, Harrington & Richardson, High Standard and Weatherby.

An early Weatherby sporting rifle made on an FN Mauser 98 action.

FN’s other famous association would be John Browning, with the company responsible for taking on and developing many of his designs, such as the Hi Power pistol. FN lives on today as FN Herstal and FN America, with FN products, like the M240 and M249 in service with the U.S. military, along with firearms for the civilian and law enforcement markets, like the 509 handgun.

Nine: Mauser Didn’t Invent The 8 mm Mauser…But They Did Design Two Other Important Cartridges

Though the most famous cartridge associated with Mauser is the 8x57 mm, it was not, in fact, designed by the company, but was developed by the same team that came up with the ‘88 Commission Rifle.

While Mauser designed a plethora of propriety cartridges, two in particular are notable. Their first smokeless powder, high-velocity round was the 7.65x53 mm, as introduced in the 1889 Belgian Mauser. It went on to be one of the most widely-used military cartridges of the early 20th century. In Europe, along with the Belgians, Spain and Turkey used the cartridges in their Mauser rifles. The 7.65x53 mm Mauser was extremely popular in South American countries and would go on to be chambered in many machine guns, from the Maxim to the ZB-30, along with more modern rifles, like the semi-automatic FN-49.

An Argentinean contract Model 1891 Mauser carbine in 7.65x53 mm.

In 1892, Mauser introduced the 7x57 mm cartridge along with an improved rifle that featured an internal, staggered-column magazine and non-rotating extractor that all subsequent Mausers would use. The 7x57 mm would also become a popular military cartridge in Spain, Mexico and South America and was used in firearms designs from the Remington Rolling Block to the Mondragón semi-automatic rifle.

A Spanish contract Model 1893 Mauser chambered in 7x57 mm cartridge, which featured a staggered-column, flush box magazine for the first time in a Mauser design.

The 7x57 mm Mauser was nearly as popular in the sporting world as it was in military circles. Besides being prevalent on the European continent (it was one of the most popular chamberings for factory Mauser sporters), it hopped the Channel and made great inroads with British sporting rifle makers. The Rigby firm was one of the earliest to adopt the Mauser action and the 7 mm cartridge, which it re-christened the “.275 Rigby.” Though an excellent cartridge for thin-skinned, medium-sized game, some British hunters pushed their luck. The 7x57 mm was W.D.M. “Karamojo” Bell’s favorite cartridge for elephants, and Jim Corbett used the round to dispatch several of the famous man-eating tigers he went after.

The 7x57 mm was an extremely popular hunting cartridge, especially in rifles like this Mauser factory-made Model B.

The 7x57 mm also made its way to the U.S. and by the 1930s, Remington and Winchester were chambering their bolt action rifles in the cartridge. Though, by the 1960s, most American manufacturers had discontinued 7x57 mm as a standard chambering, they continued to occasionally do special runs in the caliber, in rifles like the the Remington Model 700 and Ruger 77. The 7x57 mm case would also serve as the basis for an equally popular American cartridge, the .257 Roberts.

Ten: Handguns Were An Important Part Of Mauser’s Business

A “Red 9” Mauser C96 pistol chambered in 9 mm Parabellum.

Though the Mauser name is synonymous with rifles, handguns were also an important part of its business. Their first semi-automatic, and most well-known, handgun was the C96 pistol. Though never officially adopted by the German Army, 150,000 “Broomhandle” pistols would be purchased by them to supplement the P08 “Luger” in World War I. By the time production ended in 1937, more than a million C96 handguns had been produced by Mauser, along with countless copies made in other parts of the world.

After the war, Mauser delved into the pocket pistol market, making a variety of designs in .25 and .32 ACP. To compete with more modern designs, like the Walther PPK, Mauser introduced the HSc in 1940, with a double-action trigger and clean external lines. Many of Mauser’s pocket pistols would serve the German military and police.

A Mauser HSc pistol in .32 Auto that was made for a German military contract and captured by an American G.I.

Though they failed to secure adoption of one of their full-size designs, Mauser made many 9 mm Parabellum handguns for the German military. In 1930, they were contracted to make P08 Lugers and would continue to do so until 1943. Mauser would be the second largest producer of the Walther P38, during World War II.

The “BYF” markings on this P08 Luger (left) and P38 (right) indicate they were manufactured at the Mauser factory during World War II.

After Mauser was reorganized following the war, they re-started Luger production in 1969 and continued making the pistols until 1986. The latest handguns marketed by Mauser were High Power clones they sold between 1992 and 1996, which were made for them by FEG of Hungary.

A post-World War II P08 Luger manufactured for Interarms by Mauser.