MKopack

Current day, I'm pretty confident that the aircraft we have will do quite well, but we need to keep planning for 10, 15 and 20 years from now, in a day when the Eagles, Vipers and Warthogs - and even our Predators and Reapers may not be sufficient. The current plan is to replace a large number of legacy fighters with UAV's (look at the ANG today), which work well over Iraq, but would not over Russia, China, etc... ARe we currently building building for what five years from now will be thought of as the 'last' war, rather than the 'next'? People ask if we can afford to build more Raptors, and it's a valid question. It is an aircraft designed and built for the Cold War - but just yesterday Russia announced that their 5th generation fighter would make a first flight in 2009, and China with their new (Walmart, etc.) wealth may be an ever larger technological threat. Can we afford NOT to build more F-22 when each fraction of dominance that we lose, will translate directly to higher loss rates in aircraft, and service people in a future conflict. The difference between using F-22's and legacy fighters (F-15, F-16) as air superiority aircraft in a future conflict could come down to when one of our Grunts on the ground calls for CAS whether the next aircraft he sees is an allied A-10, or an enemy Su-25 - something our guys on the ground haven't had to consider in more than a generation. It could be that simple. Mike Kopack

Nice write-up on Steve Davies' Red Eagles on the AirForceTimes website today: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/01/...s_intro_010409/ Mike

Beautiful! I love the scheme on the Hawk! The Spitfire is the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's own P7350 A Mk IIa built in 1940. P7350 is the oldest airworthy Spitfire in the world and the only Spitfire still flying today to have actually fought in the Battle of Britain. The Hurricane on the other hand, is LF363 a Mk IIc, believed to be the last Hurricane to be delivered to the RAF in 1944. Each of these aircraft serve on in the RAF's Historical Flight and are flown by active duty airmen. For more info and photos see: https://www.bbmf.co.uk/fighters.html

Thirteen million hours, over 50+ years witha large proportion of the pilots in the Air Force during that time flying them? The Tweet may not be 'sexy' but you know, if you design the right patch and market them well, you might just be able sell enough to buy your squadron's T-37's... THAT's history! Mike

Here's a little experiment with 'cutting and pasting' that I did several years ago to a photo of the CWH Lancaster from a CFB Trenton airshow. The aircraft is dedicated to the memory of P/O Andrew Mynarski, VC, of the Royal Canadian Air Force who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions over France in June of 1944. (https://www.lancastermuseum.ca/s,mynarski.html) It will be interesting to see how a remake of the Dambusters will be done, as you've said, the original is such a classic. The remake would be good though to keep 617's heritage alive, as so few today - at least here in the States - know about the missions. Mike

“Post-9/11, we’ve moved away from our blue uniforms almost altogether and have transformed into an Air Force that wears our utility uniform on a daily basis,” Schwartz said in the memo. Well, maybe (probably) I'm nuts, but I thought that's why we called them 'utility uniforms'. Just wait until PT Uniform Fridays... Mike

From Lockheed today. Despite the new 737 replacements in production today, there will be P-3's flying for a long time... Mike

You know, reading this thread is just sad. Since I first posted in the 'Deid thread back on page 10 or so I keep thinking "it can't get any worse than that", but it does... I know, I've been out since '91, but what the hell has happened to our Air Force? Who's running this show, some liberal pansy-assed touchy-feely college professors, afraid to hurt somebody's feelings? Somebody call Berkeley and let them know that we've found them and would be happy to send them back - or anywhere... Now I was just a crew chief, didn't spend much time in the Squadron bar (and very thankful that you guys let me wander through here now and then) but these are the guys that my last fighter squadron looked up to. 614th TFS Lucky Devils at Phan Rang AB, Christmas eve 1967 They were long before our time in the AF, but we could use more of them around today. I think some of you here would fit right in. Think these guys wore reflective belts on the flightline, or saluted in while in their 'PT uniforms'? Mike Kopack Proud ex-Lucky Devils Maintainer

Amazing to see that they made it back, great flying and a testiment to a strong airframe. I spent four years working the Orions at the LM Depot (PDM) in Greenville, SC, and even then it was sad to see the condition of many of the aircraft. All those hours flying at low level over the saltwater have really taken their toll. It got to the point where we couldn't remove all of the wing and tailplane corrosion, and over 50% of the aircraft showed front and rear spar cracks. In a lot of cases the B's that we pulled out of Davis Monthan to mod (with an E-2 rotodome) for the Customs Service were in better condition and with fewer hours. I hope the 737 (P-8?) program turns out alright for the Navy, as they are definately going to be going into it without a backup, as the Orions are really going to be nearing their end. Mike

Reading these last several pages makes this old Vet proud that there are people like the crew of Raider 21 serving today, as well as all of you who have been writing about them. Salute, Mike Kopack

WAY back in 90-91, during Desert Storm, 86-0047 was the only two-seat F-16 to fly combat missions before the cease-fire. She spent the first half of the conflict in the hangar as a CANN bird, but after many requests from our combat camera guys we put her back together and our guys took her up into Kuwait and Iraq loaded with Mk.84 or Mk.82's. I would guess that flying the D would have added an additional complication in mission planning due to the differing fuel capacity (the second cockpit reduces the fuel load in the F1 tank) although probably less so than all the SAM's... For more on Torrejon's 401st TFW(P) the 'Forgotten 1000', and the 614th TFS 'Lucky Devils', the first US military unit to deploy to Qatar, I invite you to visit https://www.lucky-devils.net Mike Kopack ex Lucky Devils Maintainer & very amateur webmaster This is Preston 'Stone' Thompson prior to an early war mission in 87-0227 (early during the war we flew with the 4xAIM-9 configuration). 227 went on to fly 51 missions (40 Code 1) during the 42 days.

As an old AGS/AMU guy, I never had the opportunity to work at homebase, 'directly' for a flying squadron, but did get to see a lot of OPS Command vs. MX Supervision standoffs - while we on the flightline were standing around (or more likely riding around in the bread truck...) with broke jets waiting for someone, anyone, to make the call. On the other hand, when we went from Torrejon to the Gulf back in 90-91 as the first squadron to deploy to Qatar, one of the first things that was done was to throw a lot of the standard chain of command right out the window (or tent flap, as it were...) In doing so we cut out the middleman and there were a lot of times that the lines of communication went directly from 0-5/6 straight to E-4 (and vice versa.) If either of us needed to know something, or needed a quick decision, we were able to go directly to the ones who knew, or could make the call (and as the E-4, I was surprised how many times it was the 'O' asking me, rather than the other way around...) We're all a team, we have to be - for any of us to succeed, and the 'cleaner' and closer we can make that team, the better for all of us. Mike

Saw this same quote on another fourm, someone answered "Wonder how "tired" he would have been after seein' the results from Iwo, Wake, Peleliu, Guadalcanal, or Tarawa?" I thought it was fitting. Mike

Rocker, I'm sure you know even better than I, there's a right and a wrong in this world and it doesn't take long to convince most people which side Jane falls on. Give your wife a try, it might be easier than you think. While I'm not sure that mine understands completely, my four year old (whose goal in life is to be a Raptor pilot) thinks she makes a great target... Mike

First off, let me say that this response comes from an ex-Sgt, Crew Chief, who has been out of the AF for over fifteen years - so I haven't been to the 'Died, but I was deployed to the airbase at the Intl airport in Doha during 90-91. We were the first US military in the country. Sounds like someone who has realized that they don't have much to do with the real mission has let their authority go to their heads. While safety is, of course, important a lot of the things that are listed here just don't make sense, it's the mission that matters. "Daddy, what did you do in the war?" "Son, I was one of the most important people on base. I kept the dirty, sweaty people from eating at the 'dining facility'. We can't allow 'that type' in here, they might offend the clean personnel and finance people... Sure, I was misunderstood, but my SVS commander saw my true value, and put me in for this shiny Bronze Star." I spent seven months in Doha, wearing Hawaiian shirts, shorts and flip-flops off duty, eating pistachios and drinking smuggled rum - maybe not the 'Yankee Air Pirate' of SEA (of course, as a maintainer, my feet stayed on the ground) but I gave it my best shot. On duty, I worked phase and the flightline wearing a set of non-steeltoed jungle boots, wearing mail-order desert BDU's with no patches, rank, name or US Air Force tapes and my boonie hat rolled up like a cowboy, and you know what? Our commander said "Mike, I don't care what rank you are, or what your uniform looks like, what I care about is having our jets ready to fly each morning." Our mission as maintainers was to support the pilots that we sent north each day of the war, to give them the best aircraft that we could to give them the best chance of coming back to us each night, and every minute we were there to support the two that we had to leave in Iraq as POW's until the war ended. That was the only mission that was important, not supporting some pencil-pushing want-to-be authority figure on an ego trip. While we had our share of those as well, we had Wing and flying Squadron Commanders who quickly put them in their places. Sorry if this post isn't politically correct, but it's the MISSION that matters. Those of you who are over there fighting for all of us who are safe at home might not be able to directly go out and win this war for us, but all of us losing sight of the real mission could certainly lose it. I know that most here on the board are from the 'O' side of the house, and I hope you don't mind an opinion from an old 'E'. Mike 3.7 million pounds of ordinance, 1303 sorties, 42 days, 1 squadron. The 'Forgotten 1000'. Visit the Lucky Devils in the Gulf War at: https://www.lucky-devils.net [ 30. January 2007, 08:00: Message edited by: MKopack ]

Just to show that sometimes the shoe can fit on the other foot as well, I've had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with 'The Starfighters' airshow team and their beautiful F-104's. At the 'hangar party' at Shaw back in '05, we were hanging out by the beer table (who'd have thought) when a group of young Viper pilots walked by and asked Dave, one of our pilots, if he flew the Starfighter (not that the bag he was wearing or patches might give it away). You could tell that were just trying to be polite to the somewhat older (trying to word this so Dave doesn't kick my @ss) pilot, and weren't really all that interested. As Dave said yes, and answered a couple of quick questions about the jet, JR (the teams Director of Ops) leaned over to me and whispered "Hey, watch this..." then spoke up, saying "Hey Dave, why don't you tell them about your MiG's?" Jaws dropped and they all did double-takes when they noticed Dave Waldrop's '100 Missions NVN - F-105' patch and he told them about 'gunning' one (or maybe two) 17's, with the gunsight inop on his Thud. Half an hour later they were all following him around like little lost puppies... Mike

But you have to admit, that even more than the Vulcan, the Victor was a pretty bizarre looking acft. They were all K.'s by the time I first saw them in the late 70's, and I only ever got to see a single one fly, but at the time it seemed that if there was an airshow anywhere in Canada - there was a Victor (the word on the Canadian shows is worldwide). Pilot told me that when they scrambled from the UK with the Phantoms, to intercept Bears over the North Atlantic, with their high cruise speed and virtually unlimited fuel supply, half the time the tankers ended up making the initial intercept... Mike

Maybe they crammed him into the MK69? We came in on a weekend to recover a couple of birds due in from an airshow. The pilots said that they'd take care of the travel pods until they found that huge salmon fit through the door a whole lot easier when they're soft and floppy, rather than hard and frozen. We helped out and with a little bit of disassembly and sheetmetal work, no problems... I second that after years in London, Trenton, Toronto, etc... Mike

On top of the conversations what have you seen? "Son, your 'chin-up' bar is an antenna that I really need to have attached for me to fly home..." A-10 pilot At Dayton one year there was an A-6, preparing to be towed off of the ramp to depart, when some yahoo driving a U-Haul truck, wanting to get one more look, decided to see if it would fit under the stabs. It didn't and crushed a pretty large section of elevator. Back at MacDill, late 80's. I'd spent some time talking to a Marine EA-6B crew at the Open House, who had posted themselves around the nose of their aircraft. They decided to 'break for lunch' and walked in one direction, as I went the other. Less than a minute later there was a BANG and looking back I could see smoke from the Prowler. A drunken (I'm assuming) ex-AF maintainer bet his buddy that if you open the little door on the nose, and pull the cable out six feet, that nothing would really happen. Fortunatly no one was hit by the canopies as they came down, and fortunatly for them they were 'apprehended' by bystanders on the scene in the probably seconds before the Marines made it back to the jet. Unfortunatly for them, but quite fitting if you think about it, the civilians that 'apprehended' them didn't do it much more gently than I can imagine that the Marines would have. Mike

Heard the same while talking to the pilot of one of the NYANG ski-equipped LC-130's "Can this airplane land in the water?" Mike