Keep Track of the Forrestal!

A reader sent me a link to a site he hosts!  It is totally worth a visit!  The photos alone are tremendous!  Here: http://navy.memorieshop.com/Forrestal/LAST-VOYAGE/index.html

USS Forrestal's Final Voyage

CVA-59/ CV/ AVT-59 USS Forrestal, laid down in 1952 and commissioned in 1955, was the first supercarrier, and carried the torch for freedom until 1993, when she was decommissioned.  She is 1039 feet long and four acres of American real-estate.  In 1963 she was host to a C-130 Hercules.   There was hope that USS Forrestal Museum Inc. could raise enough money, public interest, and premises to give her a permanent home as a museum ship.  The USS Forrestal Museum Inc., however, switched their efforts from USS Forrestal to USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63, for various reasons.  The result was that, in October 2013, the US Navy awarded a contract to All Star Metals of Brownsville, Texas, that infamous place on the gulf coast that eats old, brave navy ships, to recycle and dismantle her.  The Navy paid All Stars Metals one cent.  ONE CENT!!

The up-shot is, in the dawn hours of February 4th, the Ex-USS Forrestal was to begin her final journey to sea.  If you live near Philadelphia, along the East Coast, the Gulf Coast, or near Brownsville, Texas, and you see a proud ship under tow, please, take a minute, watch her in her glory.  Take a picture.  Share the moment with a child or loved one.  Say a prayer.  Remember the men who served aboard her.  Remember her service.  For she is a proud ship.

And, if you DO get a photo, send it my way to be posted.  Please!


      

End of Two Eras is Nigh?

I have been a big fan of the heavy hitting capability of the A-10 Warthog for a very long time.  I am also quite fond of the tradition, heritage, and capability of the U-2/TR-1 series of black jets.  They may not be with us much longer, though, according to Chief of U.S. Air Force Air Command Command Gen. Michael Hostage in an interview with Air Force Times.  

Because big business seems to be running things in Washington DC we can look forward to buying more drones like Global Hawk, but that leaves little money for the continuation of U-2/TR-1 service.  That then puts out of commission an entirely viable, of older technology.  Why are we letting big business wine and dine our politicians?  Is it good to have technology for technology sake?  I don't know the answers, but I wonder.

The A-10 may die because of the fact that it does not have a place on battlefield of the future.  Given the fact that we may be facing insurgents and un-organized hostile forces, this actually seems reasonable.  Still, the A-10 carries that badge of honor of being an ugly but capable weapons system.  

You can find out more here and here.

MV-22 Stop-over

 An MV-22 Osprey from VMM-161, the "Greyhawks" out of Miramar, California, stopped by the Yakima airport a couple days ago(?).  Apparently there was some sort of equipment casualty and a part was trucked from Spokane to Yakima to repair it.

 As a matter of luck I discovered its presence.  I took the daughter and drove over to see it.

As a further matter of luck, I discovered from some passersby that it was scheduled to leave at 1pm.  We got there about noon.  So, we grabbed a bite to eat and then came back to tail gate!

About twenty minute before one, they started the APU, which was remarkable loud, then, after that had stabilized, about ten minutes later they began start up procedures.  That blue smoke is from the APU start if I remember right.

 After they got it going, you could tell the crew chief unplugged his mike and ran over to the rapidly multiplying crowd.  He pointed to a couple of kids next to the fence, which, the mother said, freaked them out, then he handed them each a squadron patch.  If I had a little less decorum, I would have rushed the fence and begged for one, too.

They ran the engines up once to a towering crescendo and then dropped the throttles again.  Then finally, with the entire crew, which, if my count was correct, was five, the crew door forward was closed, throttles ran up again and breaks released and it moved out.

It rotated outside of my vision.  I was hoping for more of a vertical lift off, but alas it was not to be.

Still, for a Saturday afternoon around here, it was great excitement!!

Tides Change

About 11 years ago, I volunteered at the McClellan Aviation Museum.  I really enjoyed my time there.  Shortly before we returned to Washington State, and near the end of my time volunteering, the museum personnel were invited to watch the preview of "Fighter Pilot."

The story went that an Air Force general had been touring the National Museum of the United States Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio.  When they arrived at the IMAX theater, the only movie available was one about the Navy's Blue Angels, "Magic of Flight."  This rankled the general and set in progress the idea of "Fighter Pilot," because he thought it ridiculous that the USAF did not have its own IMAX movie.  Apparently, he felt it poor form to recruit for the Navy.

My wife and I showed up, along with several of the museum's staff, and enjoyed a really good movie that took advantage of the IMAX viewing experience.

Ever since then, though, I have always remembered the story about the general and his wanting a USAF movie in the USAF museum.  Well, the tides have changed.  I happened to be looking at the information about the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.  When I scrolled across the IMAX theater offerings, I had to chuckle.  There, in the center, next to the "Magic of Flight" was "Fighter Pilot."  The story of what it's like to fly an Air Force F-15 at Red Flag.

Whom ever that general of the Air Force was, I hope he's chuckling over the fact that his movie is on view in the US Navy's hall of aviation history.   

You can visit the Navy museum's theater page here, and the USAF museum's theater offerings here.

KC-130J Hercules, from Futenma, Japan

Today, at about 3pm local, a Marine KC-130J, landed at the Yakima Airport.  Apparently to load some para-jumpers.  At about 4:15pm, it took off again.  This aircraft was accepted by the Marine Corps in October 2001.  Its tail code suggests that its usual base is MCAS Futenma, on the island of Okinawa, Japan.  

You can tell it is a KC(the K denoting a tanker, and the C denoting Cargo...don't ask me why K stands for Tanker, it just DOES.) by the drogue-bearing auxiliary tanks under the wings.  The Marine Corps likes to have birds that can perform several functions.  These birds can refuel any aircraft outfitted with a probe.  The US Air Force prefers to use the Boeing-developed Flying Boom method, in which a specially trained boom operator guides the refueling nozzle into a receptacle on the receiving aircraft.  The Navy uses the probe and drogue system like the Marines.  Given rivalries between the services, it seems fair to say that the Marine and the Navy pilots would argue that the boom method is for sissies, since you practically have someone refuel your aircraft for you, while the Air Force pilots might argue that you have to maintain a higher degree of exact flying to stay within the small box that the boomer can refuel in.  Both methods get the job done, though, and I pass no judgement either way.

Without having spoken to to the pilots, one can only surmise why this bird is so far from home.  Likely explanations include depot level overhaul, training, or just run-of-the-mill-that's-what-they-do-all-the-time.    

 Well, that's all that's going on in my little corner of Washington State, how about yours?

USS CONCORD, PG-3, A part of her remains!

In March of 1890, more than 120 years ago, the USS Concord, a gunboat of the Yorktown class, began her life, when she was launched from Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works.  She was 244 feet long with a beam of 36 feet.  She was armed with 6X 6 inch Mk IV breech loading howitzers.  She could make almost 17 knots with her steam engines, which were supplemented by sail, and she boasted a crew of 190.

Commissioned in 1891, she operated along the United States East Coast and West Indies until 1893, when she was transferred to the Asiatic Station.  She spent a year out of commission for upgrades most likely.  In early 1898, she was returned to the Asiatic Fleet and took part in the Spanish American War, where she and other ships helped decimate the Spanish Fleet under command of Admiral Dewey in The Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines on May 1st, 1898.

She continued to support operations in the Philippines and then patrolled off of Mexico, Alaska, and even China.  She was finally retired from active service and became a barracks ship in 1909.  In 1914 she became a quarantine ship in Astoria, Oregon.  In 1929, she was finally let go and, likely, scrapped.

Somewhere along the line though, at least two of her six inch guns were removed.  In 1915, these were given to the United Spanish War Veterans, who placed them in the War Garden at Woodland Park.  These two large caliber guns still reside there.  They are a link to that long ago war that brought the United States of America to the forefront of world politics.  Even though the USA attempted to maintain a backseat in two world wars, each time she was brought into the fray and her action helped win the day for the side she was on.  These victories earned her an unavoidable place in the spotlight and placed her center stage in the world as a superpower for well into the 21st century.

Even though they sit mute in the corner of a disused park, these guns recall a time when America and the United States were still an untried entity in world politics.  Admiral Dewey unleashed a fusillade of American might upon the Spanish Navy, and, in 115 years, that might has not changed nor backed down from a fight.

If you wish to view these fine symbols of American Might, and perhaps commune with their spirits and partake of their valor in bringing the fight to the enemy, you can find them in Seattle, Washington.  Look for the Woodland Park Zoo and go to the southern entrance.  On the west edge of the parking lot you will find these long forgotten behemoths keeping watch over your vehicle.