Waco
-
Content Count
1,278 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Posts posted by Waco
-
-
“Probably the coolest jet aircraft ever, turns 50 today. First flight 21 December 1970.”
That’s a ridiculously subjective comment. Counter-argument: “one of the most overrated jet aircraft ever—propped up by a mid-80s US Navy propaganda film—would’ve turned 50 today, had it not been retired from front line service over 14 years ago.”
And yes, I know the IRGC still flies them.
-
I know there's a few fans of the Skull and Bones out there, so....for your humble consideration, here's the latest offering from my side hustle.
Available HERE if you are so interested. Thanks for checking it out!
-
https://lmgtfy.app/?q=F-15E+deployed
QuoteLove to see some photos if you have them.
They are not particularly hard to find. There's tons of photos of filthy forward deployed F-15Es.
Quoteif I am going to model this particular jet, or a jet from the same squadron, then the 'clean look' is appropriate, no?
If you're modeling it while it's at home station, straight off the wash rack or out of the paint barn, then sure. But considering the Lakenheath Strike Eagles, and particularly the 494th, have been deployed a whole lot of the past several years, you'd be equally valid in modeling a heavily weathered aircraft. As a bonus, they've also worn a bunch of cool temporary nose art while deployed, which can be a fun detail to include on your models. In fact, this particular aircraft, 00-3000, wore nose art on its last deployment.
Here's 00-3000 wearing her "Captain Insano" nose art, midway down the gallery of jets. It also looks particularly grimy and grungy in that shot, which was taken as it was returning to home station.
And Falconxlvi provided a litany of filthy looking Strike Eagle pics above as well, but those cited above are specific for Lakenheath birds, which is the subject of this walkaround video.
-
Quote
I always had the thought that some bases were active and some bases were Reserve, Guard, ect.
There are Reserve and Guard exclusive bases, such as Homestead which is an Air Reserve Base, but many times, AFBs share facilities between Guard, Reserve, and Active Duty units. Maxwell is an AFB, under an Active Duty Airbase Wing. The 908th is a tenant unit.
QuoteIt will be interesting to know why they picked Maxwell for the MH-139 FTU.
A primary driver was the fact that, with the accelerated divestiture of the legacy C-130s, the 908th needed a new mission quickly, or else its Airmen would be out of a job when the Hercs left. The timing worked well to replace the C-130s with MH-139s. Proximity to suitable training ranges then likely came into play. But the major driver is, the Wing needs a new mission, or else it will be closed, and those Reservists would be unemployed.
QuoteHurricane Hunters sister squadron (Flying Jennies) has slick J's.
I stand corrected; forgot about the 815th. Most of the Reserve Hercs are legacy H-models, with the exceptions noted. Hence the reason to push for new missions/aircrafts for those wings, as big AF looks to eliminate the legacy -130s.
-
In all fairness, this is a jet at home station, with full access to all support, wash rack, and paint barn facilities, engaged only in training missions. Take a look at how some forward deployed E-models look after only a few weeks ina desert environment. They are often absolutely filthy, with dirt and dust caked onto every panel gap, fluid leak, and condensation point on the airframe.
They’re not always this clean.
-
Well, Maxwell isn’t an Air Reserve Base, it’s an Active Duty AFB, with a slew of tenant units. The largest of those is Air University, but the majority of the tenants are all Active Duty. The 908th, however, is a Reserve Wing, is a tenant unit on the base, and will become the MH-139 Formal Training Unit after divesting of its C-130s. 908th will transition from being a Herc unit to the new mission, but the base designation and mission will not change....the Reserve Wing will remain a tenant unit on the Active Duty owned airbase.
And the Reserves do operate J-models, albeit not slicks yet. The Hurricane Hunters at Kessler are operated by the Reserves, and they fly WC-130Js. Likewise, the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick is transitioning to HC-130J models. Of note, neither of those bases are ARBs either; the Reserve Wings are tenant units on active duty installations in both cases.
The existing C-130s at the 908th are legacy H-models, hence their being ID’d to phase out as the AF consolidates and reduces the -130 fleet, and divests of the old H-models across all components, active duty, Guard, and Reserve.
-
Fun fact, those schemes are just part of a complete deck designed by ARCer Trigger for VFC-12; they were leaked before any selections were made, and with no credit attributed.
-
About to publish a new print featuring more Eagle nose art, this time from the light gray side. This print will be available from Third Offset Designs starting this Friday, 23 October. Just as with all Third Offset Designs' nose art prints, you can order direct here: https://third-offset-designs.myshopify.com/Check out this outstanding nose art from the 44th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and AMU! Recently returned from CENTCOM AOR, these C-models followed the lead of many of their E-model predecessors, and added some incredible artwork to their jets. Third Offset Designs is pleased to help recreate this art, and preserve this Air Force heritage.Reveal video here: 44th EFS - Vampire Bats - CENTCOM 2020
-
“You're guaranteed not see any of that BS the NFL is pushing.“
Is that BS the exercising of personal rights and freedoms? Is that the BS the NFL is pushing.But you’re right, instead you can see a whole different flavor of stuff. 🤷🏻♂️
Remember, not everyone views the world through the same lenses.
-
🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
Apparently the answer is to cancel everything and hide in our homes forever.
-
“It’s not going to really be “safe” until there is an effective vaccine and most everyone has received it.”
So, never? Given the fact this virus will continually mutate, like most coronaviruses, a vaccine will be, at best, minimally effective. And given the number of people who’ve already said they will not get the vaccine, either because it’s been rushed and long term effects are unknown, or because they’re antivaxxers on principle, or because they’re conspiracy theorists, you’ll never get a majority vaccinated.So...then what? We never send kids back to school? Cancel all major gatherings, assemblies, and events?
There’s no end game for this. The iron final goal was to flatten the curve, and allow for sufficient medical resources. Now that we’re past that...now what?
There are no answers, just public shaming and bullying.
-
“To keep everyone safe.”
im genuinely curious what the endgame is for all of this. What’s the threshold that has to be met to declare it, “safe.” It seems no one has any idea. We’re well past, “flatten the curve.”
Can’t fight it, but seriously: what’s the endgame?
-
At a minimum, I’d expect you’ll see some minor markings changes. AFRC on the jet, AFRC patch on the tail, possibly a tail code change, depending on when the iron swaps over and the associated flying hour program switches streams.
It’s possible you might see some other changes, but purely speculative at this point.
Operationally? You won’t see much change. The preponderance of pilots will switch from being active-duty to being Reservists. This is a double benefit, as it allows the Aggressirs to hold onto experienced aviators and maintainers a lot longer, ensuring consistency and continuity of the mission. It also allows active duty to keep more pilots in front line, combat assignments instead of burning three years of their career as a training aid.
There’s some other organizational efficiencies, but most of them are transparent to outsiders.
This will also free up more active duty manpower for the Fifth-GenAggressor mission, which will fall under the 65th AGRS.
-
Strategic landscapes change, weapons change, geopolitics changes....it is not unreasonable to ask if we need to continue holding a presence we’ve held for almost 80 years, at extreme cost. Particularly when deterrence can be accomplished using more modern methods than massive forward bases in foreign countries.
-
AFRC’s 926th Wing will pick up the lead for the Aggressor mission, and will assume responsibilities for the 64th AGRS next summer:
926th Green Light for Active Association
-
Quote
It started with The Gipper hisself.
New phone, who dis?
-
Quote
Anyways, It’s good to see the nose art back on jets, but I’m sure all of these were pre-approved. Nothing too edgy, etc.
That's true. Over on Third Offset Design's FB page you can find a series of pics from, "Nose Art that Wasn't." Some of it is nose art that was designed by the Crew Dawgs but never approved for application, and some is nose art that was put on the jets briefly, before somebody said, "take that down, RIGHT NOW."
-
Quote
Those are all cool, but...Billie Jean? Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems a little out of character for a strike aircraft.
Did you miss Spud Eagle and Jenny? After nearly 2 years of helping recreate the F-15E nose art from the CENTCOM AOR, nothing surprises me. Crew dawgs come up with some weird stuff, sometimes. It's part of the charm.
-
Quote
Even the names on the jets that go along with their nose art—“Checkmate” and “Boogeyman”—could be a cryptic reference to the Al Baghdadi mission.
This whole article stretches the limits of credulity, and he's reading an awful lot into tiny details. This line about the jet names, however, is perhaps the most ridiculous....most of the jet nicknames were determined before they even deployed.
There were some cool nicknames and nose arts on this rotation, though! Like previous Strike Eagle deployments, I was honored to be asked to help capture them all:
-
Quote
Anyway, I'm glad to see the blues and t-birds spreading a little hope and promise and honoring the sacrifices that these front line people as well as the citizens are making.
I swear we've stepped into the most bizarre timeline.
-
There are actually A LOT of people complaining.
And while it’s true their flying hours are already budgeted, flying hours and budget dollars get reallocated all the time. Given shortfalls on POE and testing, I can understand why people are disgruntled. If you don’t understand the finer minutiae of the US federal budget (and who REALLY does?), the confusion is understandable.
It’s particularly a bad look since they’re not flying airshow a right now.
Well intentioned, but the optics on this are kinda terrible. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
-
Probably because it IS a cluster. And I don't care who you are, flying 8,000 miles to make condescending comments to the members of a unit whose boss you just fired is a bad look. To tell them they need to stop complaining (he did, while simultaneously complaining himself about how HE was being treated in the court of public opinion) is an even worse look. To throw down with F-bombs as the SecNav when you're addressing the crew? Bad look. To not realize that your speech was likely to be leaked to the public? "He was either too naive or too stupid to be serving as [Secretary of the Navy]"
Here's the thing, if that Captain thought he truly needed to get the crew off the ship, because he'd seen how badly this was spreading throughout the world, and how in the US it was incapacitating younger folks at a higher rate than had previously been seen, and he was concerned it was going to rapidly spread through the confined spaces like wildfire....then maybe he thought this was the only option left. If you actually read his original letter (and some of the follow-on communiques that have also leaked), you know know he expressed his desire that the planned courses-of-action happen FASTER, because he felt like he was running out of time. So he made a judgement call, likely aware that it could cost him his job as soon as he hit, "send."
Does SecNav (or other leadership) have the right to express loss of confidence in his ability to command? Absolutely. In fact, if they'd left it at that, and not bothered with this follow up cluster, it probably would've blown over quickly, and faded into obscurity. It DOES say something that none of the uniformed leadership in his chain-of-command wanted him relieved of command, though.
Here's the thing: who was right (or wrong, depending on your point of view): the Captain for sending his e-mail? Or the SecNav, for having him relieved for loss of confidence?
The correct answer is, "why not both?" In the end, the Captain got what he thought was essential for his crew: they were pulled into port, got medical help, and got the crew being treated/screened/isolated for a potentially dangerous, highly infectious, largely unknown contagion. The fact he lost his Command may not matter to him as much as his own satisfaction that he accomplished this goal.
The question many should take from this is, "What would you do?" For those who have the privilege of command, it's not a rhetorical question.
For everyone else, it's just Monday morning, armchair quarterbacking. If it entertains you through quarantine to argue about it, so be it. Either way, the world will move on. I suspect the biggest casualty in all of this will be US Navy recruiting and retention, because why on earth would you choose to work in this kind of command environment?
-
Can you post the pic you have? Might help with context...
-
Along with the reasons listed above, you can add to it the fact 1/32 decals do not sell very well. If stock doesn't move, the manufacturers aren't going to make more of them.
Anyone else get their covid vaccines yet?
in General Discussion
Posted
GW8345: asks for expert opinion
receives expert opinions
GW8345: “no, not like that”
You are as charming as ever, Reddog.
Tighten up them tin foil hats boys! It’s gonna stay bumpy for a long time at this rate...