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Recently read "A Higher Call." WELL worth the read. From myself it went to my dad, and then to my MOM who also devoured it--not her usual read at all, that's how amazing a story it is.

It's the account of the Me-109 that found a B-17 on its last legs, and just couldn't bring himself to shoot it down. So he did the unthinkable--ESCORTED it to safety, right across the German AA lines and over the channel. The two pilots reunited in the late 80's and were inseparable friends to the ends of their lives.

I read that last year. Very moving.

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It's down.

I put it up only because I thought others interested in the book might want to know what to buy, but yes I agree it's offensive.

To the other poster about balloons: actually the Su-15 had shot down other planes before 007, but none of them were engaged in military missions (AFAIK). One of them was a commercial 707 that crash-landed on a frozen lake around 1979. At least one passenger was killed.

Osipovitch was a soldier following orders. He is responsible, along with many others, for the 007 deaths but he is no more of a psychopath than the fire crew on the deck of the Vincennes.

Let me be clear, I loath the USSR, but for whatever reason I'm fascinated with the Su-15. If any Bf109 modelers want to take a shot at that, be my guest.

Actually, I was just mocking the easily offended using a really bad pun related to US current events. I'm fine with it being posted.

Didn't know about the 707, I need to look that up.

No, I do not believe Osipovich is a psychopath, but rather a product of his Soviet upbringing.

The Vincennes incident is a very different set of circumstances and responses, though equally tragic.

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I got that you were mocking the easily offended crowd, but sarcasm doesn't always translate well. I don't blame Punder for taking the picture down under the circumstances. It's actually nice to see someone who doesn't mind taking measures to ensure the comfort of more users.... +1 internets for punder! :nanner:

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Didn't know about the 707, I need to look that up.

Interesting story. Yet another Korean airline drastically off course, flying over the USSR. Was hit by an AAM, blowing off part of the wing and I believe a couple of engines were knocked out. Pilots were able to safely crash land the jet on a frozen lake near the Finnish border.

The Soviets were highly embarrassed by this since the aircraft was well inside their borders when it was intercepted. It is believed that this contributed towards their decision to immediately shoot down KAL007.

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I got that you were mocking the easily offended crowd, but sarcasm doesn't always translate well. I don't blame Punder for taking the picture down under the circumstances. It's actually nice to see someone who doesn't mind taking measures to ensure the comfort of more users.... +1 internets for punder! :nanner:/>/>

:jaw-dropping:/>

Holy Mother of...

Is this the Internet? Have I suddenly been shunted into an alternate universe???

This puzzled ex-Austinite thanks you, Sir!

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Interesting story. Yet another Korean airline drastically off course, flying over the USSR. Was hit by an AAM, blowing off part of the wing and I believe a couple of engines were knocked out. Pilots were able to safely crash land the jet on a frozen lake near the Finnish border.

The Soviets were highly embarrassed by this since the aircraft was well inside their borders when it was intercepted. It is believed that this contributed towards their decision to immediately shoot down KAL007.

Fool me once, shame on you...

In regards to the book cover, I pretty much view the presentation for the viewer wondering,"Hey, was that the aircraft that?... Yup, there's the 747!"

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Actually, I was just mocking the easily offended using a really bad pun related to US current events. I'm fine with it being posted.

Didn't know about the 707, I need to look that up.

No, I do not believe Osipovich is a psychopath, but rather a product of his Soviet upbringing.

The Vincennes incident is a very different set of circumstances and responses, though equally tragic.

Sorry... I couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic or not!!

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Wow, there's so much in there... big government demanding a lot from a failing lot, very tough race relations and getting Rosie the Riveter out of the house. I think an even more fascinating tale is how the war industry transformed into the largest consumer economy after the war, and why it and Gen X created the pop culture everyone grew up with.

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Have any of you read "Matterhorn" by Karl Merlantes? Its a fictionalized account of Merlantes' own experiences as a Marine fighting in Vietnam. An absolutely gripping story. The tension in some of the jungle stalking scenes is palpable. The characters are very well developed and sympathetic. Even the antagonist is fleshed out enough that you can see why he makes the poor decisions that he makes.

An absolutely fantastic, exciting, at times heart-breaking, hilarious, and terrifying novel. Thoroughly recommended.

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  • 7 months later...

Half way through "Command and Control" by Eric Schlosser. It's a history of the US nuclear weapons program, with a focus on the safety and control issues associated with the earlier nukes. Intertwined with that is the minute by minute story of the "Damascus Incident", the explosion of an armed Titan II missile in Damascus, Arkansas back in 1980. I thought it was going to be a "dry", technical read but it's anything but. Great book and really makes you think about these issues. US came pretty close on more than one occasion to having one of their own nuclear weapons accidentally detonate. Despite the military's PR campaign, there were many issues associated with security and safety of these weapons. A lot of the book focuses on SAC, which knowingly compromised safety because they felt that it would limit their ability to procure even more weapons.

That Titan II had the largest nuclear warhead in the US inventory. If it had gone off, it would have taken out most of the state of Arkansas, at minimum, if only the warhead's conventional explosives had detonated, a huge area would have been covered with plutonium.

Crazy that by 1980, the USAF was still using dangerous liquid fueled ICBM's. Those things were an accident waiting to happen but they resisted calls to retire them due to the fact that the missile could carry a massive nuclear payload (much larger than anything fitted to the much safer solid rocket powered Minutemans.

Well worth reading, especially since we still have issues with the security of these weapons today, given the ongoing problems the AF is having with ICBM launch crews and nuclear weapons management.

Edited by 11bee
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Half way through "Command and Control" by Eric Schlosser. It's a history of the US nuclear weapons program, with a focus on the safety and control issues associated with the earlier nukes. Intertwined with that is the minute by minute story of the "Damascus Incident", the explosion of an armed Titan II missile in Damascus, Arkansas back in 1980. I thought it was going to be a "dry", technical read but it's anything but. Great book and really makes you think about these issues. US came pretty close on more than one occasion to having one of their own nuclear weapons accidentally detonate. Despite the military's PR campaign, there were many issues associated with security and safety of these weapons. A lot of the book focuses on SAC, which knowingly compromised safety because they felt that it would limit their ability to procure even more weapons.

That Titan II had the largest nuclear warhead in the US inventory. If it had gone off, it would have taken out most of the state of Arkansas, at minimum, if only the warhead's conventional explosives had detonated, a huge area would have been covered with plutonium.

Crazy that by 1980, the USAF was still using dangerous liquid fueled ICBM's. Those things were an accident waiting to happen but they resisted calls to retire them due to the fact that the missile could carry a massive nuclear payload (much larger than anything fitted to the much safer solid rocket powered Minutemans.

Well worth reading, especially since we still have issues with the security of these weapons today, given the ongoing problems the AF is having with ICBM launch crews and nuclear weapons management.

I listened to that one, book on tape. The constant push-pull between safety devices vs operational desires is interesting. I too was amazed we still had liquid fueled rockets that late

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Since my previous post on 02-Sept-15, I finished the 48 books I bought last year and have acquired and read:

Air Force Colors -- Volume 1: 1926-42 by Dana Bell

Guppy Pilot by Robert G. Smith

Naval Fighters Number Twelve: McDonnell F3H Demon by Steve Ginter

North American Aviation P-51 Mustang -- MDF 21 Part 1 Allison Powered by Malcolm V. Lowe. Really nice kitography and aftermarket parts and decals list

North American Aviation P-51 Mustang -- MDF 24 Part 2 Merlin Powered by Malcolm V. Lowe. Really nice kitography and aftermarket parts and decals list

Zoukei-mura Concept Note SWS No. IV -- North American P-51D Mustang, Other than a nice list of extra accessories for their four SWS kits, not of much value.

I'm reading Ups & Downs With No Regrets: The Story of George Lichter by Vic Shayne

And these two are in the queue:

Chassis Design - Principles and Analysis -- Based on previously unpublished technical notes by Maurice Olley by William F. Milliken

Naval Fighters Number 101 Grumman S2F/S-2 Tracker -- Part One Development, Testing, Variants, and Foreign Users by Robert J. Kowalski and Tommy Thomason

Also read an old Asimov sci-fi magazine while awaiting the new book shipment.

Edited by Slartibartfast
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Just last night, I started "Before Topgun Days: The Making of a Jet Fighter Instructor", by Dave Baranek, former Topgun RIO Instructor. This is his second book, and it covers his time in the student naval aviator pipeline.

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Just finished Low Level Hell by Hugh Mills. It's about scout helicopter pilots in Vietnam and was it ever a great read. Top notch in the cockpit type stuff down in the weeds scouting for signs of the VC and NVA. Highly recommended!

Just started To The Limit by Tom Johnson. It's a book about Huey 'Slick' drivers in Vietnam and so far its really good in the early stages of the read.

on Deck:

Apache by Ed Macy.

:cheers:

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Been going through Dalton Fury's Delta Force novels. Just finished Black Site, and started Tier One Wild the day before yesterday.

Also I can vouch for 11 Days of Christmas. Used it as a source for a term paper, along with another of Michel's books, Clashes.

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I read Revolt of The Majors by Michel III and utterly loved it. It's available FREE online and is superb. Did I mention it was FREE? All you have to do is Google the title and you can read it on PDF. Don't even have to download it if you don't want.

And BTW it's FREE

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