On Wed, 27 Aug 2014 01:02:12 -0700, pyotr filipivich
wrote:

John B. Slocomb on Wed, 27 Aug 2014 08:31:17
+0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
On Tue, 26 Aug 2014 09:43:04 -0700, pyotr filipivich
wrote:

John B. Slocomb on Tue, 26 Aug 2014 12:57:57
+0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
On Mon, 25 Aug 2014 09:38:13 -0700, pyotr filipivich
wrote:

John B. Slocomb on Mon, 25 Aug 2014 18:35:01
+0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
On Sun, 24 Aug 2014 20:29:01 -0700, pyotr filipivich
wrote:
Gunner Asch on Sun, 24 Aug 2014 13:28:16 -0700
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
It's a national treasure. The Air Force wants to kill it:
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the...-bu-1562789528
This airframe should be kept. I'd say a wing of them for special ops.
They are special and maybe 30 kept with the 270 or so kept for parts.
Keep troops trained as pilots and ground advisers if needed.
You need more of them than that. It is Close Air Support.
Something which you need right now, not in twenty minutes. "If I
wanted it in twenty minutes, I would have asked for it in twenty
minutes!"
I am reminded of a story from the Korean war, to the effect that
the Air Force jets would check in with the FAC (Forward Air Controller
- the target designator) and tell him "I've got a couple bombs and
twenty minutes." Meanwhile,the Navy/Marines in the A-1 (Later known
as the Sandy) would check in with "I've got bombs, rockets and about
an hour and a half to kill."
Simply cost effective. If a central American country goes wacko or some
people within do it might be just the trick. A billion dollar machine
that flies to fast and can't turn or hide isn't needed.

Seems like they, the DOD, thinks we can fight a war sitting on our sofa
waiting for updates.
Yep.
http://www.military.com/video/off-duty/humor/drone-operator-vs-vista-support/663148157001/

Personally, I think the entire fleet should be transferred to the Army.
They LOVE that ugly thing.
At least the guys on the ground do.
Hell yes!!!!

Air Force still seems to want billion dollar super jets.

Tech wienies are like that. Good folks if you have deep pockets

The Air Force is still enamored of the FB-111 concept: One plane
to do it all - badly.
That is an interesting statement. I was in the FB-111 test program and
what SAC was saying at that time was that they had asked for a
racehorse and been given a donkey.

The pilots might have thought that, but the Aardvark seem to have
been the only other "Fighter" - after the ME110 - which needed a
fighter escort. The powers which be wanted one aircraft which could
deliver bombs, launch stand off ordnance, and fire missiles to shoot
down intercepting aircraft. What they got was an big compromise,
which didn't really have the payload, couldn't maneuver to save its
life (not compared to the OpFor) and had so many problems with the
"innovations" that it really wasn't good for more than garnering votes
in Congress.

In actual fact the "powers that be", at least in the case of the
F-111, was not the Air Force, it was the civilian portion of the DOD
that was dreaming of an "all purpose" airplane. It might also be noted
that the airplane was built by General Dynamics and one might think
about who was president at the time and where G.D. was based :-)

Point taken and I will admit, my main point: The Army - or the
Navy - no longer makes their own stuff, so they have to go through the
Civilians to get it made. And the civilians over in the DOD get
enamored of the nifty neato. While the Army knows it is going to have
to use this thing in less than optimal conditions.

I don't know that the Military ever "made their own stuff" :-)

Once upon a time, there were Army Arsenals, and Navy Yards, where
the work got done.


Did "Navy Yards" build ships? I thought that all navy vessels were
built under contract. Portsmouth Navy Yard, in New Hampshire didn't
built ships but did do maintenance. The U.S. Army Arsenals may have
made small arms but certainly never in the necessary quantities to
support a war. Or, at least in every war since the Revolution the Army
has obtained small arms from outside sources.

--
Cheers,

John B.