John B. Slocomb on Wed, 27 Aug 2014 17:57:11
+0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
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:

Yup. The illustrious McNamara. And General Dynamics was a Texas
company :-)

But, I'm not sure how much blame actually should be attributed to
McNamara personally, other than of course he was the captain of the
ship and thus responsible for everything that happened. The lying,
cheating, back-biting and stealing that went on there between the
various branches of the military and governmental and non-governmental
organizations was amazing.

The Air Force's number one enemy was the Navy Aviation. The
commies came in after the number two enemy - Army Aviation.

If you were referring to Vietnam I can't even remember the Navy's A.F.

I'm not talking about the SE Asia War games (big grin). No, I'm
referring to the ever so more important conflict, the existential
battle for survival, waged in the corridors of the Pentagon and
Congress. The battle for survival which is in the drafting of the
Appropriation Bill.

being mentioned when I was there, but there was considerable friction
with the Army over the helicopters. Apparently there was some sort of
agreement that the Army was supposed to be the only force with armed
helicopters and when we built a couple with miniguns the Army
complained to MACV. The A.F. argued that they were for "Base Defense"
and got to keep them.

After the Army Air Force became the US Air Force, the decision was
made that basically, if it had wings, it belonged to the Air Force.
Helicopters were seen as a way around that restriction, and now drones
....
The Warthog was designed from as a support platform for the Vulcan
chain gun. Simple, rugged, and it did the job.

On the general subject, I recall what General Curry said: 'the
best is the enemy of the good'. In his case, it was a better tank in
five years, verse the good enough tanks he needed now. Yeah, it would
be nice to have the Wonder Weapon, but we need something "now". That
ol' cliche about you go to war with the army you have, not the army
you wish you had.
--
pyotr filipivich
"With Age comes Wisdom. Although more often, Age travels alone."