We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:07:07 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification I've covered my opinion on Bush and his 'Guard time elsewhere. I've covered the fact that the F102 was not an easy, nor safe, aircraft to fly. I've explained that the F102 was tried, but found not too useful, in Vietnam. I've explained why the AF didn't choose to take F102 drivers, relatively late in the war, when the air war was already drawing down, and want to convert them to mud mover pilots. I've done all that. These guys, at Aerospace.org, do it better. Go spread the word, to every blogvillage, blog-middlesex, and blogfarm, to butcher the poem. Hat... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html Wed, 11 Aug 2004 13:20:11 -0600 Umm, the link to aerospaceweb.org seems to be broken -- can you post the original or reconstruct the link? Thanks BBB http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html#comment-6491 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html#comment-6491 Fri, 03 Sep 2004 13:05:49 -0600 Heh. That's where I was an IP--first job out of UPT--from '78 to '81, teaching the Germans (and then the Dutch and Germans) how to fly jets. Bounced off the Sill runaway many a-time...here's a historical tidbit for ya--there's a semi-abandoned WW II training field about halfway between Sill and the Falls (and a little to the West) we called Hacker. We'd send our guys over there for pattern work. During the War it was used for B24 (or was it 25?) training...one of the IPs working there was no other than George Goebel the comedian (maybe you're too young to know who that is but he was pretty funny). Cheers, Dusty http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html#comment-5861 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html#comment-5861 Thu, 12 Aug 2004 16:10:30 -0600 On a totally unrelated note... I love the Tweetys. You saw a lot of them at Fort Sill because the guys fly 'em up from Wichita Falls and do touch-and-gos at Wiley Field. I've just always liked their look. Of course, I always liked the pugnacious look of the A7, too. And the 'Hog. The F15? Naaaah. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html#comment-5835 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html#comment-5835 Thu, 12 Aug 2004 06:18:24 -0600 Having spent 26 years on active duty, first as a Undergraduate Pilot Training Instructor, then A-10 pilot and aircraft accident investigator, A-10 flight examiner and Air Support Operations Group commander (with V Corps in Albania during the Kosovo campaign...what fun...), and having flown with both Guard and Reserve A-10 guys, the recap of the President's career in the TANG was about as close to rational thought as I've seen in this campaign. A couple of points... They did err in not mentioning his T-37 training--you don't go from a T-41 (basically a slightly souped-up Cessna 172) to a T-38, the supersonic-capable trainer without completing initial jet training in the Tweet. A minor point but it helps explain why UPT is (or was) a year long. Secondly, the 13+ per 100K flying hour accident rate is, by all standards we've used since the end of the Second World War, huge. The Darts and Daggers were basically engines with wings. The delta wings offer their own aerodynamic (and therefore handling) challenges and going into afterburner was an event in itself...a "hard light" with a corresponding boom that made the observer wonder if something had just blown up on the runway. George had his hands full when strapping one of these things to his arse...and something tells me he would have gone VFR-direct to the 'Nam if asked. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html#comment-5832 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html#comment-5832 Thu, 12 Aug 2004 05:42:50 -0600 Wow, thank you for the citation. The thought had occurred to me that the number of peacetime casualties suffered by our military, contrasted with the former president who was actually overseas protesting the Vietnam war, might allow Bush to catch a break. This helps and I will help to disseminate it. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html#comment-5823 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/bush_f102_delta_dart_air_national_guard_vietnam.html#comment-5823 Wed, 11 Aug 2004 20:06:03 -0600