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Santa@work and play

By The Armorer on December 27, 2008 | | Comments (11)
Apparently, Santa had some tough neighborhoods...  that, or like any red-blooded male, he can't resist a chance to get some range time with a Ma Deuce.

Santa making deliveries in tough neighborhoods. That or he just likes to shoot a Ma Deuce.



Who knew the Jolly Old Elf was into antique airplanes?

Santa in a P39, probably at Bell's Buffalo, New York, plant during WWII.

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11 Comments

By Josh on December 27, 2008 11:02 AM
.50 BMG now available in coal-filled hollowpoints!
 
By Grumpy on December 27, 2008 12:59 PM
@Josh, with the price of coal, I doubt they're coal-filled hollow points, I  figure they're full of HOT AIR. With our politicians, no matter which end you figure, there will NEVER BE  A SHORTAGE OF HOT AIR.

Grumpy
 
By wolfwalker on December 27, 2008 2:47 PM
A P-39?  Sheesh, couldn't they have let the Olde Elf have a plane with some guts?
 
By sherlock on December 27, 2008 2:48 PM
Antique airplane?  I don't think it was an antique when that photo was taken - note the hairstyles and the shadow cast by the huge flash unit on the camera!  Of course some might argue that this particular airplane design was obsolete when it was brand new... the Bell P-39 Aeracobra or one of its derivatives, if I am not mistaken.
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 27, 2008 2:53 PM
Work with me, Sherlock - the "hover caption" (if you mouse-over the pic) says it was probably taken at Bell's factory in Buffalo during WWII.  Which means the meta-data for the pic for web-searchers will carry that message too.
 
By sherlock on December 27, 2008 3:19 PM
...the "hover caption" (if you mouse-over the pic) says it was probably taken at Bell's factory in Buffalo during WWII.

Okay, I missed that - probably not the hovering type.  Just trying to add some info I thought might be interesting.
 
By Josh on December 27, 2008 6:12 PM
Sherlock - If I remember correctly, the commies killed more people and broke more stuff with Airacobras than anybody did with any other plane during the war...so you MIGHT make the argument that it wasn't obsolete, it was just in need of somebody to find the correct use for it, which they did...

Of course I think Santa should be in a De Havilland Mosquito...those twin engines out in front of the nose look like they're dragging the plane along like a pair of reindeer! :P  And besides, Santa needs something FAST to get all over the world in one night!
 
By sherlock on December 27, 2008 7:26 PM
Josh - thus the reason for my words "some might argue".  I suspect the AAF could have made it work too, and perfection was again the enemy of the good, but when you already have other models that already work... it was probably the right call.

BTW my kids got me the book "Secret US Pusher Fighters of WWII" for Christmas and I have been devouring it.  Interesting factoids: the Curtiss XP-55 was not actually a canard, but merely had a forward elevator ala the Wright Flyer, and its "Ascender" name was supposedly derived from an in-house joke name that was cleaned up.  I suspect it was "Ass-ender".
 
By Josh on December 27, 2008 10:12 PM
Personally, I don't see why we bothered to build any new day fighters designs after Kelly Johnson came up with the P-38.  THAT was perfection, to me (in its era).

Oh I would love a book like that!  I'm jealous now haha!
 
By Sgt. B. on December 27, 2008 10:16 PM
Rumor has it that Santa did need a fast ship for his yearly run, and he went to Kelly Johnson to get one...

Hence the SR-71 was born...

Makes a fellow wonder whether Santa swapped him a portion of the list of naughty girls, or the whole thing...

 
By Josh on December 27, 2008 10:46 PM
Haha reminds me of that goofy "NORAD tracks Santa Claus" thing they do every Christmas :P