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/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:22:33 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification My thoughts on the first two comments to my previous post... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:22:38 -0600
I was talking about personal callsigns. Operational callsigns, IN THE CONUS and IN PEACETIME are assigned to individual Wings by the FAA and deconflicted appropriately to avoid duplication. These lists, organized by squadron, are individually doled out to individual pilots once they become qualified flight leads. In wartime, callsigns are assigned to individual flights IAW the Air Tasking Order and are unit-specific...which is why Robin Olds was able to catch so many NVA pilots with their pants down.

Rivrdog,

The only way you can get a bomb to go straight down is to drop it from a 90-degree dive. Can be done but isn't because it doesn't have to be. That said, high-angle deliveries DO decrease bomb range (the horizontal distance traveled over the flight time of the bomb) which increases accuracy unless the release altitudes are very high. Now, there ARE munitions that approximate a vertical trajectory, but it takes some special mods of the munition and has as much to do with impact angles that contribute to better target penetration, as it has with how fast the thing is traveling when it hits.

Then there's elementary physics...horizontal distance traveled is fairly independent of vertical speed. Two bullets, one fired from a rifle, the other dropped from the same height at the same instant, will hit the ground at the same time...one just goes farther down range before it hits. You can propel a bomb in a vertical direction and get it to the ground faster but then it's not really a bomb. For all intents and purposes it's a missile. Then there's all the drops I've witnessed from "B" design series airplanes...they do it from level flight, making "straight down" an impossibility.

And THIS response tells you how much time I have on my hands today...]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-84019 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-84019 Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:25:04 -0600 That would be, "Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, Over," Correct?

There's a pretty cranky guy in the tower at KOPF that I sometimes want to say that to...

Unlike the fighter jocks, we believe the best trajectory for the weapon to the target is straight down. The weapon gets there sooner...

Then why don't you fly dive bombers anymore, huh?
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-84002 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-84002 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:51:03 -0600 In the old Air Force I was in (Vietnam era) we didn't have personal call signs--nor individual aircraft assigned. We flew whatever tail # was avail. Very few had individual nicknames--and of those who did, most were self-assigned. And individual call signs (other than Sq./msn assigned ones) were forbidden. Different times, different culture, different operational realities. Today, the USAF seems to be tending more toward the Navy model, but it seems sporadic and localized-- command-wise--as far as I can tell... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-84001 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-84001 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:32:24 -0600 Re: the callsign rule: maybe that's the reason the bomber guys don't use them. Unlike the fighter jocks, we believe the best trajectory for the weapon to the target is straight down. The weapon gets there sooner... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-84000 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-84000 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:52:53 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83992 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83992 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:10:20 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83989 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83989 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:21:00 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83987 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83987 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:49:20 -0600 Hey, it's the old Quaker aphorism: "Let your words be few." http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83986 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83986 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:43:02 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83985 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83985 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:39:08 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83982 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83982 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:19:18 -0600
Back in helicopter school, we were taught that if and when one communicates a "What the F**k" to be sure to include "over". ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83981 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83981 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:16:18 -0600
Thanks! A good example of that kinda guy is Gen John Corley, smart a a whip and a bad@$$ reputation as a lethal F-15 jock. He looks like Harvey Milquetoast but in a jet he's King Kong. Hence his callsign:

Conan the Librarian. ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83980 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83980 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:15:18 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83979 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83979 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:09:16 -0600
True enough...but I've found while I'm operating a piece of equipment that takes concentration to keep from killing myself I just don't have the ability to go postal. Weird. Maybe it's just me, but using a jet, for example, as a weapon, involves both immediate control workload (to keep from crashing, losing control, having a midair with a wingman, dodging hostile fire, etc.) and application of the machine as a tool of warfare. Plus, when I mash the mike, I'm doing it for a specific reason (impart information/direction) and all my concentration is getting out the RIGHT thing. Calling out bandits, for example, requires specific data--position, altitude, aspect, angle-off, predicted move, etc.

Of course, I did hear one story about a guy in Korea screaming on the radio that he couldn't shake off the MiG on his tail. A deep, disgusted voice came on saying, "Shut up and die like a man." So I guess you're right about the culture, we'd literally rather die than look/sound bad. ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83978 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83978 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:07:01 -0600 John - me, too... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83976 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83976 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:58:16 -0600
I've been on radio nets in times of trouble when people (who shouldn't be) are losing it - and there is extraneous chatter.

Don't slight yourself.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83975 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83975 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:54:22 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83973 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/02/a_pilots_perspe.html#comment-83973 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:50:04 -0600