Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Zoom in – looks like a British Harrier on the jump platform, pictured just before take off. LEX – given the apparent slow speeds (absence of wake/bow waves), what say ye about launching/recovery with minimal/zero wind over the deck? Not too much challenge for The British jump jet …. any issues for USN iron?
Sigh,
There was a time, within living memory of some, when we sortied over 100 carriers.
Respects,
But those 100 carriers consisted of Fleet Carriers (Essex Class), Light Carriers (Independence or Cruser hull class) and Escort (Jeep or Liberty Ship hull class) during WW2
The number of Fleet Carriers was between 10 and 20 and another 10 to 20 for the Light Carriers (I don’t have the numbers in front of me so going off memory). I’m not sure the Marines would want to be using the Escort Carriers as they were also known as Kaiser Coffins.
We may need more ships, will leave that for the experts on this blog, but the US has decided on a quality verses quantity given the cost of the ships and the crews to run them.
Just a smite of Hubris thar Lexxie! I can remember the day when Brittania had the ‘real’ Ark Royal, armed with Phantoms and Buccaneers! BTW, it’s looks VFR- always good wx for flying a Harrier. LOL.
The S-3 Viking can be launched from anchor- I’ve seen it done several times including within sight of PT. Loma.
Can the SuperHornet handle a no wind cat shot? This sea story is interesting:
http://www.bobnorris.com/spd.php/spi/fly_off
The rest of that website is interesting, too. Making $$ off’n the family bidness! Lex’s competition methinks.
b2
I remember seeing the Arc Royal tied up to the pier at NAS North Island when she was visiting in either late 1974 or early 1975. (E-2B’s had yet to move to Miramar.) She looked small compared to the Kitty Hawk and Connie, but pretty respectable compared to the Hancock which also payed a pre-decommisioning visit around that time. Damn, I’m getting old….
Yeah, we used to call it “flanchoring” – made for some quite interesting times. Although not quite as colorful as the day the Captain and the Boss were perusing one of our Big Blue Sleeping Pills (NATOPS manuals) and discovered that we could land with a rather high tailwind component.
On that particular occasion, IIRC, it was the “every once in a while” cycle where the Powers-That-Be (PTB) decided to toss the junior sticks in the squadron a few bones by setting them free around the Boat for a few day cats and traps. This was back in the day when the standard Viking crew consisted of two pilots in the front and the TACCO (NFO) and SENSO (aircrewman) in the back. And the COPO’s job was to talk on the radios and pretend he knew what to do with the non-acoustic sensors (Radar/FLIR/ESM).
Anyway, the PTB decided to test the Viking’s ability to land with a roughly 40 knot tailwind. I still don’t know how they managed to get that much wind going the wrong way across the Roof, but they did.
“And, oh what the hell, let’s throw in an EMCON recovery and see how long it takes for them to figure it out.”
Right colorful, it was.
“By the way, did we mention we?
“By the way, did we mention we’ve got nine more, just like them?
Did?
Oh.”
Lex, you made me choke on my Chicken-nugget! Again!
Your sense of humor is the best. Really.
Thanks,
Danger