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
A few years back our Civil Air Patrol unit had a talk and photo presentation by a pilot from Mountain Home Airforce Base. He and several of his best friends were deployed to Iceland with their F-15C’s to keep an eye on a Russian exercise. Pictures and talk were great, but the group of mostly young men was just as interested in his stories of going to the hot springs with a traveling NFL Cheerleader Squad (I forget which team.)
Good work for a guy from the middle of Idaho.
I’m glad to hear that MHAFB is still going. Would like to visit the area again someday. Idaho is beautiful country.
hmm, they moved to Iceland?
Heard about someone buying some surplus Flankers to set up a service like this several years ago, but they’d planned to operate from the USA.
Red Air Aircraft is based in Quincy, IL. L-39s, L-59s, Mig-21s, Mig-29s, & Alpha Jets.
Here’s a WIRED article on the operation.
Same operation, different webpage here
I see the L-39s and Mig-29s on the ramp when I head down to KUIN for diner at the airport cafe.
What are the export restrictions like from Belarus regarding radars, aws, ecm, and the like? Training against an aircraft these days involves training against its computers and weapon systems as much as it does its flight characteristics, I should think. If those are remotely close to current, this would be a very good resource indeed.
– Max
In the USSR, for enough dollars (or Euros) you can buy anything, from a Kalashnikov to a T90 battle tank to an Su-27 to a nuclear submarine, with complete warload if you want to.
All I know is, they drink like fish and the wimmins is willing up there, Lex–at least that’s the rumor–better ask SJS, he’s done plenty of the needed recce.
What’s the chance that this is a ruse to get an end user certificate to buy the planes for an unfashionable destination other than Iceland? Or would they rapidly become useless without spares and other support from the manufacturer?
You have somewhere heard that some 3rd worlder has dreams of building a cutting edge air force because nobody else in the history of the world has done that from the 3rd world?
Heh — I can give you chapter and verse re. flying TACAIR in/around Iceland during winter/quasi-winter (aka spring/summer). For reference I had over 35 field arrested landings at Kef during our little four month mid-winter expedition there in ’81…
Oh yeah — and +1 to VX, the national sport is definitely drinking…
w/r, SJS
No. Drinking is just a side light. The national sport is what happens when you put drinking and the most beautiful women on the planet together. Spent some time there. Almost didn’t come home. If the wife ever leaves me, I am going there to retire.
I understand that the ladies are really hot.
The alcohol is used as anti-freeze.
Ah yes, the old “anti-freeze theory”–perfect for cold climes and cold nights in general. “But dear, it’s sound science–a scientific fact! They use it in car radiators!” (well, *something* like it in cars, LOL.)
Not to be the materialistic weasel of this group, but just how useful will a “generic enemy” prove as OPFOR? Wasn’t the whole point of TOPGUN to provide Naval aviators specific experience with Soviet doctrine & tactics? From what I’ve heard they did quite well with A-4s and F-5s in that respect.
Sorry, Lex. Financial Times said today that the Icelandic PM has put the project on hold. Something about not wanting the only AF in the country to be Dutch owned: