If it works, how is it a boondoggle?

Yes, that's the P-38 Lightning. It's probably the most successful of the spate of twin-boom designs from the era.

Well, Norwegian launchers for US-made missiles, at any rate.

Articulated trucks were used by the US military in quantity. See: M520 Goer, M561 Gama Goat.

Japan was the only export customer for DASH, and the JMSDF kept their QH-50s in service for a few years longer than the USN did.

Well, will have it... eventually.

I assume that's an aggressor training squadron somewhere, though I can't see any Soviet Russian-style buzz numbers.

None of the Navy Phantoms ever had an internal gun—because it required sacrificing space for the radar. The USAF was interested in the F-4 in the fighter-bomber role, and the gun was more about strafing than air-to-air. The USN still had air defense in mind, and thus a different priority set. Thus, the F-4N and F-4S…

See also: MiG Pilot, John Barron's biography of defector Victor Belenko.

Sheridans. Always Sheridans.

An even better market for Tesla to break into might be tractors, rather than pickups.

But that's true of gasoline-powered cars, too.

I take issue with the "everyone loves an underdog" declaration.

Point of order: wrong Virginia.

The "clipper bow" (the one that looks like most every ship these days) is designed to minimize the amount of stray coming over the bow in heavy seas. Modern warships have extreme rake to their bows to allow the bow anchor enough room to clear the sonar dome when the anchor is dropped.

No.

No. Though the Earth Defense Forces they imply have a very nationalized character and Japan's is the one with the last operable space fleet.

Was not entertained.

Their culture is all too human—they are little more than space-Romans.

When your alternative is being steamrollered by a (then-seemingly) unstoppable wave of Soviet armor, there are degrees of crazy. Here's the live test shot with Robert Kennedy in attendance: