I was looking for info on how much the cannon impact's the A-10s airspeed when it's fired, and I came across an interesting article in Air Force Magazine about strafing. (Article is restricted to AFM subscribers, but Google cached it here. Hit the "Print" link to read the whole thing.)

My favorite takeaways:

"We're…

Haha, yyyyyessss..."almost." *Whistles innocently.*

I love trying to puzzle out HUD symbology.

At 6:39 (and elsewhere), what's that jagged line along the bottom edge of the HUD picture? Terrain profile?

If you've got an AppleTV you can catch a decent documentary about the Blue Angels on the Smithsonian Channel right now. It's a couple years old, but it's got some good info in it.

I didn't realize that their jets are the oldest and most ragged-out airframes that the fleet has passed on. It makes sense - recruiting is…

Are you only not posting Rod's rant because he is an attorney? C'mon, man. You can't dangle that in front of us and not follow through!

I'll wager you one North Korean fighter pilot's annual salary that the flight stick on that "simulator" ain't hooked up to shit.

Horrible thought: is North Korea operating manned target decoys?!

UTI? Is that because they're about as welcome on the battlefield as the clap?

...it helps that pilots know exactly where to pose for the cameras.

Holy CRAP.

Oh, Ken. You didn't need Jane's Addiction to make that any more awesome, but I love that you threw 'em in anyway. *wipes away a single manly tear*

Agreed. Even if I agreed with every single thing that came out of McCain's mouth in that campaign (which, heh), voting him into office would mean that she was one rickety octogenarian heartbeat away from the Oval Office. Not good.

Warthogs can be considered "charismatic megafauna," right?

...an EA-18G with four ALQ-99 Jamming pods on its canted wing pylons, and a center-line fuel tank...

Ohhhh, you just dredged up an amusing memory for me. It happened a few years back in Boston, downtown by the Public Gardens, near Beacon Hill/Back Bay (a couple of the ritzier parts of town). There's a hotel or something near there that regularly has some high-dollar-value exotics in the lot and on the street nearby.…

Interesting stuff, thanks!

I was out at Ft. Carson a couple of years ago and got a look at the long ramps next to the rail lines that they use to load tanks and other vehicles onto flatbed rail cars. Clever stuff.

Even more terrifying in SPACE BATTLESHIP form!

And yet according to Federal law it still has to be called an "assault weapon."

Hahaha, yes. It's this thing, then Hitler in a Mech-suit with dual miniguns.