That huey looks like she’s taking off at North Island!

You’ve gotta be kidding me. It’s a real, honest-to-god pleasure to listen.

Oh, I’m sure we don’t have enough stories for a book, but that’s a fine idea. I might ask her and her siblings to recount a bit more for posterity.

You might want to email Tyler again. Just given your comments here, I’m sure you’ve got plenty of material for one of his “Confessions of a _____” features. He may just want to save it for a more content-light time period.

Jerry, there is way too much fighter pr0n in this comment section.

I have a feeling the F-16 will be playing that role for a long, long time, and I’m not sure the F-35 ever will, except maybe as a drone when its time has truly gone.

Unfortunately I never really got a chance to ask him his stories firsthand, but fortunately, he told my mother a lot of them, and I’ve been able to find a lot of documents relating to his squadrons and a few references to him personally. He was even in a wartime docuganda film for a split second.

If this doesn’t work, you can also get a subscription Unlocator account for pretty cheap. I’ve never had issues with them.

Here’s one for you, painted up like the SBDs my gramps flew during the war:

A year or two ago at North Island, I saw an H-60 in Cold War retro livery painted up like the old SH-2s my dad was around when I was a kid. Got pics of it somewhere, but I haven’t seen it online anywhere...

Those centennial of Naval aviation paint jobs are my favorite ever.

I honestly think it’s more about safety than surveillance.

Good.

The Rhino could still use more power... I don’t think the F-35-obsessed Pentagon will do it, but the Navy should really fund the EPE. (And the Advanced Super Hornet, for that matter)

Actually was talking with a USAF test pilot just last week who actually admitted to enjoying flying the F-18 more than the F-16. I thought that kinda talk gets you kicked out...

Eh, while the cranked delta wing does look kinda cool and futuristic, the stock F-16 does it for me more.

Man, those blue F-18s look so much like Flankers... especially that first shot

...in fact, the Mitsubishi F-2 is arguably the best-looking F-16 variant.

Basically Japan, too

And now, reporting in from Palmdale...