It is perpetually intriguing to read a comments section on the Internet...and to have lived in a past time when the rare respondent had to take actual time and thought and sit down and write a letter to the editor.

I am very reluctant to support or defend the F-35 program, primarily due to its unacceptable costs and the Pentagon’s long history of fiscal immaturity. And I am ashamed of what Lockheed has become. But logic and history forces me to doff my hat to those who keep referring to past weapons programs that were born ugly…

Radar Love

Historically (and in boxing), it is always "He who has longest arm." So whatever that might entail, whether air, surface or subsurface...but certainly "he who has best coordination of longest arm" will win the day.

So to finish this part of our conversation...

Great movie as well...

Sad to hear the author died...didn’t know it was the same author of The Prince of Tides

Will do...my favorite is the 1956 Suez Crisis where we almost went to war with Britain, France and Israel. Not many folks know that.

Can only answer part of this post before I head out...but I’ll finish tomorrow...

I agree, I really feel it was part 2 to Tora! Tora! Tora! and both events were the beginning and the end of the Pacific War.

First of all, until you mentioned this, I had never heard of the Indonesian Confrontation...so thank you for today’s History lesson.

Okay...so Tora! Tora! Tora!...I have mixed feelings about that one...it is epic, no question, and the use of some genuine period aircraft is exceptional and to have Genda as a (uncredited) technical adviser and almost have Kurosawa as the director (of the Japanese side) is unmatched. But it was (appropriately and…

It takes a very good pilot to be able to form on an aircraft that is innately slower. But there are plenty of great pics/videos out there that show modern fighters forming up with slower vintage aircraft for airshows and such. IN the movie Final Countdown, there is a scene where one of the Tomcats is "playing" with…

Yep, VF-84.

Never! Too many kids who couldn’t keep ‘em looking good and too many Chiefs and PO1s who refused to make the kids keep ‘em looking good.

Battle of Britain I presume? You can’t beat flying original aircraft in a movie, especially enemy aircraft like the He-111.

Oh...and back in the day, the closing credits (that Tyler provides here), were nothing short of spectacular as there was no youtube and no DVDs...

In my view, there is no comparison between The Final Countdown and Top Gun...while the camera work was clearly superior in Top Gun, the story, the aircraft usage, the enemy aircraft (except the shootdown of the Zeros...the poorly filmed models) was far more genuine.

Maybe attach a 100 or so sailors for water skiing at that speed?

M1A2's have nothing on us! Let’s see ‘em do it on the water!