Comparing the displacement is all wrong. navy ships are measured from the water they displace , the correct use of the the term ‘displacement’. Civilian ships are measured by a different system, usually known as GT based on volume. A cruise ships actual displacement is much much less, ie Harmony of the Seas has a…

You obviously havent heard about the US landing and land battles in North Africa, when Eisenhower stuffed it all up and then did it all again which led to the battle of the Bulge

past the speed of sound stuff was for short periods at high altitudes, the airframe couldnt handle much over M1 down low. The real difference in ‘useful’speed between the two types would be far less than the 400kts you mention.

I dont know that he said that about planes from a carrier ( although the RN were on the cusp of being able to launch a strike from the sea to drop torpedoes at enemy warships in harbour- If the Germans wont come out , we will go in after them them) but he did say submarine torpedoes were a big threat to…

Wasnt the reason for the two types was that a gun uranium bomb ( they used part of the barrel of an 8 in naval gun) was simpler to make and didnt require a full scale test but the necessary quantity of fissile uranium material was very hard to get. The Plutonium implosion bomb was trickier to build and couldnt…

Its not commonly known but its not the ships rudder which turns the vessel, its far to small for that. The rudder supplies a small turning force but the change in flow along the hull is what makes the rest of the turn

My thoughts too. Only this year the Chinese, who are the biggest makers of ball point pens, have worked out how to make the steel tip including the ‘ball’.

I had a mate who was from Latvia, where he was born,but because his parents were Russian he was treated as a second class citizen. He was smart and had choices and went off to see the world , the rest of the russians there arent so lucky.

They should have bought the navy version, as that was designed for longer range- increasing wing span is the oldest trick in the book for that- no extra fuel required!

Agree. Theres a lot to like. But the ‘reverse mission creep’ where reasonable operational capability keeps getting moved into the future means thats still the big news. Remember once they call full rate production started, around 500 will have been built.

AF One, is called that because there is ONE passenger or ONE patient that matters. Whether its appendicitis or gunshot wound, anyone else gets the C-17

And the firebombing of Germany was a terrible thing?

Yes it was a part of WW2, as the C-69 Constellation. It wasnt a high production priority and the engine problems slowed development, so only a few dozen flew. The post war plane you are thinking of is the later Super Constellation

$14 mill is way too high as these planes go for around $2 mill for last years production model. Oh I forgot LM does the integration with hellfire ?

$10 bill to sort out the F22 and bring all up to same standard as the last builds.

Iowa armoured deck was 5 1/2 in outer to 4 1/2 in inner thickness

Apparently the B-52s are heading to Syria so the what the Russians were doing worked so is being copied.