No, they actually look like grape vines, but they're not. I don't know what exactly they are. Pain in the ass to deal with, but not as pernicious as english ivy.
speaking of vines many years ago I planted morning glories along my fence. That was a huge success I had them for a couple of years then I started planting other things in that same spot. A few years later the morning glories came back! Now if I don't keep them in check they start wrapping around everything else and they grow super fast! I mean about as fast as blackberry bushes fast. And this year wild grape vines (muscadines) have started up in my wildflower area. No doubt it's from birds shitting out the seeds or something. I'm debating whether or not I should allow the muscadines to keep growing.
At Edwards Air Force Base last year, USAF generals Kristin Goodwin, Dawn Dunlop, and Jeannie Leavitt (foreground, left to right) stand at the head of a group of female fighter, bomber, and transport pilots and navigators. https://www.airspacemag.com/airspacemag/right-fly-and-fight-180975332/
Outside with no cover. I can feel my friend, the retired Command Sergeant Major's blood pressure rising even now. Maybe even an eye twitch...
Probably so it's easier to see their faces. Is there such a thing as a publicity officer? I can imagine one on site directing the photo op, overruling the rules for a better pic.
no hats/cover/headgear because they are on or near the flight line. Hats that can be blown off are a FOD (Foreign Object Damage) hazard thus on AF bases (and any active aviation areas) there are zones where no headgear is authorized. Once you leave that zone then you have to wear your headgear. When I was at RAF Lakenheath we lost an average of three jet engines per month due to FOD mostly from birds but anything sucked into a jet engine can be trouble.
I'm not surprised! It's kind of a different mindset in that whole soviet influenced region. When I was in Poland on a training mission one time the Polish air traffic controllers had some pilots "buzz the tower" so we could feel the full effect of a MIG (or maybe a SU it was many years ago) up close and personal. To say that the jet got way, way too low and was flying way, way too fast would be an understatement to say the least! I was watching out the tower window with the US army controllers and saw a dark spot just above the horizon - and in what seemed like almost instantly later a blur passing over the tower and heard a deafening roar. The Polish controllers thought our reactions were hilarious! Definitely a "do not try this at home" moment.
Of the three, Patton is the only one to have seen combat. First during Pershing's Mexican Expedition (where he became the first Army officer to go into combat in a motorized vehicle) then in France where he commanded a tank brigade.
Not a photo, but an interesting WW2 factoid: All US fleet carriers and light carriers lost in the war were sunk in the order of their hull numbers. CV-1 Langley 27 February 1942 CV-2 Lexington 8 May 1942 CV-5 Yorktown 7 June 1942 CV-7 Wasp 15 September 1942 CV-8 Hornet 26 October 1942 CVL-23 Princeton 24 October 1944
not saying it didn't happen but 275 victories for Gunter Rall? Sorry but that sounds like some propaganda inflated number right there. I can't even imagine such a scenario where one pilot would engage that many suicidal/inexperienced/ran out of ammo/blind enemy pilots.
Rall wasn't even the highest. The record goes to Eric Hartman of JG 52 on the Russian front - 352 confirmed victories total. The thing about the German pilots was that they served for the duration, whereas our guys were sent home after a set time. Hartmann flew 1404 missions!
Reading an Osprey history on the early Pacific war. Found this photo quite striking: The Japanese fleet, the Kido Butai ("Mobile Force") striding purposefully through the Indian Ocean in April 1942. The picture is taken from the deck of the carrier Akagi, flagship of the Pearl Harbor raid. Strung out behind her, possibly the most powerful force at the time: Aircraft carriers Soryu and Hiryu, Kongo class battlecruisers Kongo, Hieie, Kirishima and Haruna. Post-Washington Treaty carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, the most advanced carriers of the time.
The real Black Sheep (colorized). Pappy (4th from left, front row) always looked like he wanted to slug somebody.
indeed he does! If he were around in the Navy today, they would have to send him to "sensitivity/consideration of others" training!
Oh that's right! When I saw the Corsair in the background it threw me off. Although the Marines do indeed have aviation assets, I always associate fixed-wing aviation with the air force and navy. Granted there were very few rotary-wing military aircraft until the Korean war.
my yearly wildflower garden! The smaller species already bloomed throughout the spring & summer. But these type of flowers take a loooonnnnggggg time to mature and don't even start to bloom until September and they will last until mid-November most years. They plants get about six feet tall if they don't snap off.
26-inch armor from a Japanese battleship pierced by a 16" shell from a US battleship. Part of a post-war test, tho, not in battle. US Navy Museum.
Were you the one that posted about your dad climbing onto the wing of his plane to bail and then back into the plane?