Recent content by fjray

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    Greetings from Texas

    Welcome CrewChief. I'm outside Houston, in Waller.
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    Wings over Houston 2008

    Looking forward to pics! I was working so didn't make it this year.
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    I want

    I'm not a custom bike guy. Got a Vstrom now and previous bike was a FJ1100. However........
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    What Movie To Buy?

    Got to suggest “12 o’clock high”, my favorite. ‘Flat Top’ is kind of a Navy version of it. Not as good but I still like it. Another one is ’Mister Roberts”. This one has some sentimentality with it. My Grandpa has a story about his time in the Navy during WWII that this movie reminds me of...
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    What was your first car?

    A '73 Monte Carlo with the factory 4 barrel carb. Glad gas was only a buck a gallon then!
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    Carrier planes radar

    For part of your question I believe you’re asking did each carrier have squadrons that were radar equipped. From what I know the answer is, well, yes and no. Navy policy changed a couple of times during the war. At first special night fighting/torpedo squadrons would be established. Then...
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    F4U vs. P-51 essay

    Good job with the essay! I’ll throw out something on comparisons. Flying an aircraft vs fighting with it. An aircraft may be great to fly but how is it to fight with? For an example the Mustang by all accounts was a joy to fly. However with a full bag of gas in the internal tank it was more...
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    Duke of Lancasters

    For anyone not familiar him this is a link to a story from a reporter, Michael Yon. He calls the reports ‘dispatches’. He’s ex-US Army and in the past has been embedded with US troops in Iraq. For him its about the boots on the ground, not politics, and he has earned praise for his reporting...
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    best ASW aircraft of cold War

    Being ex-Viking I have to chime in for the mighty Warhoover. However, two SH-3’s working a sub and he’s dead. Rode with…..think it was 206 sq out of Sig. Got to admit being able to carry winders was impressive, but the “quick” refueling mod was a bit disconcerting :p
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    US RDF

    Actually I was going more along the lines of an ADF. I had read a page many, many moons ago about the Navy’s development of navigation systems. This was a pretty interesting account. Anyway a friend and I were talking about old navigation stuff and……well you know how it goes when two history...
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    US RDF

    Anybody have a good web page or two for US Navy RDF info? I’ve stumbled across sites that briefly touch on it but not much detail. Thanks
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    F6F Hellcat Performance Trials

    Thanks for the info. Haven't got to the corsiar yet, but a preemptive thanks on it too!
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    OV-1 Mohawk

    I saw the topic and told JH he otta chime in on the OV-1 since I knew he had Mohawk time. We had the same seat, ESCAPAC, in the S-3's. Biggest thing we had drummed into us was keep your thighs flat on the seat pan. Based on info from previous ejections just a half inch of clearance could snap...
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    Bad news for the RN!

    I read piece on, think it was Cdr Salamander, that the RN is also going to freeze promotions above the rank of LCDR. There was speculation this is just an idea being floated and not approved yet.
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    Aircraft Procurement

    This might have been posted before, but figured I’d throw it out for anybody interested. Wasn’t sure just where to post this since it covers so many years but he talks about WWII so I’ll go here. It’s not short, but is a very interesting read if you’re interested in Navy(U.S.) aircraft. This...
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