Recent content by yardbird78

Petty Officer Monsoor exemplifies the true hero of our military men and women serving our great nation. May God bless all of them and take Mike to be with Him in almighty glory. Darwin, O.F. :alien:

Granted, the SR-71 was not even close to 100% stealthy, but it was one of the earliest attempts at that objective. It's RCS was amazingly low for such a large aircraft. The physical shape plus the ironball paint plus ECM made it impossible to determine the exact position, altitude, course and...

2 hours and 19 minutes to be exact. The total cost of the program was $3,210,664 or $23,098.30 per minute. Yes, that is expensive, but what did the XB-70, SR-71, F-15, F-22, C-17, C-5 cost to develop on a per minute scale? Actually, I DO understand procurement as well as research and...

The F-4D that Steve Ritchie flew on his 1st and 5th kills wound up with total of 6 kills for the war. It is on display at the Air Force Academy with six red stars on the splitter plate. Darwin, O.F. :alien:

Matt, Your statement has some validity, but where would we be in the world of aeronautics if we didn't dream of new things and test those dreams? Now days, dreams can be tested on super computers, but in the mid 20th century, the only way to test an idea was to build the item and see if it...

There were and are many very good aircraft designers or aeronautical engineers, but Kelly Johnson just absolutely HAS to be at the top of that list. The Blackbird family, A-12, M-21, YF-12 and SR-71 are truly unique in everything from the pitot tube on the nose to the fuel dump vent in the...

The XF-85 was certainly a neat little machine. The US tried several different versions of the parasite fighter concept, but none of them worked well enough to become operational or widespread use. Some photos of my 1/72 model of the F-85. Darwin, O.F. :alien:

The biggest difference between the US Space Shuttle and the Russian Buran is that the Space Shuttle works. The Buran doesn't. The USSR stopped funding the Buran because they knew it was a dead end project. Darwin, O.F. :alien:

Tanks always have been a rolling coffin. They can be devastating against infantry out in the open, but various anti-tank weapons can and have really taken a toll. I definately would not want to be in an armor unit with a flight of A-10 Warthogs around. Darwin, O.F. :alien:

Bill, Welcome to the forum and please DO stick around. Everyone can and usually does contribute in one manner or another. Each of us has had life experiences and has a certain knowledge base to share. Darwin, O.F. :alien:

Thanks to all for the warm welcome. Darwin, O.F. :alien:

I just found this forum and signed up. I have been pretty active on the ARC and FSM forums, but this one looks to be very interesting. I hope to spend a fair amount of time here. Darwin, O.F. :alien: