favourite korean war aircraft

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And is aptly named. It was a dog of a Sabre. One of my instructors in mech school was a retired career AF fighter pilot, who survived a tour in dog Sabres, in between three tours in "real" Sabres. "Overweight and underpowered PoS, full of fancy electronics that didn't work most of the time" was how he but it.
When he discovered his CO was about to recommend him for a tour as a dog Sabre instructor, he volunteered for a tour as FO on C124s. Anything to get out of the dog.
Which does beg the question as to why this was even built. The Scorp was already online and deployed if I'm not mistaken as was the F-94 (I especially like the "C" model with that sleek nose). So why was this even a thing?
 
Which does beg the question as to why this was even built. The Scorp was already online and deployed if I'm not mistaken as was the F-94 (I especially like the "C" model with that sleek nose). So why was this even a thing?
Two reasons, I believe.
1) The Sabre mystique. Enhancement of a winner.
2) The transpolar Tupolev terror. Once Joe had a nuke and a fleet of "super B29s on steroids", then he went thermonuclear and folks got wind of the Tu95, there was a scramble to bulk up our air interception capabilities. All of the all weather interceptor projects in the works were having developmental issues, we were scrambling to build the radar picket lines, and the dog Sabre looked like a simple easy solution based on a proven airframe. (My classmates and I were getting pretty good at "duck and cover"!)
You might want to take the published service dates of the various interceptors with a grain of salt, as most went through one or more suboptimal iterations before becoming truly effective.
 
We had "duck and cover" drills accompanied by the Air Raid siren test every third Friday of the month. :confused:
We had two versions: the "Condition RED!" (Duck and cover, NOW!)
and the "Condition Yellow." (Line up in class order and march QUICKLY and QUIETLY to your class's designated corner of the cellar. Sit in the same order as your seats in class. Assume the position).
I'm sure the cellar of that rickety old brick schoolhouse would have been our mass grave if any ordnance had gone off within fifty miles of the place.
 
We had two versions: the "Condition RED!" (Duck and cover, NOW!)
and the "Condition Yellow." (Line up in class order and march QUICKLY and QUIETLY to your class's designated corner of the cellar. Sit in the same order as your seats in class. Assume the position).
I'm sure the cellar of that rickety old brick schoolhouse would have been our mass grave if any ordnance had gone off within fifty miles of the place.
We didn't have a cellar (or even a CD designated shelter).
Our school was a one storey of cinder block construction with large plate-glass windows.
We'd have been destroyed on the spot...
 
We had two options, under the desk and go out into the hall and face the lockers, and that was in the early 60s.

We were half way between New York and Boston and had defense industries all over the place.
Didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out were were a prime target or were going to catch multiple near misses.
 
Being in Orange County (SoCal), we not only had aerospace outfits all around, but MCAS El Toro and NWS Seal Beach nearby. Not far away was NS Long Beach plus March AFB and Norton AFB.
Of course, the greater Los Angeles area was not too distant and our only protection was the hills of North Orange County as a small measure of protection...
 
I do not remember any "duck&cover" drills from where I grow up (about halfway between Hartford and New Haven), although I I do remember those circles from Cuba reaching my hometown...
 
It's fascinating reading your experiences in the Cold War with the spectre of nuclear war ever-present. For as long as I remember and to this day we did the same sorts of things in our wee neck of the woods, but for earthquakes, not nuclear warheads. I suspect you guys in California probably do it for the same reason!
 
We were half way between New York and Boston and had defense industries all over the place.
Didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out were were a prime target or were going to catch multiple near misses.
We were about equidistant between Plattsburgh, Pease, and Westover AFBs, plus the cluster of Atlas silos around Plattsburgh. Probably about as safe as you could be in New England.
 
It's fascinating reading your experiences in the Cold War with the spectre of nuclear war ever-present. For as long as I remember and to this day we did the same sorts of things in our wee neck of the woods, but for earthquakes, not nuclear warheads. I suspect you guys in California probably do it for the same reason!
Yep, our "atom bomb" drills became "earthquake" drills after the massive Sylmar quake n '71 - the air raid siren tests were discontinued around 1975 or so.

By the way, when I was working at Disneyland in the early 80's, several areas still had "fall out shelter" signs in place in certain back-stage areas of the park.
 
My bedroom window faced east. One morning during the Cuban Crisis woke up and the sun was so bright the curtains couldn't contain the sunlight. I thought the end had come. When the window didn't blow in and I was vaporized, relief, be sure.
 

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