Free Republic

Ah, the ole Viggie! IMHO the most attractive carrier aircraft every built. Brings back memories - back in the late 70’s as a young ensign I was stationed at NAS Key West with the recce wing flying the RA-5C.

As you noted, the Viggie had a unique linear bomb bay from which the nuclear “shape” could be ejected while the pilot flew various maneuvers. During the initial trials the equipment & ejection methods were not reliable - the bomb bay was never used as such in the fleet. One unconfirmed story was that whenever the test pilot executed a certain release maneuver the shape followed the flight path of the aircraft almost exactly, forcing the pilot to do an unplanned maneuver to “shake the shape”.

It's career as a bomber basically over before it really began the Vigilante ended up as a very capable recce platform from about 1964 until the end of the 1970s. The sensors were state of the art, and replacing the Viggie’s package with the TARPS pod for the F14 was considered by many in the recce community as a step backwards.

IIRC the plane had the dubious distinction of having the highest combat loss-to-total aircraft deployed ratio of the Vietnam War. This was due to the mission profile and the relatively small number of aircraft involved, not the performance of the aircraft/crews themselves. Those post-strike assessment missions were brutal...

In the end, the Viggie was removed from service due to its large size (& carrier deck multiple) and high maintenance cost. The big problem towards the end was a lack of tail hooks - North American was willing to restart a production line, but it was cost prohibitive. On the last deployments the aircraft spent as much time as possible shore based to save wear & tear on the hooks.

Rectal thermometers have degrees, too.

Just bait for a bunch of unemployed political advisers trying to reel in another RINO sugardaddy/mommy with more money and ego than brains.

California has quite a bit further to fall before politics in this state becomes competitive again.

According to my friend, his circa late 90’s Series 196 Ranch Rifle owner’s manual states it can digest either. Specifically, “The Ranch Rifle is designed to use either standariz(sic) U.S. military or factory loaded sporting .223 (5.56mm) cartridges manufactured in accordance with U.S. industry practice.”

Don’t know about the other series. YMMV, of course.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Armstrong!

Had the privilege of briefly talking with both him and Captain Cernan while a Purdue undergrad back in the mid 70’s. Definitely one of the high points of my life.

Highly recommend shopping at The Wilderness. Bought several of their products over the years - high quality and excellent customer service.

Just ordered their “Frequent Flyer” tactical belt.

http://www.thewilderness.com

Nothing to do with the environment or other “costs” - just trying to push more people into the failing urban transit systems to keep the money following to the public sector unions.

To feed the ever-increasing cost of pay and benefits, transit agencies are cutting routes and raising fares. Even if you can find a route that takes you close to where you want to go, the commute time is going up significantly. On the other hand, auto commuting times are getting better due to so many folks being out of work. So commuters are doing the rational thing and moving out of mass transit and going back to cars, even in the Bay area.

Libs are pushing “free parking” issue as one of the longer term solutions to getting people out of cars and into more expensive mass trans. The short term solution being invoked is raising tolls on bridges and tunnels to raise the cost of commuting by auto.

So does the City of Carlsbad, CA.

Received a multicolor flyer yesterday from the Public Works department. Seems they don’t like “unauthorized collection”. Such “scavenging” is against the law, and they want us subjects, er, citizens to report such miscreatants to the police. Guess the cops around here don’t have enough to do, LOL.

They also don’t like us donating recyclables to any other organizations. Seems they’re worried donations will reduce revenue to the city, warning that this may affect our trash rates.

Could be true. An example - it’s hard today to trace unit movements on some Civil War battlefields in the east because forests have replaced 1860s farm land.

Mmmmm...I could make a mint off my sister-in-law.

Did I just write that??? Well, slap me silly! GRIN:))

Yellow is a good color on him.

State issued twice before, 1982 & 1992. IIRC in 1982 the IOUs were issued and paid back in the same day.

In 1992, $4 billion in IOUs were issued in July and paid back with interest in September.

Don’t know if they’re planning on paying interest this time. Maybe with another IOU...[grin]

Gee, if Barry is so popular, why have I seen a 90% decrease in the number of Obama bumper stickers down here in Southern California since the election???

Perhaps because 742 million dollars can buy an election...
plus several major media outlets...
with a little left over for a polling organization or two.

BTW, a fun little game you can play at home is to keep track of how many dollars your “shuggin” prevents the looters from getting their hands on. Make sure you consider the effects of your financial decisions (for example, taxfree versus taxable bonds) and the reasonable “opportunity costs” of not pursuing opportunities you would have pursued had not the looters/moochers got in your way.

Conservatively speaking, my “Shrug-Score” is approximately 1.0 to 1.5 million since 2003.

I am someone who did what you are thinking about. I've been “shruggin’” since 2003, when one of my larger clients (a former employer) tried to “nationalize” about 6 years worth of my intellectual capital. Decide to temporarily do without the income rather than to give away what was in my rice bowl for free.

BEST DECISION I EVER MAKE! I traded the time I spent earning enough to buy things I found I really didn't need and pay taxes for “services” I neither used or wanted, for time to do things that were in my and my family's best interests.

I took the time to improve my health. I spent more time with my loved ones. I explored new areas of knowledge and to develop new skills. I did more volunteer work in areas important to both me and the community I live in.

The way I see it, time is the most important resource we have, and it is extremely limited. We use time, as well as our abilities, knowledge, skills and attitudes, to create economic value. We trade this with others for the value we want that they produce. When someone takes my value without my consent, and gives me little or nothing in return, it is theft.

I don't like thieves. They will get as little from me as humanly possible. Raise my taxes, take away my freedoms - I'll shrug even more. Dirty little secret that the parasites don't want you to know is they can't do jack with productive folks generating value to loot.

I don't confuse “shruggin” with “slacking”. I keep up with the advances and changes in my profession, and I am more than willing - eager! - to return to adding value for others, making money, growing a business when being productive is once again rewarded.

Barak Obama - star graduate of the “Hugo Chavez School of Speechifying”...

Not enough stupid rich folks left to tax. With a $42B hole to close (so they say - I believe it’s closer to $50B), you could jack up the top end rate to 100% and not even come close.

The smart ones either moved out of state completely, or are domiciled out-of-state and still living in CA in their “second homes”.

Personally, this scrubs the plans we had to replace our two cars (one nine and the other seven years old) this year. From what I hear from other folks, lots of rumblings about cutting back on taxable purchases and/or moving out of state.

With a market like that, somebody could make a mint inventing a left-handed mouse for right-handed men.

Talked with some first responders who were at the crash site. Pilot was doing traps on the Lincoln when he lost an engine. He diverted to Miramar - performance probably still well within the aircraft’s operational envelope, even with one engine - when he lost the second engine on approach. Mechanical failure, bird strike, who knows? Too low - not enough time - made the only decision he probably could make.

I’ve known a number of Navy pilots - got to fly with a few of them. I would say that, to the man, in a similar situation they would ride the rock down if they thought it would save souls on the ground. This pilot is probably no different - and he’ll be second guessing himself for the rest of his life.

Prayers for all concerned.

I walked into a local gunshop last week. On the bulletin board was a picture of Obama with the caption “Employee Of The Month”.

The place was pretty well picked over.