Archive for the ‘Planes’ Category

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“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 23

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020

Remember the XB-70?

Okay, that’s kind of a trick question: very few people other than military aviation buffs remember the XB-70. It was an amazing concept: a plane capable of sustained flight at Mach 3 and 70,000 feet.

Sadly, the project was overtaken by events: they ended up building only two planes, and one was lost in a mid-air collision. The other one is in the Air Force Museum in Dayton.

I didn’t know that there was video of the XB-70 in flight. Until last night, that is.

Bonus video #1: since that one was a little short, I’m going to go a little long with this one. “Ejection Decison – A Second Too Late!”. Basically, the point of this training film is: decide before you start flying under what circumstances you’re going to eject. There’s some good video of actual ejections, as well as testimony from pilots who planned and followed through.

Bonus video #2: a short history of the ejection seat from Martin-Baker.

Posted in History, Planes | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 17

Thursday, April 16th, 2020

All of these are just a little outside my target run length, but that’s okay. I hope everyone can deal with that.

First up: this might be just a little too much, even for my readers who are people of the gun. But I wanted to put it up because it is a nice slice of history from around the time I was born.

“Target Vs.”, a 1965 film from the Williams Gun Sight company about the 1965 National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio.

I don’t think I’ll ever be good enough to compete at Camp Perry, but I’d like to visit there one of these days while the matches are going on. Just to take in the scene.

Bonus video #1: “No Points For Second Place”. This is apparently a Grumman produced tribute to the F-14. With some handy tips on dogfighting thrown in.

Bonus video #2: “Police Pursuit Driving Part 2”. I guess this is a sequel (at least thematically) to “Police Pursuit“, but it lacks Jack Webb. I think it also lacks Smith and Wessons, though there is one ridiculous bit in here (you’ll know it when you see it).

I cannot tell a lie: “Some guys stay rookies forever.” gets a rise out of me.

Posted in Cops, Guns, History, Law, Planes | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 16

Wednesday, April 15th, 2020

Our first video today is a little longer than usual, and also not exactly a random YouTube find. This one was recommended to us by great and good FOTB (and official firearms trainer of WCD) Karl Rehn. (Speaking of stuff rescued from obscurity, that NRA pistol manual is pretty spiffy, too.)

“It Could Happen to You!”, a NRA film from the 1970s for women. The archive.org notes say it doesn’t have any guns in it: “Women are shown rather defending themselves with hairpins, their nails, and by locking themselves in their cars with handkerchiefs as SOS flags.”

Bonus video #1: This one should fit a little more comfortably into the coffee break time slot. “The Blackbirds Are Flying”.

No, this isn’t a nature video. This one is from Lockheed Advanced Development Projects, and shows off all three of the Blackbirds.

Bonus video #2: “The Petrified River: The Story of Uranium”. This is a Department of Interior – Bureau of Mines product, but was apparently filmed with the cooperation of the old Union Carbide Corporation. There’s some really nice plane video at the start, RoadRich…

Posted in Guns, History, Planes | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 13

Sunday, April 12th, 2020

I wanted something a little bit lighter than cop stuff and military aircraft for Easter. Then this popped up in my YouTube suggestions. I’ve wanted to see this ever since I read about the event in Tex Johnston’s biography.

Bonus: original Boeing promotional video for the Dash 80.

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“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 12

Saturday, April 11th, 2020

More planes!

I did briefly consider doing some more police stuff, but I thought I wanted a thematic break after the previous post.

First up, once again for RoadRich and the 1940 Air Terminal Museum folks: “6 1/2 Magic Hours”. That six and a half hours is how long it takes to reach Europe on Pan Am’s 707 Clipper.

Bonus: “Champion of Champions”, a documentary about the Convair B-58 Hustler. Yes, that is Jimmy Stewart: or, properly, Brigadier General James M. Stewart (United States Air Force – Reserve). I don’t think he gets enough credit for his military career, but that’s probably because he was very modest about it. Andy Rooney commented in one of his books that Stewart earned every promotion he got. (He enlisted as a private in March of 1941, and retired in May of 1968.)

(There’s a story about Stewart’s appearance in “The World At War” documentary series: he agreed to appear, but required that he be identified as simply “Jimmy Stewart, pilot.”)

Bonus video #2: “Escape and Survive”, about the development of the B-58’s ejection capsule.

Okay, one more: vintage video of the B-58 flying really low and really fast.

Posted in History, Planes | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 11

Friday, April 10th, 2020

Everybody likes planes, right? Especially great and good FOTB RoadRich!

Here’s some more vintage video targeted directly at his interests.

First up, “Birth of a Jet”. This should not be confused with “Birth of a Nation”: this one is about the DC-8, and dates from 1958.

Bonus video #1. This is a throwback video: “Tomorrow’s Airplane Today: The Story of the Stratocruiser”, from 1946. The 377 Stratocruiser was a Boeing airliner, based on the C-97 Stratofreighter transport (which, in turn, was based on the B-29). Apparently, the airliner was not entirely successful.

Bonus video #2: In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m partial to the F-4 Phantom. “F-4 Flight Characteristics”.

As the YouTube notes point out, there’s some really amazing footage of an F-4 in a spin about 24 minutes in.

Posted in History, Planes | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 10

Thursday, April 9th, 2020

Since I was a little selfish yesterday, today’s videos go out to great and good FOTB RoadRich, and to the good folks at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum in Houston. May they re-open soon.

First up: “The 707 Astrojet”, a 1961 co-production of American Airlines and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft.

Bonus video #1: “The F-4 Phantom Joins the Fleet”, from 1962. From the YouTube description, for all you military aviation buffs: “The film features Fighter Squadron SEVEN FOUR (VF-74) aka Bedevilers flying from the nearly-new aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59) along with the rest of Carrier Air Wing EIGHT (CVW-8).”

Bonus video #2: “Grumman at War”, from 1944.

Posted in History, Planes | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 6

Sunday, April 5th, 2020

Shifting gears here, since I brought everyone down earlier. These go out to great and good FOTB RoadRich, who is to submarines and aircraft what Lawrence is to tanks.

Have you ever said to yourself, “Self, I wonder how I can get out of a submarine that’s under water?” Of course you have.

(I actually learned somewhat similar techniques when I was taking scuba training.)

Bonus video #1: I’m putting these next two in as bonus videos because they’re a bit longer than my 15 minute target. With our Saturday night movie group in lockdown, we’ve been reduced to watching broadcast TV. Interestingly, H&I is showing “12 O’Clock High” (the TV series) at 10 Central on Saturday nights. We watched the movie a little less than a year ago, and I thought it was an extraordinary film. I don’t have enough episodes under my belt to be able to judge the series yet.

Anyway: how do you fly a B-17?

Bonus video #2: how do you stop flying a B-17? For example, if you have to ditch at sea?

For those of you who don’t read the YouTube notes: both of these videos feature Arthur Kennedy, who played “Jackson Bentley” (the journalist based loosely on Lowell Thomas) in “Lawrence of Arabia”.

Okay, bonus video #3, which I just happened to stumble upon: for the moment, the pilot episode of “12 O’Clock High”, “Golden Boy Had 9 Black Sheep” is available on YouTube. Those of you who have seen the movie might recognize some similarities in plot.

Posted in History, Planes, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: April 4, 2020.

Saturday, April 4th, 2020

Rear Adm. Edward L. Feightner (United States Navy – ret.).

In his 34 years of Navy service, as a combat pilot in the Pacific, an instructor and a test pilot, Admiral Feightner flew more than 100 types of planes.
While he was a junior Navy officer, he twice shot down three Japanese planes on a single day and took part in battles in the Caroline Islands, the Marianas and the Philippines.
In the late 1940s, he became one of the early test pilots at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. He flew or analyzed the systems for fighters, transports, helicopters and just about any other type of aircraft envisioned by the Navy.
He became the head of the Navy’s fighter design program and was twice awarded the Legion of Merit for his testing and administrative activities. He received four Distinguished Flying Crosses for his combat exploits.
In the early 1950s, Admiral Feightner was a member of the Navy’s Blue Angels, whose close-formation flying and acrobatics thrilled crowds at air shows.

…

Admiral Feightner was credited with his first “kill” when he shot down a Japanese dive bomber off the Santa Cruz Islands in October 1942. He downed three torpedo bombers off Rennell Island on Jan. 30, 1943, and became an ace (a pilot with at least five kills) when he shot down a Zero fighter off the Palau island chain in March 1944.
He shot down another Zero off Truk in April 1944 and downed three Zeros off Formosa (now Taiwan) on Oct. 12, 1944.

Admiral Feightner was 100 when he passed.

Ira Einhorn is burning in hell.

Einhorn was found guilty of fatally bludgeoning his girlfriend, Helen “Holly” Maddux, 30, in 1977 and stuffing her body into a trunk that he kept in his Powelton apartment for 18 months. In 1981, just before his trial, he fled to Europe, and he remained on the lam for two decades. He was extradited from France in 2001, and a Philadelphia jury convicted him of first-degree murder in 2002 in Maddux’s slaying. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Steven Levy’s book on the case, The Unicorn’s Secret: Murder in the Age of Aquarius is available in a Kindle edition, and that’s probably the way to go if you want to read it. (As far as I know, that’s the only book about the case, though it was written before Einhorn’s capture and extradition: I don’t know if Levy updated subsequent editions or the Kindle version.)

Posted in Heroism, History, Law, Obits, Planes | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 2

Wednesday, April 1st, 2020

Continuing with the “random stuff that popped up in my YouTube recommendations” theme, here’s one of those Navy training videos. This one is actually better quality than some of the other ones I’ve been watching, and contains a lot of nice action shots: “The Job Of The EA-6B Prowler”:

Bonus video #1: this actually wasn’t a random YouTube recommendation, but something McThag linked to a while back that might be interesting to some folks: “Defensive Electronic Countermeasures”, a 1962 training film about various then current ECM gear. It is a little longer than I’d like (close to 30 minutes instead of 15), but I think it is a nice historical artifact.

Bonus video #2: also not random, and nothing to do with military aviation. I actually saw this on whatever the broadcast game show channel was this morning, and was amused: Robert Moog (and two other guys) on “To Tell the Truth”:

It particularly amuses me that the first question asked…is about P.D.Q. Bach.

Posted in History, Music, Planes | Comments Closed

Obit watch: February 9, 2020.

Sunday, February 9th, 2020

Let’s get down to it.

Paul Farnes. He was 101, and the last surviving RAF ace from the Battle of Britain.

…for three months, through the end of October, the R.A.F. battled the Luftwaffe for supremacy in the skies over Britain. Flying a Hurricane fighter for the 501 Squadron, Mr. Farnes, a sergeant pilot, proved supremely adept at attacking German aircraft.
In August alone he shot down three Junkers Ju Stuka bombers, a Dornier 17 light bomber and a Messerschmitt 109E fighter.At the end of September, as Mr. Farnes maneuvered his malfunctioning Hurricane back to the R.A.F.’s Kenley base, he spotted a German bomber flying directly at him at about 1,500 feet.
“I thought, ‘Good God,’ so I whipped out and had to reposition myself and managed to get ’round behind him,” he said in an interview with the website History of War in 2017. “I gave him a couple of bursts, and he crashed at Gatwick just on the point between the airport and the racecourse.”

…

Aerial warfare against the Germans meant breaking away from the squadron, finding something to shoot at, firing away, then breaking away to safety. But by Mr. Farnes’s account it was also enjoyable, because he was able to combine his love of flying with the mission to protect Britain.
“The C.O. would quite often pick the next members of the squadron that had to be at ‘readiness,’ and the two or three who weren’t picked would be pretty fed up,” he told History of War. “If you weren’t picked, you’d think, ‘Why can’t I go?’ I’m sure one or two must have felt, ‘Well, thank God I’m not going!’ But a lot of us were quite happy to go.”

Robert Conrad. THR. Variety.

I was a little young for “Wild Wild West” in first run; if it was syndicated in Houston when I was a kid, I don’t remember it. It could have been on the station we were never able to pick up (the same one OG “Star Trek” was on). And “Hawaiian Eye” was before my time. But if you’re my age or a little on either side of it, this was like candy for us:

He also appeared multiple times on “Mission: Impossible” and other series, either as the lead of some less than successful ones (“High Mountain Rangers”) or doing guest shots. He did do a “Mannix”. (“The Playground”, season 3, episode 4.) And I didn’t know this, but he played G. Gordon Liddy in the TV movie version of “Will”.

Orson Bean. Variety. THR. Interesting guy: I remember him from “Being John Malkovich” and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him on some of those old game shows on Buzzr. In the 1960s, he founded a progressive school in New York City.

Believing that America’s generals were planning an imminent coup d’état, Mr. Bean abandoned his thriving career and moved his family to Australia in 1970. He became a disciple of the Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich and wrote a book about his psychosexual theories, “Me and the Orgone.” (Orgone is a concept, originally proposed by Reich, of a universal life force.)
When the book appeared in 1971, Mr. Bean returned to America with his wife and four children. For years he led a nomadic life as an aging hippie and self-described househusband, casting off material possessions in a quest for self-realization.

In the 1980s, he settled down again and resumed acting. He was 91 years old when he died: he was hit by a car while walking, fell, and was run over by a second car (according to Variety).

After the jump, more obits.

(more…)

Posted in 1970s, Books, History, Law, Mannix, Movies, Nixon, Obits, Planes, Theatre, TV | 3 Comments »

A slightly belated Christmas present…

Wednesday, December 25th, 2019

The CBC Radio adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s The Shepherd.

There’s a lot of good stuff (if you’re a plane buff) linked from that page and elsewhere, including:

If you are a plane buff, I commend both the CBC links and Forsyth’s work to your attention.

(For those who may be unfamiliar with the story: young pilot is flying home for Christmas and suffers a total electrical failure over the north Atlantic. He has virtually no instruments, fog has set in, and if he bails out, he’ll probably freeze to death in the ocean. At the last possible moment, he’s led to a safe landing at an old RAF base by a Mosquito. And then the story goes in some unexpected directions from there.)

Posted in Books, Christmas, Heroism, History, Planes, Radio | Comments Closed

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