Archive for February 15th, 2021

Obit watch: February 15, 2021.

Monday, February 15th, 2021

Over the weekend, FotB RoadRich sent an obit for Lt. Col. Thomas Robert ‘Bob‘ Vaucher (USAF – ret), certified American badass, who passed away on February 7th at the age of 102.

What did LTC Vaucher do? He flew B-29s. More specifically, he delivered the first B-29 from the factory to the military. He also led the flyover of the USS Missouri during the surrender ceremony. Additionally:

He is recognized for several B–29 “firsts” that are recorded in his biography. Vaucher flight-tested a B–29 to 38,000 feet to assess bomb bay activation, pressure modifications, and other systems; flew as commander on the aircraft’s first strategic combat mission against Japan; flew on the longest nonstop World War II combat mission of 4,030 nautical miles round trip from India to Sumatra; and streamlined cruise procedures that helped increase bomb load by almost 50 percent.

…

In the course of 46 months of active Army Air Corps service, Vaucher flew nearly 40 different aircraft types during 117 combat patrol, bombing, mining, and photography missions in Panama, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, the Galapagos Islands, India, China, and Tinian. His military awards include two Distinguished Flying Crosses, five Air Medals, eight battle stars, and 13 wartime commendations and citations, according to his biography. He was an active GA pilot for 62 years.

…

Weak brakes, a lack of reversible props, and a nosewheel collapse cut one wartime B–29 mission short. During another, Vaucher’s heavily laden long-range bomber struggled to gain altitude when one of the four supercharged 2,200-horsepower Wright R-3350 Duplex Cyclone engines feathered unexpectedly on takeoff. “I staggered out” as the 138,000-pound aircraft slowly gained altitude, he recalled to Zimmerman. “What happened was that when the co-pilot ganged the power down from our takeoff engine speed of 2,900 rpm to 2,600 rpm or so, one of the toggle switches stuck and an engine went into feather mode. I could barely keep the airspeed up above a stall. Fortunately, we took off at sea level and remained at sea level for the next 10 miles, so I was able to baby the thing up to get going.”
“I flew it so much it was second nature to me,” Vaucher said from the pilot seat of the B–29 during a video recounting his wartime flying experience. “I have 3,000 hours sitting in this chair—a year and a half of work.”

This is a 2016 talk LTC Vaucher gave to the Air Force Association NJ Chapter 195 about his experience flying the B-29.

Another shorter video from AOPALive:

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“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 321

Monday, February 15th, 2021

I don’t want to seem like I’m whinging about the cold (even if it is 477.67 degrees Rankine out at the moment) so I thought I’d fall back to some more military history today.

From 1944, vintage OSS film: “Army Experiments In Train Derailment & Sabotage”. You know, it is a lot harder to derail a train than you’d think…

Bonus video #1: higher quality, and more recent: “An Eye In the Darkened Sky”, a promo video for the A6-E Intruder and the Target Recognition Attack Multi-Sensor system (TRAM).

This was a small, gyroscopically stabilized nose turret containing a FLIR boresighted with a laser spot-tracker/designator and IBM AN/ASQ-155 computer. TRAM allowed highly accurate attacks without using the Intruder’s radar, and also allowed the Intruder to autonomously designate and drop laser-guided bombs.

Bonus video #2: “Royal Navy Learning Gutter Fighting”. Might be some useful tips here if you’re the kind of person who gets held at bayonet or gun point.

Bonus video #3, and I think this one is a real treat: “Cowboy 57” a 1959 short about the day to day activities of a B-52 crew. The treat is: this is narrated by Brigadier General James Maitland Stewart.

Posted in History, Planes, Trains | 2 Comments »