The following from the Aero-News Propwash this morning: Closing The Circle At Auschwitz IAF Fly-Over By Sons And Grandsons Of Holocaust Victims Closing a symbolic circle, three IAF F-15s, all piloted by sons and grandsons of Holocaust survivors, will stage a fly-by over Auschwitz next...

I fly about 50 hours a year and wish I could do more, just to stay in the groove. Could I have stayed current in a jet fighter, flying about 140 hours a year? Thanks! all the best -- Dan Ford email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

"What starts as the personal memoir of an F-105 pilot turns out to be a solid work of aerial combat history"--Darrel Whitcomb, in the October 2004 issue of Vietnam magazine. Better late than never! Happily the Smithsonian Institution Press keeps its good sellers around forever. (If it had been...

On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 12:29:10 +0300, "Jukka O. Kauppinen" wrote: "No losses were reported among Soviet units on 8 November. I would have to know more about these negative reports. While I've studied enough combat reports to know that a majority are...

I just now learned that then-Major Charles Sweeney, the pilot of Bockscar on the Nagasaki mission, died in Boston last Thursday at the age of 84. According to an obituary this morning in the Aero-News email newsletter: A staunch defender of the atomic missions, Sweeney told Quincy (MA) Patriot...

What airline was Ernest K Gann flying for when he began to fly for the army in Fate Is the Hunter? Thanks! all the best -- Dan Ford email: (put Cubdriver in subject line) The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com

If you were going to name a couple of the greatest writers about military aviation, who would they be? I want personal recollections, not history. I'd like names that large numbers of people would recognize. Antoine de St Exupery? (Can't stand him, personally, but he seems beloved) Ernest Gahn?...

This from the Aero-News Propwash email newsletter this morning: *********************************************** USAF Names First Female To Command Combat Squadron And You'll Never Guess... The 354th Fighter Squadron, based at Arizona's Davis-Monthan AFB, has a new commander: Lt. Col. Martha...

Further to the question of whether there are "decleration devices" that would enable a crippled aircraft to land safely, this evidently is breaking news: Parachute saves light plane's passengers VANCOUVER/ CKNW (AM980) -- Four people are alive today thanks to a relatively new parachute system for...

From today's Aero-News email newsletter: The End Of Manned Fighters? F-35 Will Be Last Of Traditional Aircraft The top gun of the future will be a robot - not your hormone-pumping human aviator. Unmanned aircraft will be the key to the modern battlefield as the traditional fighter aircraft is...

I've updated the Warbird's Forum for February. * Book of the month: "Brave Men, Gentle Heroes" -- a splendid oral history in which fathers who fought in World War II, and their sons who served in Vietnam, get to tell their stories. www.warbirdforum.com/bravemen.htm * "Airplane heaven" -- a tour...

On an earlier thread, some despicable mysogynist wondered whether a female suicide bomber got the 72 virgins issued to martyrs in heaven, which led some other lowlife to speculate that instead she might be multiplied into the 72 virgins. Well, further to those thoughts, here's a note from this...

What does this entry on a pilot's record mean, circa 1970?: "crew member on flight service" Does that mean he's current as a pilot, or something else entirely? Thanks!

From the Washington Post: "Consequently, we respectfully wish to inform you that the National Air and Space Museum has no plans to alter the Laser 200 from the way it was when it was last flown by Leo Loudenslager and ultimately given to us by his daughters," Dailey wrote. The plane was displayed...

China's first taikonaut is safely home. He flashed the "V" signal, with the palm out. What would that signify to a Chinese audience? Presumably not V-for-Victory, since Churchill flashed with the knuckles out. "Peace", like in the 1970s (more often called the 1960s)? all the best -- Dan...

New & improved at the Warbird's Forum for October: * A review of a superlative new book about the Iraq war: "The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division." The lead author is Bing West--fine writer, marine veteran, and former assistant secretary of defense....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch has signed a $1 million agreement with Alfred A. Knopf, giving the injured former U.S. Army private the chance to tell her own story, the publisher said on Tuesday. all the best -- Dan Ford email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9 see the...

I happened to be conversing (actually, e-conversing) with Smithsonian Institution Press yesterday, and I was told that Ed Rasimus's book, When Thunder Rolled, is being reprinted. For SIP, this is unheard of! It was published only in March. Two years is more like it, and most SIP books never go back...

"The Todal" wrote in message ... "Bystander" wrote in message ... "= Vox Populi ©" wrote in message...

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