Ed Rasimus wrote:
(Ditch) wrote:

This reminds me of my good friend who was flying F-15's at the time out of
Eglin. He was thinking of applying for an exchange tour with the Italians to
fly F-104s, which we both agree is about one of the coolest things built.
I was encouraging him to go for it but then he brought up a good point...he
goes "John, I would kill to fly a -104, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to
take one into combat these days!"

-John
*You are nothing until you have flown a Douglas, Lockheed, Grumman or North
American*

Last things first, I guess I'm "nothing," but I got a lot of hours.

Then, your friend characterizes what we used to refer to as an "Ego
Driver"--someone filled with the hubris of flying a pretty good
airplane who erroneously considers it superior to everything else.

Kinda' like those punks (of both sexes) who buy SUV's so they can
bully other drivers and look down on them in city traffic. Take away
their Ford Excursions, Escapades and Hummers and they're nothings.

If he had checked more closely (maybe he did, but I doubt it,) he
would have found out that the Italians produced and flew the "S" model
which had added AIM-7 capability to an already excellent interceptor
with great gun and all-aspect AIM-9. A pretty good airplane and, like
most, one which needs to be flown in its own best corner of the
P-sub-s charts. It wouldn't have been a bad airplane at all to take
into combat, and it would have been even more formidable if he went
with those Italian pilots who typically had a couple of thousand hours
in type and who had flown with each other for a decade.

Conversely, I determined, somewhat late in my career, that the
challenge of air combat was one that made it worthwhile in almost any
type of reasonable equipment. I guess that left me leaning a bit
toward mercenaryism.

Speaking of which, as you know the Brits have always been scrappy
special ops warriors. You wouldn't hear me telling the British Special
Air Services (SAS) mercenarys who trained in *trikes* at Boscombe
Down (RAF test pilot school) that "You are nothing until you have
flown a Douglas, Lockheed, Grumman or North American."

-Mike Marron