instapinch.com

We’re up here in Nova Scotia for a well-deserved break from the rigors of life in the belly of the beast (Wash DC) and came across the below bumper sticker as we were heading thru the airport parking lot to grab the rental.

I know this might be a Yank ex-pat or someone like that, but Canada’s socialist streak is alive and well:

I swear…..rarely (if ever) have I seen such adoration for a political entity that has less substance than this man.

John Kerry comes to mind, and Obama’s “I am a world citizen” speech yesterday in Berlin underscored the similarities.

You all need to get a load of what this disgusting moron wrote concerning the Pentagon on 9/11.  You need to know that there are “people” out there who are spewing this sort of trash - they actually believe it and are actively trying to get some traction with this crap.

The opening question was thus - about a new book that highlighted firemen and rescue teams and searchers in the Pentagon immediately after the impact of AA 77 and what they came across, and if/how the previously discussed (here and here) Pilots for 9/11 Truth” would reconcile those witness statements:

Having read from various sources a little bit of the description of the recent ‘Firefight’ book I wondered if it had been read and considered by anyone involved with Pilots For Truth. The book is apparently a detailed account of the experiences of firefighters to the Pentagon incident. I haven’t read it myself, but short excerpts from the book seem to document bodies of passengers, luggage, plane parts etc, which obviously is potentially contradictory to a flyover theory.

Which led one “Aldo Marquis” of the “Citizens Investigation Team” (one of the moonbat organizations who claim the US government is behind all the events of 9/11) to opine the following:

The Pentagon was under “renovation” in the EXACT section that was allegedly hit by a jet filled with “passengers, luggage, and plane parts”. The “renovation” was scheduled for completion that week and there were lots of UNOCCUPIED spaces at the Pentagon. This would allow the perfect opportunity to plant incendiary devices or projectiles within or outside of the Pentagon and would allow them to plant even the most simple of things such as luggage and plane parts. The most puzzling would be passengers in seats, and again this could be a lie, a mistake, or they actually went so far as to plant a section of seats with cadavers waiting to be blown up or engulfed in flames. Obviously they were bringing in large pieces of equipment and furniture, so a large crate with freshly unfrozen cadavers being wheeled into an unoccupied room could go undetected the day before 9/11.

You can follow this thread the crackpot forum “Pilots for 9/11 “Twoof” “here.

A sane, healthy mind could never make this up.  I swear.

People still ask me why I highlight this stuff - why I write about it and give them the publicity they crave (such as it is on a  small place like this).  Thing is, this one isn’t funny.  You can’t make fun of someone who exhibits such a depth of utter moral depravity and decay, not to mention the absolute stultifying absence of any intellectual content.

As I said over on Blackfive, you need to shine a light every once in a while into the dark corners of society to make sure the cockroaches don’t gather.

And then step on them.

Received this morning.  I moved the last sentence to the top:

“All of this and some SOB says, “getting shot down and captured does not qualify someone to be president” - but supposedly another with 143 days in congress does qualify?  What a country - but how long will we stand at this rate?”

Some very interesting stats….

Subject: Room #7 Hanoi Hilton Alum list

In late 2000, CdrAirGroup (CAG) Jim Stockdale, Room Seven Senior Ranking Officer (SRO) asked his old friend, By Fuller to provide a list of the roommates of Room 7, Hanoi Hilton as of Christmas 1970.

The roommates of this room were extraordinary, both at the time of incarceration, and then later in freedom.

Room 7 had the first organized church service to be held in the prisons of North Vietnam.  Permission was asked for by Stockdale, and twice denied by the Camp Commander.  The room was warned not to do it.  Room 7 decided to do it anyway.  They even had a choir. Their solemn service quickly caught the eye of the guards and authorities.  Armed guards rushed into the room to break up the “ominous” unauthorized meeting.  Ringleaders, Risner, Coker and Rutledge were led out of the room with guards at each arm (they were headed for more Heartbreak Hotel, solitary confinement and lots of punishment). Bud Day was the one who then jumped up on his bed and started to sing “The National Anthem” and “God Bless America.”  The entire room burst into song.

Then Rooms Six, Five, Four, Three, Two and One joined in succession.These songs of pride and defiance were loud enough to be heard outside the 15-foot walls of the Hanoi Hilton. As Robbie marched out the door, his back straightened with pride.  He held his head high.

Robbie later recalled his thoughts as his roommates burst out in song, “I felt like I was nine feet tall and could go bear hunting with a switch.”

Thirty one years later, on November 16, 2001 a nine-foot tall bronze statue of Brigadier General Robinson Risner, USAF would be dedicated on the central plaza of the United States Air Force Academy.  To Bud Day (principal speaker), Ross Perot (the sponsor of the project), and dozens of Robbie’s Room-Seven roommates at the ceremony, it seemed more fitting to call the statue “life size.” Photos: Dedication of B/Gen Robbie Risner’s Statue - USAFA 16-18 November 2001

CAG, knowing what the VC  reaction would be, was heard to remark something to the effect, “Well, I guess we just can’t stand prosperity.”  Our camp, yet unnamed, from that moment on became known as “Camp Unity.”The guards protested, but the songs continued.  Shortly thereafter, Vietnamese troops entered each room in force.  They had their hats secured with chinstraps in place, they had fixed bayonets, and they were mad!  They quickly backed the POWs against the walls with a bayonet in each POW’s stomach.  The singing immediately ceased as the troops burst through the doors.  The VC later claimed that they had put down a riot.  It wasn’t a real riot, but it was a lot of fun until the soldiers entered the room.  Several roommates of Room 7 were jerked out the next day.  The next day, Orson Swindle in Room 6 tapped the following message on the wall:  “Damn, you’d have to get in line to get in trouble in that crowd!!”

Thanks to By Fuller for the gut work of putting together this  facts sheet. Paul Galanti and Mike McGrath assisted.This historical document is dedicated to a fearless leader, Vice Admiral Jim Stockdale, CAG.

Here’s what the men of Room 7 accomplished:

Roster of “Room 7″ on 26 December, 1970 (Hanoi Hilton):

Name:                                           Shootdown rank:         Days captive:

1.  Brady, Al                                 Cdr, USN                       2236

2.  Coker, George                        Lt (jg), USN                   2381

3.  Coskey, Ken                           Cdr, USN                        1650

4.  Craner, Bob (Deceased)       Maj, USAF                      1911

5.  Crayton, Render                   LCdr, USN                      2562

6.  Crow, Fred                             LCol, USAF                    2170

7.  Crumpler, Carl                      LCol, USAF                     1713

8.  Daniels, Vern                        Cdr, USN                         1966

9.  Daughtrey, Norlan              Capt, USAF                      2751

10. Day, Bud                              Maj, USAF                       2027

11. Denton, Jerry                      Cdr, USN                          2766

12. Doremus, Rob                     LCdr, USN                        2729

13. Dramesi, John                     Capt, USAF                      2163

14. Dunn Howie (Deceased)    Maj, USMC                       2624

15. Fellowes, Jack                     LCdr, USN                        2381

16. Finlay, Jack                         LCol, USAF                      1781

17. Franke, Bill                          Cdr, USN                          2729

18. Fuller, By                             Cdr, USN                          2060

19. Gillespie, Chuck (Deceased) Cdr, USN                      1968

20. Guarino, Larry                    Maj, USAF                      2801

21. Gutterson, Laird                 Maj, USAF                       1846

22. Hughes, Jim                        LCol, USAF                      2130

23. James, Charlie                    Cdr, USN                          1761

24. Jenkins, Harry (Deceased) Cdr, USN                        2648

25. Johnson, Sam                      Maj, USAF                       2494

26. Kasler, Jim                          Maj, USAF                       2400

27. Kirk, Tom                            LCol, USAF                      1964

28. Lamar, Jim                         LCol, USAF                       2474

29. Larson, Swede                   LCol, USAF                       2130

30. Lawrence, Bill                    Cdr, USN                           2076

31. Ligon, Vern (Deceased)    LCol, USAF                       1942

32. McCain, John                     LCdr, USN                        1966

33. McKnight, George             Maj, USAF                        2655

34. Moore, Mel                         Cdr, USN                           2185

35. Mulligan, Jim                     Cdr, USN                           2521

36. Pollard, Ben                       Maj, USAF                         2120

37. Risner, Robbie                   LCol, USAF                        2706

38. Rivers, Wendy                  LCdr, USN                          2715

39. Rutledge, Howie (Deceased) Cdr, USN                      2633

40. Schoeffel, Pete                  LCdr, USN                         1988

41. Shumaker, Bob                 LCdr, USN                         2923

42. Stockdale, Jim                  Cdr, USN                            2713

43. Stockman, Hervey           LCol, USAF                        2093

44. Stratton, Dick                   LCdr, USN                         2250

45. Tanner, Nels                     LCdr, USN                         2338

46. Webb, Ron                        Capt, USAF                        2093

47. Gary Anderson (Deceased) Lt (jg), USN                   2151

Total days in captivity:  108,116

Man-years in captivity:   296.21

Here’s a brief history of the 47 men:

5  Made Flag/Admiral rank (Stockdale O-9, Lawrence O-9, Shumaker O-8, Denton O-8, Fuller O-8).

1 Made General rank (Risner O-7)

40  Others stayed in the military and attained the following ranks:

USMC 1 Col–Dunn

AF 1 LCol–Daughtrey; 19 Colonels–Craner, Crow, Crumpler, Day, Dramesi, Finlay, Guarino, Gutterson, Hughes, Kasler, Johnson, Kirk, Lamar, Larson, Ligon, McKnight, Pollard, Stockman, & Webb

Navy 1 Cdr–Coker; 18 Captains–Brady, Coskey, Crayton, Daniels, Doremus, Fellowes, Franke, Gillespie, James, Jenkins, McCain, Moore, Mulligan, Rivers, Rutledge, Schoeffel, Stratton, & Tanner.

1   Became U.S. Congressmen (Johnson, TX; McCain, AZ).

2   Became U.S. Senators (Denton, AL; McCain, AZ).

1   Was a Vice Presidential candidate (Stockdale).

1    Was a Presidential candidate (McCain).

2    Received the Medal of Honor (Stockdale, Day).  Day resumed his career as a lawyer.

3    Received the Navy Cross (Denton, Coker, Fuller).  (3 of the 4 POWs to receive this award were from this room. Red McDaniel was the 4th  POW to receive the award).

4    Made escapes.  All were recaptured, all were tortured. (Dramesi, Coker, McKnight, Day).

2    Were jet aces from the Korean War (Risner: 9 kills in F-86; Kasler: 6 kills in F-86).

1    Was the first pilot to fly over Russia in U-2 spy aircraft (Stockman).

1    Was shot down 4-15-1944 in Germany.  POW until April 1945.  26th mission in P-47 (Ligon)

1    Shot down 3 German planes during WW II.  Flying British aircraft (Guarino).  Flew 156 missions in Sicily, India, China and Indo-China.

1     Flew 62 missions in Korea War. Got credit for 1 kill, 1 damaged, 1 probable kill against Mig 15s (Johnson).

7    Received the Air Force Cross (Kasler–3 awards; Risner–2 awards, Dramesi: 2 awards, Day, Kirk, Guarino and McKnight each received one award).

4   Were Navy Test Pilots (Stockdale, Lawrence, Gillespie, & Franke).

1    Flew with the Thunderbirds (Johnson).

11   Were USNA graduates (Brady ‘51, Denton ‘47, Fellowes ‘56, Fuller ‘51, Gillespie ‘51, Lawrence ‘51, McCain ‘58, Rivers ‘52, Schoeffel ‘54, Shumaker ‘56, & Stockdale ‘47).

2    Were Landing Signal Officers (LSOs); (Stockdale, Tanner).

1    Escaped the B-52 community and got into combat flying the F-105G (Larson).

1   Has a daughter who is an astronaut, gone into space three times (789 hours).  She is presently in training as a crewmember of the International Space Station.  (Lawrence).

1   Was a Navy Air Wing Commander (CAG): (Stockdale, (COMAIRGRU 16).

1    Commanded a Navy Carrier, USS America. Later became Battle Group Commander ÒCARGRU 4 Commander (Fuller).

10  Were Squadron Commanders (Coskey (VA-85), Day (TBD), Denton (VA-75), Franke, Fuller (VA-76), Gillespie, Jenkins VA-163), Lawrence (VF-143), Ligon (11th TRS) and Larson (469th TFS) when shot down), Schoeffel (VA-83).

5    Were Squadron Executive Officers (Daniels, Moore, Mulligan, Rutledge, & Brady).  They were shot down before they could make Squadron Commander.

10   Authored books:

a.     Day: Return With Honor.

b.     Denton: When Hell Was In Session.

c.     Dramesi: Code of Honor.

d.     Guarino: A POW’s Story: 2801 Days in Hanoi.

e.     Johnson: Captive Warriors: A Vietnam POW’s Story.

f.      McCain: Faith of My Fathers.

g.     Mulligan: The Hanoi Commitment.

h.     Risner: The Passing of the Night.

i.      Rutledge: In the Presence of Mine Enemies.

j.      Stockdale: Courage Under Fire; In Love and War; A Vietnam Experience; Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot.

4    Became Presidents/Commandants/Superintendents of institutions of higher learning: (Stockdale:President of the Citidel and President of the Naval War College; Lawrence: Superintendent of the USNA; Shumaker: Superintendent of the Naval Postgraduate School; and (TBD); Denton: Commandant of Armed Forces Staff College).

2   Built their own airplanes: (Jenkins: Long EZ; Shumaker: Glassair). Pollard  is currently flying sail planes.

1   Was the first active duty Naval Aviator to fly Mach II (Lawrence).

1   Was first Naval Aviator to land on an aircraft carrier in 0/0 fog with a
newly developed Aircraft Carrier Landing System (Gillespie).  Yes, it was an emergency low fuel state!

2    Naval Aviators were in the final selection groups (before shootdown)
for the Mercury Astronaut Program (Lawrence, Shumaker).

Many of the members of Room 7 either served during wars prior to Vietnam, or who saw combat in theatres other than Vietnam

WW II:
Vern Ligon: USA Air Corps, 25 missions, P-47 pilot, POW in Stalag Luft 1, 1944-45, escaped once, recaptured.
Larry Guarino: USA Air Corps, 156 missions in Sicily, India, China and Indo-China.  Spitfires.
Hervey Stockman: USA Air Corps.  68 missions, P-51.
Jim Kasler: USA Air Corps, 7 missions as tail gunner, B-29.
Harry Jenkins and Gordon Larson were Navy V5 cadets and Fred Crow was an Army Air Corps aviation  cadet when WW II ended.
Bud Day: Corporal, USMC, 30 months in south and central Pacific, April 1942-Nov 1945.
By Fuller and Carl Crumpler: Enlisted in US Navy summer of 1945.  Saw boot camp by the end of WW II.
Fred Crow and Al Brady: were Navy dependents at Pearl Harbor, December 7,1941.
Korea:
Robby Risner: USAF, 108 missions, F-86.  Mig Ace with 9 kills.
Jim Kasler: USAF, 100 missions, F-86, Mig Ace with 6 kills.
Howie Rutledge:  USN, 200 missions, F9F-2 as a Flying Midshipman.
Harry Jenkins: Served aboard USS Fred T. Berry (DD-141) off coast of Korea. Flying Midshipman.
Tom Kirk: Flew missions in Korea (we need more information from Tom).
Larry Guarino: USAF, Air Defense Alert missions.
Jim Lamar: USAF, 100 missions in F-80 and P-51.
Wendy Rivers: Served on a destroyer off the coast of Korea.
Laird Gutterson: USAF, flew 60 missions, P-51.
Verlyne Daniels: Flew AD-4 missions, March-August 1953.
Sam Johnson: USAF, flew 62 missions, F-86, 1 kill, 1 probable, 1 damaged against Mig 15s.
Bud Day: USAF, air defense missions, F-84s.
Bill Lawrence: (F2H-3) and By Fuller (F9F-5) arrived off the coast of Korea in October 1953.  They were flying off the USS Oriskany.  Too late the war was over!
Fred Crow: Had various commands stateside during the Korean War.
Carl Crumpler: Flew F-86s at George AFB.  War was over too soon for him to participate.

Magnificent men, whether in a cockpit, in a cell, or at a desk.   Provided
to show that, regardless of the circumstances, some are never defeated, only temporarily delayed.

The new header pic (above) came about after some experimentation.  That’s one of the coolest things about digital photography - experimenting costs you absolutely nothing but time.

When your aeronautical platform of choice no longer flies (and if you *do* find one flying, you’d better hope it is located in the middle of a target acquisition lock), you need to find unique ways to get interesting shots.

The “gate guard” (one of many, actually, with there being 13 aircraft making up the Air Park) at NAS Oceana is the last Tomcat built, bureau number 164604.  I’d venture a guess that it is probably the best maintained outdoor Tomcats (or one of the best), and still looks great.

I headed out last week when I was at Oceana for duty and got some timed-exposure shots around 9pm. There was just enough light left to tint the sky a dark blue and to get enough ambient light to highlight the good parts.  The header picture was taken from this one - cropped down to fit the space:

Again, this was taken at about 9pm with a Canon 30D on a 5 second exposure.  I think.  Something close to those numbers

Here’s the same perspective, only slightly farther back, day time:

Here are a few others I took at the same time as the header picture:

Its really amazing how dark it looks to your eye but how light things get on a multi-second exposure.  The highlighting light on the below one came from street lamps:

And of course the experimentation part comes in when you get shots like this (way too over exposed - again, in the mid evening time frame believe it or not):

or when those dang cars get in the background:

Fighter Row at the Air Park, NAS Oceana - from left, the noses of the F-11F Tiger, F-8 Crusader, F-4 Phantom and the F-14 Tomcat - 4 of the prettiest, fire-breathingest kick-ass airplanes that have ever graced the deck of an aircraft carrier:

Here’s Fighter Row from the other direction - although the F-4 is hidden by the F-8 (and yes, that is a Super Hornet taking off in the upper right :

Alas, no real good pics of “Attack Row” aside from this early morning fog one - left to right, A-6 Intruder, A-18 Hornet (hey…its “ATTACK” row!), A-4 Skyhawk, A-1 Skyraider, A-7 Corsair (double click it for a bigger pic):

The other aircraft there are over on the fighter side (which I am sorry to say I don’t have pictures of all of them) and are the Douglas Skyray, Grumman F9F Panther,  McDonnel F2H Banshee and the North American FJ-3 Fury.  I promise I’ll get some of those later and some better pics of the Mud Moving aircraft next time.

One last thing….I stopped by the VFA-32 Swordsmen ready room and met up with LT Jon “Smeagol” Denny, a F/A-18F Weapons System officer (WSO, or “Wizzo” in the new VFA vernacular - “RIO” having been put to bed with the demise of the Tomcat).  “Smeagol” took me out and showed me the back seat of the two-seat Rhino.  Very impressive, and I can say that the Nintendo generation has come of age in navy aircraft - just about everything one would need to do from a tactical perspective can be accomplished without ever having to take your hands off either one of the two side-stick controllers in the back seat.  Which is good, though, because between the myriad missions they are tasked with (air-to-air, air-to-ground, close air support, reconnaissance, forward air controller, aerial refueler, who knows what else), you are going to be busier than the one-legged man (I know…I know…they won’t be doing all those missions at once, but who knows?  The Navy has asked us to do more with less so often we’ll soon be doing everything with nothing, as the saying goes).

Anyhow, thanks again, Smeagol!

Here’s the obligatory Pinch In Front Of A Rhino pic.

As you can see from the picture below, thanks to Jamie from the OSD Public Affairs office, we were honored to be invited to a pretty neat event at the White House this afternoon, a “Military Family Appreciation Day” that helped kick off a Little League Tee-Ball All Star Tourney on the south lawn.  The Mrs Pinch couldn’t get time off work (critical week), so we’ll just have to work on getting another invite to something!

Brother Tom came along with his son Zach.

The current resident of the estate stopped by, along with his wife and a few of his friends (Frank Robinson, Kenny Chesney, the Orioles Kevin Millar)

and country music star Kenny Chesney sang the national anthem.

It was indeed a gorgeous afternoon there, and the kids had a wonderful time, as well, as did honorary first base coach (and retired Cubs star and baseball hall of famer) Ryne Sandberg:

Dubya looked directly at me a couple of times, and I swear I could see him say to himself “That’s Pinch!  That guy owes me money!”

The kids were a great mix of some who knew how to play the game and others who didn’t know where to stand at the plate - but all had a great time and put their hearts into it:

One of the highlights for me was to meet and chat a few minutes with Rick Monday, the former Dodger and Cub star and now announcer and, of course, the rescuer of that flag back in 1976 from the morons who were trying to burn it in the middle of the field:

It was an honor to meet him - AND he’s also a pilot!

Great time…I’ll get some more of the pics up in a Flickr page.

I spent the last week down in Virginia Beach on my last week of Navy duty.  Oceana was where my dad was a squadron CO (here and here for more about that) back in the early 70’s, so I can date my association with this master jet base back to the second Nixon administration, gas was 55 cents a gallon, the Dow Jones stood at 1020 and when the only fighters in town were F-4 Phantoms.  I showed up there for my own navy years in 1986 when Reagan was half way into his second term, gas was 89 cents a gallon, the DOW ended the year at 1875 and every F-4 was gone, replaced by the F-14.

Outside the Officer’s Club is a set of headstones, erected for squadrons and other organizations that have been decommissioned or otherwise are no more.

The one on the far left honors Fighter Wing, US Atlantic Forces, which was  the organization that commanded all the east coast fighter squadrons from 1971 until it closed its doors in 2004.

I particularly like the quote inscribed under the Tomcat:

Full quote:

You love a lot of things if you live around them. But there isn’t any woman that is as lovely as a great airplane. And the men who love them are faithful to them even though they leave them for others. A man has one virginity to lose in fighters, and if it is a lovely airplane he loses it to, there is where his heart will ever be.

–Ernest Hemingway

Fight’s on!

One classy guy.  Blew me away when I head this morning he passed away.

I never met him, but stood at the same lectern he presided behind before. 

Godspeed, Tony.

No, I’m not headed over to the dark side on you guys, but at the risk of mixing metaphors,  the Hornet is our horse right now and we gots to ride her - and if you have a camera and want to take pics of navy jets around Oceana, you gots to take pics of her.  As usual, double clicks on the images gives you the fullsize.

The approach end of runway 23 has a great view of the  aircraft as they come in on short final - down at the bottom of this Google Earth screen capture:

Whcih can lead to a few nice shots of…what else…Hornets as they come in to land.

F-18F Rhino, the two-seat Hornet with a weapons system officer in the back - the “follow-on”, so to speak, to the Tomcat.

For the environmentally-minded, no birds were harmed in the taking of this photo.

You can really see the difference in size of the leading-edge of the wing between the F-18E Super Hornet (above) and a standard F-18C (below).

I was using a 70-300 zoom at a fairly high shutter speed optimized for moving objects.  For most of the shots I would back off the zoom as the aircraft passed over, but on these two I left the zoom in.  Pretty neat pics.

Until next time…I remain….

I’m down here at Oceana Naval Air Station for a week on navy duty and I swung by the hangars to see the VERY,VERY,VERY last Tomcat as it is prepped for delivery to the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, PA.

Since there’s no suitable airfield near the depot to deliver the airframe in a  C-5 (as was done with Christine) and the cost would be rather impressive, the powers-that-be decided to truck the Tom up in the bed of a custom-made trailer - AFTER removing its various and sundry piece parts:

Imagine being stuck behind THIS.

You think you know Tomcats?  What’s wrong with this picture - aside from the horiz stab and vertical stab not being there?  First prize is an all-expense paid ticket to Denver for the Democratic Convention.  Second prize is TWO all-expense paid tickets.

There is also a squadron of French Rafael fighters visiting.  That is one pretty airplane:

If you zoom in on the nose gear, you’ll recognize the exact same launch bar that our aircraft use.  That’s because the launch and arresting gear system on the French aircraft carrier Charles de DeGaulle is made by our boys from Lakehurst - the Navy’s Aircraft Launch and Recovery folks.   We wrote about a visit to the USS Enterprise by a Rafael back on the Instapinch here.

I caught one of them returning to the base in the break - not much of a picture, but perhaps I can catch one in the landing pattern this week.

I bet the Hornet boys are having a blast fighting these guys, which I’m sure is happening.  They (the French) wouldn’t come all the way over here and not engage in some dissimilar air combat.   We used to love to fight different aircraft - its the name of the game, the nature of our business.  As far as the Tomcat went, the only time we would ever be expected to fight against our own-type aircraft was if we were to engage the Iranians, so fighting different aircraft and different platforms was always super cool.   You needed to do that, as well, to learn the different capabilities - turn rates, speeds, handling qualities, etc - of other aircraft.  It all went into your cranial library or your ACM tool kit.  You’d learn not to get into a slow fight (”knife fight in a phone booth”) with a high wing-loaded aircraft that turned well at slow speed, and you learned not to get into a high altitude fight with a huge thrust-to-weight monster like the F-15 (keep him low where the F-14’s big wings could bite into the air better and give you your best turning rate - not that it would necessarily help, mind you, but you wanted to give yourself the best chances possible) - things like that.

Alas….I miss that.

Now comes the latest Moonbat website I need to highlight, a tasty little number called “Pilots for 9/11 Truth” - or as we call in on the bright side of the moon, “PffT”.

PffT is a complilation of the efforts of one Rob Balsamo, a self-described “airline” pilot and grand doubter of the  events of 9/11 as they came to pass, not to mention one of the dumbest SOBs I have seen on the Net.

“PffT’s” list of members is a veritable cornucopuia of 9/11 moronic moonbattery - a “Who’s Who in the Moonbat Zoo”.  Balsamo likes to parrot the claim that his “numbers” are growing constantly, as this tidbit in an email to me states:

Keep an eye on the lists. They grow regularly. Im (sic) sure eventually we’ll get someone you know.  We’re still in our infancy.

_________________________________________

That’s the wrong end of the horse when talking about Balsamo

Infancy with regards to mental capabilities is true, at least.   As far as there being “someone” I know signing up, I doubt that very seriously. Everyone with whom I ran (or flew) with in the Navy or military aviation world operates on the side of sane, rational, cogent thought, not the absolute idiocy that makes up the PffT crowd.

His current list of “members” does have some names that one might recognize, if you have been involved with trying to unscrew the football bat/soup sandwich that is the “Truth” movement.

You have Robert Bowman, a retired AF colonel who is pretty much a laughing stock in every area he enters, with the top of the list his political aspirations, which since 2000 has included President (2000 and 2004) and congress (2006), all of which he failed miserably in and either didn’t even come *close* any nomination or was spanked severely in the election.

You have Captain Russ Wittenberg (ret), a retired airline pilot with a butt-load of hours (I don’t need to add that a “butt-load” of hours means absolutely nothing in the big scheme of things). His statement “I don’t believe it’s possible for… a so-called terrorist to train on a 172, then jump in a cockpit of a 757-767 class cockpit, and vertical navigate the aircraft, lateral navigate the aircraft, and fly the airplane at speeds exceeding it’s design limit speed by well over 100 knots, make high-speed high-banked turns,.. pulling probably 5, 6, 7 G’s… I couldn’t do it and I’m absolutely positive they couldn’t do it.” should strike fear into the hearts of air-travel people of today, if the pilots flying these aircraft can’t operate an aircraft. That, plus the ignorance of someone with supposedly such experience believing that anyone…ANYONE …can’t vertically navigate an aircraft (pull the yoke back, houses get smaller!) or laterally navigate an aircraft (turn yoke right, airplane goes right!).

You have Ralph “Rotten” Kolstad, who claims F-14 pilot experience and who flew for the airlines. You know, you live or die on your reputation in the military. It follows you everywhere, and if anyone cares about what this idiot’s reputation is within the F-14 community, check out the Tomcat Sunset board thread on him.

That is all the names I recognize on the “pilots” list.  The remaining names are the smattering of usual idiotic morons who  have made a nice living off the backs of the 9/11 dead - the “researchers” Aldo Marquis, Craig Ranke/Lyte Trip/Whatever his name is and Domenick DiMaggio (they gave themselves the title “reserachers”.  They are by no stretch of anyone’s imagination any sort of legitimate “researchers”.).  They really don’t do much else other than make trips to DC and videotape themselves talking to “witnesses”.  They then post a twisted, convoluted and lexiconically gerrymandered version of said interview up on the web and breathlessly state “This is going to blow this wide open!“) or the granddaddys of the 9/11 “Bush Did It!!” crowd, David Ray Griffen and Dr Steven Jones (Mr. Thermite/thermate).

I’d say go have a look at this PffT site, but you can read the forum posts only if you sign in.  I signed in a month or so ago and within a few days was suspended - apparently ol’ Rob didn’t like what I had to say.  Since then, he has extended my suspension through 2010!  I guess he *really* doesn’t like what I have to say!

OH…and don’t forget, folks!  YOU can pick up your VERY OWN  “PffT”  sporty Woman’s cap-sleeve TEE SHIRT, with the “PffT” logo manfully emblazoned on the front,  for ONLY $20.99!  That’s right, for ONLY $20.99!  Why not pick up one for that special little co-pilot in your life!  3,000 dead on Sept 11 is a small price to pay for us to scam money off you!

Yo Rob!  Pay attention to the sign!

You SOB.