Various and sundry things I found in my in-box this morning… beginning with… Cool stuff: Ten pictures from National Geographic Magazine: "Photo Gallery: Autumn in the United States." Bonus… Nineteen Wallpaper Photos from our National Parks! And there's always great things at NatGeo's site; it's one of my very favorite time-wasters.
I get this sort of stuff from time to time:
And… with tongue planted firmly in cheek… Lord knows I wouldn't want to risk having the Federal Trade Commission take me to the woodshed… at $11K a pop. Talk about Stoopid Gub'mint Tricks! I understand the chances are quite small that a small-time blogger would be singled out and prosecuted for violating Oh-So-Important rules 'n' regulations in this space, but it's the damned principle of the thing. Unless your name happens to be Michelle Malkin or Andrew Breitbart… at which point in time I don't feel you would be the least bit paranoid to think The One might sic the FTC on ya. Just sayin'.
Finally… The Air Force Association sends along a list of videos that might be of interest to aviation and airpower enthusiasts. Speaking of which… Hey! You could make $5,000.00 a year flying B-47s! What a deal!
―:☺:―
I get this sort of stuff from time to time:
Dear Buck Pennington,Usually the offer is for stuff I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, but occasionally Good Things appear in my in-box. At that point in time I'm tempted to say OK… I'll do it. But I have this one little problem: how does one write an unbiased review if one is getting a free copy of said product? And, of course, one doesn't want to sacrifice one's rank amateur standing in the blog-world, either. Oh, noes… we most certainly DON'T! Heh.
I would be honored if you’d take the time to review our product on your blog.
In exchange for an unbiased review, We will provide a copy of the product for free!
We will also place link to your review from our product's page with your logo.
And… with tongue planted firmly in cheek… Lord knows I wouldn't want to risk having the Federal Trade Commission take me to the woodshed… at $11K a pop. Talk about Stoopid Gub'mint Tricks! I understand the chances are quite small that a small-time blogger would be singled out and prosecuted for violating Oh-So-Important rules 'n' regulations in this space, but it's the damned principle of the thing. Unless your name happens to be Michelle Malkin or Andrew Breitbart… at which point in time I don't feel you would be the least bit paranoid to think The One might sic the FTC on ya. Just sayin'.
―:☺:―
Finally… The Air Force Association sends along a list of videos that might be of interest to aviation and airpower enthusiasts. Speaking of which… Hey! You could make $5,000.00 a year flying B-47s! What a deal!
Other vids from the Air Force Association:
AFA's YouTube Channel (this includes all of our videos) - http://www.youtube.com/user/AirForceAssocHQ
The Tuskegee Airmen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfyJ1A7xMMc
Doolittle Raiders - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj1kg_cohWc
Dr. Schlesinger - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjYnixA4JMs
Air Force 61st Anniversary - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyhJmaYDQH4
Berlin Airlift - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRKRjp2smsc
General Looney's Support of AFA - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIR6i6odvW8
Air Force Pilot Commercial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9tLz25X1Uk (This is embedded above)
Air Force Anniversary - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAh6sQHAKMQ
2007 Jimmy Stewart 1st place - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlWID-YuFyI
2007 Jimmy Stewart 2nd place - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auvPKh1QX5c
2007 Jimmy Stewart 3rd place - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQ3LnYfVK0
AFA - The Force Behind the Force - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShZ2ZwIJip0
That video is hilarious...particularly the entire premise of using BOMBERS as a recruiting tool. Bomber pilots may make history while fighter pilots make movies, but movies get the more clue challenged people to sign on the dotted line and on to Lackland.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this was back in the day when men were real men, clubs actually had a purpose beyond retirement ceremonies, (hell, this was when there were clubS, plural, instead of the all rolled into one crap most bases have these days) and God himself was commanding SAC.
Loved the pic of Eagle Lake @ Mount Desert. I've been in that spot and it's ... well the pic doesn't do it justice.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I am not getting any pics or videos and I'm too darn tired to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteBuck, great vid's, I've already watched a couple and I know I will be popping in all day to catch some more!!
ReplyDeleteThe FTC think is an issue that I think in the hands of people like Rahm Emmauel can become a political weapon. And him and The One being from Chicago you better believe they will use it to their advantage.
BT: Jimmy T sends.
Mike sez: Of course, this was back in the day ...
ReplyDeleteYeah: my father's Air Force. Literally. I swear to the Deity at Hand he and his Buds were why I, as a child, wanted to be in the AF more than anything else. Imagine my surprise...
Kris: It's the rare photo indeed that captures the essence of a beautiful place. We can get close, but that's all.
Lou: Dang. I hope your PC gets better, soon.
Jimmy: Thanks. I agree with ya on the FTC thing, as well.
Buck/
ReplyDeleteOne of the FACs in my outfit was an ex-B-47 pilot in the 50s. He won a peace-time DFC for landing the thing as a back-seater when a runaway refueling boom wiped out canopy and front seater. In a classic understatement said it got a mite windy & chilly for a while. Was a sr. Maj when I knew him. Quite a guy. Could do that Russian squat/kick dance at parties--and that takes some doing, I tried it at age 24 trying to match him and could barely do 2 in succession. (Google calls it Kazatiskis or Prisyadka) Great guy & very professional as well.
The B-47 was quite a bird. As close to a fighter as any bomber will ever get. Had a wing-tip vert. top to bottom flex of about 14' IIRC. Ought to Google it. A better summation than I could give here and well worth reading and pretty accurate as far as my experience combined with what I've also read goes. Only thing they lack is complete list of "special" spook msns in Vietnam. They list only one (Relay platforms for ELINT drones)
but there were others. We were holding for a tanker over Northern Laos one night in flt of 4 F-4s when we got shooed away for an emergency. This jet black B-47 with a porcupines worth of antennas protruding from all over comes roaring out of nowhere to hit the Tanker. Not a SINGLE transmission!
Total radio silence--at least on any freq we had access to. Gassed up, departed going back north as silently as it had come. Always makes you wonder. Hope some of those guys write their memoirs before it's too late. Most would be in late 70-80 by now.
Could do that Russian squat/kick dance at parties--and that takes some doing, I tried it at age 24 trying to match him and could barely do 2 in succession.
ReplyDeleteHeh. Memories... I was pushing 50 when I went on a couple of biz trips to Moscow. On one such trip I was drinking with a Russian tank corps captain in a hotel bar and we got (ahem) TANKED. He goes up to the bar and requested the DJ to put on some traditional Rooshian musc and proceeded to demonstrate that Kazatiskis stuff, and he was GOOD at it, too. Of course my mates and I had to reciprocate and the resulting display was comical as all Hell... the bar fell out laughing as my buds and I wound up on our asses, repeatedly. It was a GREAT night out, but one helluva morning after...
Thanks for that B-47 war story. I was lucky enough to see 'em during my career as well, but not "up close and personal" like you did! I agree wholeheartedly about those guys writing their stories... and I HOPE that happens.
The B-47s were long gone by my enlistment, as were the B-58 and B-70.
ReplyDeleteBuck, you could always do what William F. Buckley did when folks wanted him to endorse a product. He told them, "Send it to me. If I like it, I'll write about it. If I don't, I won't. Either way, I have no obligation to you." One of the companies that did that made Red Wing peanut butter, and Buckley liked it so much he extolled it in the New Yorker.
To the end of his life he was never short of Red Wing peanut butter. They kept sending him cases of it, and he kept saying how much he loved it. Google "buckley red wing peanut butter" and you'll find lots of stories.
Google "buckley red wing peanut butter" and you'll find lots of stories.
ReplyDeleteI did. Amazing!