My son and I went to San Francisco today to meet up with a friend of mine from West Point, and his family. It's the start of Fleet Week in SF, and we all enjoyed the aerial demonstrations put on for us.
My son took these "stealthy" pics with his iPod Touch (peace be unto Steve):
click to embiggen
Saw an F-117 at the Willow Run air show some years back. It made a single pass and then was gone. I was rather more impressed by the A-10. Both airplanes are ugly, as airplanes go, but the A-10 had a more primitive, more threatening aspect to it.
ReplyDeleteThe F-117 could have been hanging from the ceiling of the Modern of Modern Art for all the relationship it's shape bore to its purpose but the A-10 was a sort of flying halbard; you couldn't look at it without knowing that it had no other purpose then the one it was designed for.
allen
ReplyDeleteAn excellent book I would recommend if you haven't read it is Warthog: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War (http://www.amazon.com/Warthog-Flying--10-Potomac-Warriors/dp/1574888862/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318266378&sr=1-1). You get a great background on the history of the bird, it's capabilities and limitations (few, but the pilots did wish for a more powerful engine).
Have a great week
Uh, that would be Museum of Modern Art.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike. I just placed a hold on the book at my local library.