And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
The combat engineer unit I was in built a 90' Bailey Bridge on dry land and a skycrane picked it up and installed it on the Rhine river 3 miles away, circa 1975.
1) It ain't that heavy...just a pair of Hummers. No big deal for an experienced chopper jock. 2) They can only handle about 9 tons, tops. When they picked up a 7 1/2 ton howitzer, it was a sketchy ride, with the loadmaster/crew chief laying on the floor looking out the winch hellhole, and with the pickle switch in his hand, to turn the slung load from cargo to bomb drop in 0.2 seconds if necessary. 3) On a hot day in the desert, forget about even picking the 7 1/2 ton howitzer up. 4) All of the above applies only to the E model and later. The A-d models regularly planted howitzers and other gear in the woods around Swamp Lejeune, when they tried to pick up too much on a too-hot day. Seeing a 20-long ordnance steel howitzer tube shaped like the letter J with the muzzle pointed straight up, after they pried it out of ten feet of mud post-impact, will make you think twice about getting on those birds. 5) No one in the Air Wing could ever explain how they could find the one spot in a square mile to drop the sling load that was right in the middle of a cholla cactus patch, but their success rate, day or night, was about 97%.
Just hummin' along.
ReplyDeleteThe Few, the you won't believe the stuff we do.
ReplyDeleteThe combat engineer unit I was in built a 90' Bailey Bridge on dry land and a skycrane picked it up and installed it on the Rhine river 3 miles away, circa 1975.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, a plain jane, non-up armored Hummer was 4400 lbs.
ReplyDeleteAnd holding it all together while taking on fuel...
ReplyDeleteBetter watch how much fuel they take on there...
ReplyDeleteYup...he had the slide-rule out!
DeleteThat bird would probably handle 20,000 lbs.
ReplyDeleteWhat would they be refueling from?
ReplyDeleteAnon, he is probably behind a Marine KC-130. Online there are loads of photos and videos of Marines just doing their jobs.
Delete1) It ain't that heavy...just a pair of Hummers. No big deal for an experienced chopper jock.
ReplyDelete2) They can only handle about 9 tons, tops. When they picked up a 7 1/2 ton howitzer, it was a sketchy ride, with the loadmaster/crew chief laying on the floor looking out the winch hellhole, and with the pickle switch in his hand, to turn the slung load from cargo to bomb drop in 0.2 seconds if necessary.
3) On a hot day in the desert, forget about even picking the 7 1/2 ton howitzer up.
4) All of the above applies only to the E model and later. The A-d models regularly planted howitzers and other gear in the woods around Swamp Lejeune, when they tried to pick up too much on a too-hot day. Seeing a 20-long ordnance steel howitzer tube shaped like the letter J with the muzzle pointed straight up, after they pried it out of ten feet of mud post-impact, will make you think twice about getting on those birds.
5) No one in the Air Wing could ever explain how they could find the one spot in a square mile to drop the sling load that was right in the middle of a cholla cactus patch, but their success rate, day or night, was about 97%.