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.
It had nothing to do with their battle effectiveness. The base was near the coast, which was rich with various forms of waterfowl. Every once in a while one would get sucked into the planes single engine and well, you know what happens next. The plane becomes a lawn dart.
Many years ago I was able to get up close to a Harrier while working communications for an airshow. Believe me, you didn't want to to be anywhere near it when it fired up. The vertical maneuvers portion of the show required a very large area clear of any people or debris for safety reasons. It was a good thing that the runway was extra heavy duty originally made for large bombers. It was a former SAC B-52 base. The Harriers had a reputation for destroying runway surfaces with the downward directed exhaust.
The Harrier was an idea so dumb that it was brilliant - if you're skilled enough to hold one in motionless hover. Lots of men have washed out of that training. An armored tub for the pilot is very popular with the the pilots. Then it's just a question of "Will it hold enough fuel to get you there and back to this ship at 0400?"
At MCAS Cherry Point, these were referred to as North Carolina lawn darts
ReplyDeleteThe Argentines had a slightly different view.
ReplyDeleteIt had nothing to do with their battle effectiveness. The base was near the coast, which was rich with various forms of waterfowl. Every once in a while one would get sucked into the planes single engine and well, you know what happens next. The plane becomes a lawn dart.
ReplyDeleteon the farm in NC if you waggle your arms, they waggle back.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago I was able to get up close to a Harrier while working communications for an airshow. Believe me, you didn't want to to be anywhere near it when it fired up. The vertical maneuvers portion of the show required a very large area clear of any people or debris for safety reasons. It was a good thing that the runway was extra heavy duty originally made for large bombers. It was a former SAC B-52 base. The Harriers had a reputation for destroying runway surfaces with the downward directed exhaust.
ReplyDeleteThe Marines still have a couple of squadrons flying them, according to Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteThe English were working on a supersonic version when their politicians killed it, like most all their high-tech war gear.
DeleteThe Harrier was an idea so dumb that it was brilliant - if you're skilled enough to hold one in motionless hover. Lots of men have washed out of that training. An armored tub for the pilot is very popular with the the pilots. Then it's just a question of "Will it hold enough fuel to get you there and back to this ship at 0400?"
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that the soon-to-be-replaced USMC Commandant shit canned the Harrier.
ReplyDelete